This book provides an ethnography of street-level policing in the United States and offers an analysis with valuable lessons for today's law enforcement officers. Author George C. Klein, sociologist and former police officer, explores the characteristics of policing in a suburb outside of large Midwestern city in the United States. As a participant-observation fieldworker, he functioned as an ethnographic researcher, recording with a sociological eye the real world tasks of policing, including the ordinary as well as the more remarkable aspects of day-to-day law enforcement. He approaches the data with three levels of analysis, looking at embedded issues in policing, such as discretion, danger, corruption, cynicism, race, and class; a mid-range analysis that examines police work as an example of street-level bureaucracy; and a global analysis assessing the entrenched roles of race, class, and demography in police work, as well as, society, in the U.S.
This book focuses on the need for police officers to solve social problems that other institutions in society are unwilling, or unable, to solve. It examines a myriad of issues, such as police socialization, the use of force by police officers, stress levels and suicide risk factors, disparate styles of policing, police militarization, de-escalation, and more. With compelling detail, the author helps the reader understand the turmoil regarding policing in the United States today. It is ideal for police professionals as well as students and scholars of criminal justice, criminology, sociology, psychology, history, political science and journalism.
About the Author: George C. Klein, Ph.D. was a Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Oakton Community College, in Des Plaines, Illinois, for 43 years. He is now a Professor Emeritus. He has a doctorate in Sociology and Criminal Justice. He specializes on the intersection of mental health and criminal justice. He was a part-time police officer for over eight years. He was a consultant and researcher for the Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI Academy for over 13 years. He is a trained hostage negotiator and served with a SW AT team. He currently works as an expert witness.
His book, Law and The Disordered: An Exploration In Mental Health, Law, And Politics, was published in 2009. The book is an examination of the mental health and criminal justice system. His book, The Militarization of the Police? Ideology Versus Reality, was published in 2019. The book examines the police use of force, and the riots in Ferguson and in Baltimore. In 2018, he published an article entitled, On the Death of Sandra Bland: A Case of Anger and Indifference. He has also published articles on hostage negotiation and terrorism. In 2007, his book on adoption, The Adventure: The Quest for my Romanian Babies was published.
