The book identifies and explains central issues, key concepts and relationships among the following topics: The Function of the Police; History and Context; Strategies and Programs; The Nature of Police Work; Doing Police Work; Ethics and Deviance; Administration and Management; and Contemporary Issues. The major sections contain chapters on numerous issues, including: (1) dilemmas of police administration; (2) privatization; (3) the county sheriff as a distinctive policing modality; (4) Southern slave patrols as a transitional police type; (5) the municipal police detective; (6) community policing and problem-solving policing; (7) law enforcement response to spouse abuse; (8) gang control; (9) local-level drug enforcement; (10) police handling of people with mental illness; (11) drug use and drug-related corruption of police officers; (12) police sexual violence against women; (13) police use of deadly force; (14) militarizing American police; and (15) the plight of patrol women. Notes, references, bibliography, tables, figures, exhibits