Across the globe police services routinely provide descriptions and data that can be found with a few clicks. Seeking to investigate policing practices in greater depth, editor Mbuba offers a much more nuanced critique. He amasses 20 insightful essays from 29 contributing authors examining contemporary law enforcement in different countries. The contributors, all academics or researchers, summarize police developments, cultures, and procedures in nations they know well, spanning Australia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Ghana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Poland, Serbia, the UK, Uruguay, the US, and Zimbabwe. Those interested in sharp perceptions of law enforcement in these states will likely find these chapters enlightening. The authors write candidly and often fearlessly about the realities they perceive. Some list points for improvement; in other cases the need for further reform is made clear. If policing leads to authoritarianism, corruption, and abuse, then reform is vital, if in fact it can be achieved. The broad trend in these countries—surely with exceptions—is for policing to embrace a non-military style of protection and service. Yet public safety anywhere can be achieved at great cost and then deplorably lost. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.

Choice Reviews

Global Perspectives in Policing and Law Enforcement is a groundbreaking volume that has broken the iron curtain of academic prejudice by globalizing readings on policing. In so doing, it unleashed universal knowledge beyond political boundaries traversing Africa and beyond through Asia, Europe, and the Americas. By engaging authors on finest topics in the field of policing, Dr. Mbuba has not only produced the most comprehensive book so far in the field of policing but has elevated knowledge on world policing and practices in a manner never seen before. This is a gigantic leap and an addition to his earlier work on Policing in Eastern Africa. The book is a must read for all students of policing and social justice.

Emmanuel Onyeozili, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

This book is a welcome contribution to the scholarship of policing and law enforcement throughout the world. Through chapter contribution by accomplished scholars from around the globe, it provides an in-depth assessment of policing and law enforcement practices in selected countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania and the Americas including the Caribbean. The book does a great job of analyzing and uncovering the challenges and opportunities of policing and law enforcement practices in various countries. Critically, the issues explored by the authors will help to identify the gaps and themes in policing and law enforcement that require further research.

Michael Kithinji, University of Central Arkansas