The analysis focuses on how the pace and nature of urbanization have influenced the environment of policing. It notes that Canadians have tended to regard police as predominantly law enforcers, the protectors of society at large whose functions are specified in laws and whose programs are overseen impartially by the courts. It emphasizes that although the police continue to serve the criminal justice system well, they have become less effective in carrying out the larger function of maintaining order, which must be tailored to changing urban circumstances. The analysis concludes that it is time to rethink the functions of urban policing in terms of the quality of day-to-day life in cities rather than those of the rigors of law enforcement and that policing should be transformed into a knowledge-based profession. Notes, index, and 161 references