Policing Gangs in America

by Charles M. Katz , Vincent J. Webb

• ISBN13: 9780521616546
• ISBN10: 0521616549
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-01-09
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Policing Gangs in America describes the assumptions, issues, problems, and events that characterize, shape, and define the police response to gangs in America today. The focus of the book is on the gang unit officers themselves and the environment in which they work. A discussion of research, statistical facts, theory, and policy with regard to gangs, gang members, and gang activity is used as a backdrop. The book is broadly focused on describing how gang units respond to community gang problems, and answers such questions as: Why do police agencies organize their responses to gangs in certain ways? Who are the people who elect to police gangs? How do they make sense of gang members - individuals who spark fear in most citizens? What are their jobs really like? What characterizes their working environment? How do their responses to the gang problem fit with other policing strategies, such as community policing?

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Studying the Police Response to Gangs	1	(22)
Setting and Methods	23	(19)
Historical Analysis of Gangs and Gang Control	42	(49)
Scope and Nature of the Current Gang Problem	91	(34)
Form, Function, and Management of the Police Gang Unit	125	(40)
The Gang Unit Officer	165	(33)
On the Job	198	(43)
Policing Gangs in a Time of Community Policing	241	(26)
Conclusion and Implications	267	(24)
References	291	(12)
Index	303