CITY POLICE, Jonathan Rubinstein, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973. 455 pp. indexed. $10.00.
Abstract
New EthnographiesCITY POLICE, Jonathan Rubinstein, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973. 455 pp. indexed. $10.00. SAGE Publications, Inc.1976DOI: 10.1177/089124167600400406 Peter K. Manning National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Law Enforcement Assistance Administration Several recent attempts at identifying the police problem have found an ostensive focal point-to Wilson, it is "morale"; I suggested it was an "impossible mandate"; Westley considered it to be violence and secrecy; recent writers cite corruption; still others view it as produced by the criminal law. Rubinstein has no special version of it, but he does sensitize readers to what may in fact be the primordial police problem-information. The problem of information is multifaceted. It may be so subtle yet universal that it has been unrecognized by those less close to police work on the streets. Rubinstein was close to the action. After graduation from the Philadelphia Police Academy, he spent a full year as an armed observer of uniformed police patrol, and nearly another year observing on special occasions and weekends. There is no doubt about it: this is the finest, AUTHOR'S NOTE: The ideas expressed in this review do not necessarily represent the policies or positions of the National Institute