The development of The Sage Dictionary of Policing owes much to the success of its sister publication The Sage Dictionary of Criminology, a book that combines the accessibility of a reference book with the depth and rigour of peer-reviewed original scholarship. This is by virtue of the expert, international contributors on whose work the latter is founded, and the skill of Eugene McLaughlin and John Muncie in conceiving an invaluable framework as useful to established scholars as to the criminology undergraduates who so routinely quote from their book. Such a successful formula we were all too willing to appropriate, and apply to one of criminology's most prominent sub-disciplines, academic police studies.

In speaking to a discipline that is pragmatic as well as academic in orientation, however, our project presented its own challenges. How to blend the theoretical and practical? How to balance attention to the organization, tasks and challenges of state policing agencies with those of other players in the corporate and voluntary sectors? How to discuss practices that are usually nationally or locally organized in ways that serve readers around the world? Would it be possible to speak equally well to both our academic and practitioner audiences? In seeking to address these dilemmas we have found ourselves embarking on a journey that is still in progress.

The difficulties in defining and capturing the activity of policing in such a way are conveyed in the Encyclopædia Britannica entry for ‘police’, authored by Michael Banton, William Walsh and Jean-Paul Brodeur (2006). They emphasize how no uniform, universal system of policing has ever emerged, and point to the host of factors that help to explain the diversity of policing systems, agencies and activities worldwide. History, particularly colonialism, has shaped the early development of policing systems internationally. Demographic trends are relevant, since police forces initially emerged in urban areas, with rural areas – in countries where the continental European model of policing has applied – often being policed according to different centralized and often military systems. Political cultures, characterized for example by the degree of a society's democratic advancement, present differing conceptions and systems of police accountability. The types of crime – and methods of committing them – that are most common in a given society determine the way policing resources are directed and the nature of the policing activities carried out (as, we would argue, do public expectations in that society). Such varying policing needs and expectations [Page xviii]around the world are addressed by a host of different bodies, with police forces, private security companies, intelligence agencies, armed services and voluntary organizations prominent among the many types of contributor.

The framework we have developed in this Dictionary is grounded in an international, pluralist view of policing as both a substantial area of scholarship and a fast-changing field of practice. The editors’ respective personal missions in challenging state-centred conceptions of policing, and working collaboratively with police agencies in an effort to bind research to practice, are embedded in its structure. As an academic discipline, police studies is an established and fast changing, multidisciplinary field, bringing together robust historical inquiry, well developed sociology, theoretical diversity, and applied, evidence-based knowledge. In this book, these diverse perspectives come together – and sometimes collide – in the first mass market policing textbook tailored to an international readership. Its contributors are drawn from both the academic and practitioner communities, selected on the basis of their international standing in relation to the topic areas. Their authoritative and incisive contributions provide instructive overviews of core and emerging areas of police studies from a variety of perspectives.

The Dictionary entries might be thought of as dividing into three thematic areas concerned with analyzing policing, managing policing and doing policing. As regards the former, one of the book's highlights is a detailed history entry, comprising subsections from an international selection of contributors reflecting the development of policing across and within nine areas of the world, from Africa to the United States. Such analysis of policing extends also to theoretical interpretations, with a particular emphasis placed on examining the impact of globalization and pluralization processes on policing; and research, with a detailed overview provided of the evolution of policing research and the methodologies that are most prominent within police studies.

The management of policing has become almost as important in the policing literature as analysis of policing itself. Public administration trends and a preoccupation with police reform, professionalism and accountability have come to inform to a significant degree police work and its management. New public management theory continues to shape and determine the management of police organizations in many countries. Notions of professionalism and leadership are now important concepts that a manager has to promote and apply. The measurement of performance and the need to work with other agencies and actors in pursuit of partnership are all skills the manager is expected to develop. Many of the entries here reflect these imperatives and hint at the difficult and complex task of police management. Despite the differences across countries that we might expect, what is also perhaps somewhat surprising is just how many management strategies have been adopted and adapted for local consumption.

Perhaps the most representative of the thematic areas in this volume is that of doing policing. Various contributors, both practitioners and academics, have provided accounts of ways in which specific crime problems are actively policed, such as homicide, property crime, sexual assault and drugs. Broader functions are also identified. So crime prevention, public order policing and [Page xix]order maintenance are all represented as distinctive ways of policing in today's world. The sometimes controversial issues of police discretion and independence are discussed here and may be considered, for example, in the context of police powers of arrest and search and their use of force. A number of entries canvass the challenges of policing in the twenty-first century, particularly those challenges on the international stage such as cross-border policing, terrorism and organized crime. Broader and more complex challenges for police practitioners are also strongly represented in the Dictionary. How do police develop strategies to ensure that public expectations can be met? How to ensure police legitimacy? How to deal with the wicked issues of institutional racism and consent? What indeed have been the main drivers of police activity in trying to develop strategies to address these thorny dilemmas?

Any understanding of how police do business has to include the various ways in which police engage with other actors to address crime and community problems generally. Community policing has become a ‘catch-all’ phrase for police and their organizations. Is it rhetoric or reality? This wide-ranging concept has been developed as one of the Dictionary's more detailed entries whereby short contributions from academics and practitioners from around the world discuss the concept from their particular perspective. Multi-agency policing, private policing, third party policing and security networks all reflect the process of pluralization that has come to characterize the ‘governance of security’ across the world. In compiling this Dictionary, the editors have been mindful of these issues and have sought to guide and develop the various contributions in order that a specific issue may be informed by a variety of entries.

Each entry in the Dictionary should be read as a discrete essay, clarifying the parameters of the topic, making observations about important and topical themes, and reflecting tensions and debates surrounding the matter at hand, be it a theoretical concept or an established area of practice. The entries share a common format, beginning with a definition: a short statement about the concept that specifies its meaning and the boundaries of the author's interpretation. As with The Sage Dictionary of Criminology, this is where the similarity to a standard dictionary ends. A distinctive features section follows, in which our authors identify what they consider to be the important characteristics of their concept. This has led to a rich variety of perspectives incorporating histories, theoretical perspectives, research studies and practical considerations. Not wishing to be too prescriptive, the editors provided contributors with the freedom to establish and develop their topics from their own scholarly perspectives. The views and opinions expressed in the individual entries are therefore those of the authors. The final substantive section in each entry is an evaluation, in which the authors provide critical and reflective appraisals of their concept, highlighting key debates and drawing attention to perceived contradictions in research, topical issues and possible future developments. Styles of course vary. While some contributors have concentrated on the distinctive features of a particular concept others have put more emphasis on evaluation. Contributors have also provided recommendations of related entries in a list of associated concepts, and these can be used in [Page xx]conjunction with the index to direct readers to linked topics. Finally, suggested key readings allow readers to pursue further points that the authors have raised, and to gain a broader understanding of each concept. The entries in effect provide the building blocks for future exploration.

The development of this book was not only inspired by the authors of The Sage Dictionary of Criminology, which we recommend readers to adopt as a companion text to this book as it elaborates on many of the core criminological concepts that are mentioned. It was the idea of Eugene McLaughlin, and Caroline Porter at Sage Publications, and we are privileged to have been entrusted with this important project.

We have stated that this book reflects a journey that is still continuing. It does not (yet) claim to be a comprehensive overview of police studies. There are still themes to develop, theoretical and ideological perspectives to incorporate, and international dimensions to reflect. Between now and the publication of the second edition, we will be listening to feedback, identifying new avenues of inquiry and updating existing contributions. We welcome comments, ideas and expressions of interest in being part of this ongoing project.

May 2008