Attention focuses on the police officer's role in maintaining the legitimacy of police authority in citizen encounters and in performing patrol duties. Further, the differences between theory and practice in police work and between the perspectives of the police officer and the academic are reviewed. The concept of preventive policing is traced to England, and the advent of constables and justices of the peace is reviewed. Cops and 'bobbies' in the mid-19th century are discussed, and changes in police departments between 1920 and 1965 are chronicled. The policing functions are enumerated, and social control, crime control, and order maintenance are discussed. Police typologies are explained; types and styles of police organizations are described; and the mandates, strategies, and appearances of the police are analyzed. Additionally, the advent of unionism in policing is described, and the selection and socialization of police recruits are discussed. Further, the police subculture is characterized, and police officers' patrol and investigative responsbilities are analyzed. Finally, the costs of police work are discussed in terms of police stress, police divorces, police drinking problems, and police suicide. Approximately 400 chapter notes and a subject index are provided.