For Introduction to Policing, Law Enforcement, and specialization courses on policing at the freshman/sophomore undergraduate level. Written in a smooth style that promotes conceptual understanding and integration, this intriguing text on policing in America uses a “balance of forces” metaphor throughout to help assimilate discussions- centering material around a recurrent analytical theme that seeks to define police as a product of correlated social, historical, political, legal, individual, and organizational forces. Providing a detailed description of policing with probing analyses of current police and practice problems, it covers the complexity of policing in America, and offers a comprehensive survey of the different police and law enforcement agencies working in the country today.