This expanded and updated second edition builds on the strengths of the first edition, and is an essential text for anyone involved in the study of policing, as well as being a key source of reference for the police themselves. The handbook is fully updated throughout to take account of the most recent developments and scholarship. For the first time, the handbook includes dedicated chapters on policing in Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as new contributions on police cultures, police use of force, policing and terrorism, leadership and performance management, and policing and forensic science. The handbook is divided into four major sections. The first considers policing in its comparative and historical context. The chapters in the first section explore the development of policing internationally and historically, looking both at policing before the police and policing in its contemporary setting. The second section looks at the context within which policing takes place. It seeks to describe, to analyze, and to explain the contemporary topography of policing. The third section looks at how the police operate. The fourth and final section of the handbook examines a range of key themes in contemporary policing, such as governance, accountability, and ethics. However, many of the chapters in this section share a common concern with how police behavior and performance are determined, managed, and governed. Providing a broad introduction to policing, this second edition aims to set out the parameters for police studies as an important subdiscipline of criminology and to provide the basis for teaching in this area. Tables, figures, boxes, references, glossary and index