The Idea of Police is one of the core texts in its series. Written by a leading criminologist in a highly readable, fluid style, it is intended as an introductory text on police. Klockars defines the police in terms of their right to use coercive force. He then describes the comparative evolution of the British and US police forces, providing readers with the historical background to the current state of the police. The moral conflicts and issues of discretion that policemen must cope with are explored and, lastly, he looks at two questions: What makes a good police officer? And what type of...

This textbook is specifically designed to give criminology and law students the elements of social statistics. Using examples entirely from criminology, law and justice research, the authors begin with simple mathematical notation and manipulation and work up through: } definitions of major terms } reading of graphs, charts and tables } theoretical basis of statistics, with discussions of probability, sampling and hypothesis testing. Only when the student has a firm mastery of these basic tools do the authors present some of the basic statistical techniques most commonly used in criminal...