ABSTRACT
My goal in this chapter is to argue for a new approach to policing. I will focus my comments upon the United States, although I believe they apply more broadly. The 2004 National Academy of Science report on policing (Skogan and Frydl, 2004; Skogan and Meares, 2004) argued that in recent decades the objective quality of policing has improved in the United States. The police are more effective in fighting crime; they are less corrupt; and they are less likely to engage in unprofessional acts such as unlawfully shooting civilians. While there are many ongoing issues involving police performance, in particular in terms of the relationship of the police with minority communities, the overall impression given by the report is of increasingly professional and effective police departments and of more and more sophisticated policing practices. There is indeed a new professionalism in policing and it benefits all of those people, White or non-White, who will have contact with the police.
