Description
The British police are in a state of self-confessed crisis. The country's senior policeman, Sir Peter Imbert of Scotland Yard, fearful that his officers are now held in such low public esteem that they are no longer believed by juries, has issued fresh guidelines to his force and commissioned a firm of consultants to improve the image of the Metropolitan Police. What troubles him is not just police malpractice and violence, but the erosion of trust between the police and the policed. Pay. manpower, technology have all been dramatically increased in recent years, yet detection rates are dropping, and British cities and even rural towns are becoming less safe. Given these disturbing truths, an examination is urgently needed into the state of the force. In his compelling and forthright book, Robert
Chesshyre offers the reader a broad, thorough and factual account of the difficulties of contemporary police work. The book is not set in the exotic lushness of Miami, but in the socially mixed south London district of Streatham, and is based on extensive first-hand research conducted with the co-operation of the Metropolitan Police. Chapter by chapter, clearly and concisely, the author examines certain crucial questions, such as: how do we see the police, and how do they see us? Who are the new recruits, and why do they wish to join the force? How do the police cope with the increasing problem of 'no-go' inner-city areas? Does the glamour that still surrounds the CID distort police priorities? The police are a force; should they also be a service? The book also includes some of the more personal issues to confront police officers, for example the clash between loyalty to their colleagues and loyalty to the public, and the effect which a policeman's anti-social hours has upon himself and his family.
ISBN:9780283998720
