Les Johnston - Innovative Possibilities: Global Policing Research and Practice

Innovative Possibilities: Global Policing Research and Practice brings together observations that reflect upon the state of police (and policing) across the globe and associated forms of policing scholarship, with inputs from Africa, Australia, South and Central America, China, Europe, and the USA. Following the introduction, the book begins with a review of the nature of the relationship between policing research and practice of the Victoria Police in Australia. It then moves on to Britain, where the focus is on how the National Improvement Strategy for Policing (NISP) is developing and how research is being used to design, define, monitor, and develop its strategic interventions, using a series of case studies. In the United States the complex American terrain of the police is examined in particular this chapter examines how crime statistics are used to rationalize, justify, and account for police actions. In Latin America a comprehensive review of research on police reform during the last two decades is given. Africa provides a complex and diverse social terrain, which needs to be understood in relation to its plural policing landscape. The chapter that turns the focus eastward looks at the historical development and current status of police scholarship in China, together with the emerging issues arising there. The overarching concern of all these reflections is with bridging the deep-seated tensions that exist between scholarship and practice within policing across the globe, and the call for a new relationship of mutual respect that is committed to exploring better ways of governing security.

This book was published as a special issue of Police Practice and Research .

Les Johnston was formerly a Professor of Criminology at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth. He has research interests in governance; security; and the relationship between state and non-state forms of policing. He has published articles in a wide variety of journals and his books include The Rebirth of Private Policing (London: Routledge, 1992) and (with Clifford Shearing) Governing Security: Explorations in Policing and Justice (London: Routledge, 2003).

Clifford Shearing is the Chair of Criminology and Director of the Centre of Criminology, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town. His most recent books are Ayling, J., Grabosky, P. & Shearing, C. 2009, Lengthening the Arm of the Law: Enhancing Police Resources in the 21st Century (Cambridge) and Wood, J and Shearing, C. 2007. Imagining Security (Willan).

Series Editor: Dilip K. Das
International Police Executive Symposium

Police Practice and Research is a series of books based on special issues of the pioneering peer-reviewed journal Police Practice and Research: An International Journal , which presents current and innovative police research as well as operational and administrative practices from around the world. It seeks to bridge the gap in knowledge that exists regarding who the police are, what they do, and how they maintain order, administer laws, and serve their communities. The journal is published in association with the International Police Executive Symposium (IPES), which brings police researchers and practitioners together to facilitate cross-cultural, international and interdisciplinary exchanges for the enrichment of the policing profession.

Policing: Toward an Unknown Future
Edited by John Crank & Colleen Kadleck

Innovative Possibilities: Global Policing Research and Practice
Edited by Les Johnston & Clifford Shearing

Global Policing Research and Practice

Edited by
Les Johnston and Clifford Shearing

Series edited by
Dilip K. Das

First published 2011

by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2011 Taylor & Francis, and IPES: International Police Executive Symposium

This book is a reproduction of Police Practice and Research 10.4-5. The Publisher requests that those citing this book use the bibliographical details of the journal issue on which the book is based.

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN13: 978-0-415-61835-9

Disclaimer
The publisher would like to make readers aware that the chapters in this book are referred to as articles as they had been in the special issue. The publisher accepts responsibility for any inconsistencies that may have arisen in the course of preparing this volume for print.

Perhaps the most appropriate way to celebrate what this remarkable journal has been doing since its inception (Johnston & Shearing From a Dialogue of the Deaf to a Dialogue of Listening: Towards a New Methodology of Policing Research and Practice), is with this Special Anniversary Issue of Police Practice and Research: An International Journal (PPR) on the theme, New Possibilities for Policing Research and Practice, edited by two giants in the field of policing research, Les Johnston and Clifford Shearing. A central focus of PPR throughout the last decade has been in building long-term partnerships between police and academics, through a new methodology of engagement between researchers and police practitioners (David Bradley & Christine Nixon Ending the Dialogue of the Deaf: Evidence and Policing Policies and Practices. An Australian Case Study). Johnston and Shearing handsomely acknowledge PPRs contribution in building the much-needed bridge between policing research and practice, stating:

It is an honor for us, as guest editors, to bring together these thoughtful contributions as a way of celebrating this special anniversary and, of course, the vital work that its editors and Editorial Board have done over the past decade.

As it enters its second decade, PPR is proud to enjoy the continuing contribution of nearly a dozen editors, including myself, who have been serving the journal from Day One. They have made untiring and dedicated efforts to carry the mission of the journal forward in all continents of the world. What is the mission of PPR?

In this Editorial I propose to reiterate this mission of PPR, its hopes and aspirations as well as its trials and challenges, borrowing relevant thoughts, ideas, and reflections of the world-renowned authors who have so graciously and insightfully responded to the call of Les and Clifford, the Guest Editors of this Special Anniversary Issue.