Changing Police Culture: Policing in a Multicultural Society - Softcover

Chan, Janet B. L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521564557 ISBN 13: 9780521564557

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Police culture is often considered as both a cause of police deviance and an obstacle for police reform. In this study of police racism and police reform in Australia, Janet Chan provides a critical assessment of police initiative in response to the problem of policeSHminorities relations. The book examines the dynamics of change and resistance within an organization and captures the complexity and unpredictability of the change process. It questions the utility of the traditional conception of police culture and proposes a new framework for understanding the interrelationships among the structural conditions of police work, police cultural knowledge, and police practice. A highly original and valuable contribution to policing studies and studies of organizational reform, the book is both empirically rich and theoretically informed.

About this title

Book Description:

This book examines the dynamics of change and resistance in a police organisation. It aims at understanding why police racism persists in spite of years of reform. Using the experience of a large Australian police force, Janet Chan provides a well-argued and detailed assessment of why police reform has failed to change police practice. A highly original and valuable contribution to policing studies, this book pulls apart the traditional concept of police culture and offers a useful new way of thinking about cultural change.

Review:

."..clearly a valuable addition to the literature on urban governance as well as a contribution to the overall debate on multiculturalism in Australian society." Pacific Affairs

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0521564557
• ISBN 13: 9780521564557
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 268