Introduction to Policing: The Pillar of Democracy

Introduction to Policing: The Pillar of Democracy is an introductory textbook focused on the underlying reasons why policing is conducted the way it is, why police officers police the society in the manner they do, and, finally, why law enforcement is perceived and criticized by the public the way it is. As indicated in the title, the book weaves the themes of democratic principles into the chapters. Through addressing the basic blocks of fair and professional policing, the understanding of democracy from the prism of certain police actions or inactions becomes comprehensible from a very pragmatic perspective. Other introductory policing textbooks simply concentrate on the functions of policing or on the processes that cause officers to feel the way they do, but without explanations of police functions in democratic societies.

The second edition updates the first, based on various developments in the field that were observed in the past couple of years. From the Fergusson effect to Black Lives Matter, movements influenced police community relations around the country and around the world and generated much attention to the way police train and equip its officers. Also covered are a number of high profile terrorist attacks. These attacks, in the US and other countries, further underscore the role of the police officer as a warrior and not necessarily just as a guardian. Developments in police accountability, transparency, and technology alter the ways police departments train and respond to calls for service.

Whether democracies are developed or are developing, they consistently provide more freedoms for their citizens than others. The basic principle of the majority rule, which is based on elections that are procedurally and substantively fair, is the rule of thumb around which certain themes of this text will be addressed. Civil rights, civil liberties, and due process embed many of the operational realities of policing. Whether one addresses notions such as use of force, search and seizure, discretion, sub-culture, or intelligence gathering, it is always done from the perspective of the need to preserve precisely these themes, which are part of the human rights and civil rights concepts which underlie any type of democratic society.