This new volume edited by two Queensland academics takes an innovative and practical approach to policing reform. In the first part ‘Challenges to reform’, the editors set out the nature and causes of police conduct, beginning with an excellent chapter on global trends and theoretical perspectives and moving on to specialised chapters on such themes as miscarriages of justice, race relations and sex discrimination. In the second part, ‘Innovations in creating ethical police departments’, each chapter looks at a different preventative strategy, from monitoring to changing procedures to situational or predictive testing or at a different complaint response mechanism, including independent investigation and alternative strategies.
This collection of essays by different authors has distinct strengths. The writing style, format and chapter structure make the contents readily accessible to the wide readership targeted by the editors. Particularly impressive is the clear and cohesive style sustained throughout, especially in the consistent style of the introductory paragraphs and sub-titles in each chapter, The interdisciplinary approach, highlighting both the socio-legal aspects and political realities of policing in contemporary society, is also striking. …
Police Reform: Building Integrity makes a significant contribution to knowledge and insight into policing with its account and critique of the various strategies used to prevent or limit the scope for police misconduct. The value of this contribution is all the more for the thematic organisation, clear focus, breadth of content and depth of analysis of the chapters. – Reform, Issue 82, 2003
Police Reform brings together the latest research on types of police misconduct in a readily accessible form, with short, focused chapters on specialised topics, and with references throughout to the research on which the discussion is based. As well as analyses of issues of corruption and its prevention, there are chapters on race relations, means of recruiting new officers, monitoring police complaints, and litigation claims against the police. It is a very interesting and useful book … – Law Society Journal (NSW), Vol 41 No 11, December 2003