Publisher's Synopsis
Alternative policing styles provides unique insights into the dynamic relationships of policing. It moves beyond the current discourse about community policing, to explore the contextual integrity of police styles. Policing is analysed in terms of the needs, interests, and power relations evident in the selected cultural settings. The book: provides a new conceptualisation of policing as a characteristic of culture; analyses police/power relationships in terms of structure, authority and context; looks at the state/community construction of policing from consensus to conflict and challenge; examines the significance of force in the performance of alternative policing functions; and explores police institutions and practices from participation to privatisation.;All this against the detailed environment of policing in 11 vitally different and distinct cultural settings: Alaska (USA), Brazil, China, Indonesia, Italy, Northern Ireland, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania and former Yugoslavia.;"Alternative Policing Styles" is a unique, cross-cultural synthesis of the dynamics of policing. Against a critique of the essential power relations which comprise police work, the collection offers a wealth of information on police and culture. From village Peace Officers in Alaska, to the Italian private security industry, this book takes the discussion of alternative policing beyond the state, and the community, and firmly into the context of cultural diversity.
