The New Policing provides a comprehensive introduction to the critical issues confronting policing today. It incorporates an overview of traditional approaches to the study of the police with a discussion of current perspectives. The book goes on to examine key themes, including: - the core purpose of contemporary policework; - the reconfiguration of police culture; - organisational issues and dilemmas currently confronting the police; - the managerial reforms and professional; innovations that have been implemented in recent years; - the future of policing, security and crime control. In offering this discussion of the nature and role of the police, The New Policing illustrates the need to re-examine and re-think the theoretical perspectives that have constituted policing studies. Examining evidence from the United Kingdom, the United States and other western societies, the book promotes and enables an understanding of the cultural and symbolic significance of policing in society. This ground-breaking text has been constructed to ensure that it touches on all the key issues that any course on police and policing will cover. It is an essential purchase for all students of policing and criminal justice, and academics and professionals working in this field.