A FORCE FOR THE FUTURE The role of the police over the next ten years

Hardback. Taken from the 'blurb' - 'For as long as most of us can remember, the police - and particularly the unarmed, ever-helpful local bobby - have seemed to embody British stability and self-confidence; yet today the role of the police is changing, and being questioned, as never before. Society is far more divided than it was, and an uncertain economic future may well exacerbate racial tensions, industrial strife and teenage hooliganism. IRA bombings and international terrorism have introduced new techniques into the political arena (and new risks for the man in the street, in England as well as in Ulster). As more and more aspects of everyday life are subjected to laws and regulations, almost all of us - and motorists in particular - break the law at some time or other; and the terrifying potential of the new computer-based technologies and the proliferation of government legislation threaten both our privacy and our freedom. Central to all these issues is the role of the police, who increasingly find themselves trying to hold the balance between conflicting interests, and in danger of losing the support of both sides in the process (the author) has talked to a wide range of police officers, from chief constables to men on the beat, and visited many of the police forces in the UK.Although by no means uncritical of the police record or behaviour, he feels they remain one of the soundest institutions we have. They have been subjected to an orchestrated campaign of denigration, and in this forthright, frequently hard-hitting book he shows what problems the police face in a society in which consensus is breaking down, while the flood of unenforceable laws and regulations grows. Also - and more optimistically - he suggests ways in which the police should develop in order to resolve these problems.....' With Notes and Index. 316pp. 8vo. h/back. Vg+ in Nr. Vg. dw.