Policing Space: Territoriality and the Los Angeles Police Department

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: All I can say is that this is a wonderful book. I had to read it for his class (A fantastic professor as well) and it ended up being a pleasure to read. I couldn't put it down. It ia facinating and truthful look at the LAPD! I would recomend it to anyone who is interested in policing!

Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK ABOUT SPACE AND HOW COPS PERCEIVE IT
Review: Herbert, Steve. (1997). Policing Space. Territoriality and the Los Angeles Police Department. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Here is a terrific book. I picked it up at Urban Center Books, started to read it onthe subway home, and couldn't put it down. It is pretty rare that I feel this aboutany book in our field. Much of what I read seems an obligation rather than achosen pleasure. So I am writing this e-mail "Sounding" to encourage others toget familiar with this book. This is a short, intense book, probably Steve Herbert's dissertation rewritten intothis popular (but informing) version. It consists of a minimal amount ofintroductory material, an exposition of "six 'normative orders' central to thestructure of police organizations," and a brief coda titled "Making and MarkingSpace with the LAPD." The interesting thing is that each of the six normativeorders" is elaborately played out in physical space.You can imagine where Herbert is coming from given that an early subheading istitled, "Weber, Foucault, and the Microgeopolitics of State Power." (13.) I'm noteven going to attempt to summarize his theoretical position in this brief Sounding,but I will write out the following quotation (which I won't indent, because it wouldprobably get screwed up in an e-mail):"Society, Culture, and Space""Just as social-structural works often neglect the shaping influence of culture,they also regularly overlook the spatial embeddeness of social action...Analysis ofeveryday police behavior, in other words, must pay attention not only to its socialand cultural construction, but also to its intractable spatiality; in working to upholdsocially constructed notions of public order, officers seek to control the spacesthey patrol." (20-21.)Well, isn't that something that you would want to read on about? It was so forme. The body of the book has six chapters, each describing and complexifying the sixspatially expressed "normative orders." These are; [1] "...law, which by legislativefiat defines the permissible parameters of police action [rooted in, among otherthings, what space is public and what space is private]; [2] bureaucraticregulations, which seek to determine police procedures more finely through a setof rules that establish a chain of command [and which ascribe control ofparticular spaces to particular--sometimes competing--subdivisions of thebureaucracy]; [3] adventure/machismo, which constitutes the police ascourageous individuals who embrace danger as a test of individual ability [andwho choose to be or not be in particular places at particular times]; [4] safety,which establishes a set of practices to protect the police from undue harm [andwhich means that police are trained to walk close to buildings (so they maysurprise whomever is inside), keep their cruiser windows rolled down (to be ableto hear shots being fired) and their seat belts unfastened (to get out fast) in'dangerous' neighborhoods]; [5] competence, which suggests that police shouldbe able to control the public areas for which they are responsible; and [6]morality, which infuses police practice with a sense of right and goodness, inessence because it helps protect society from 'bad guys' [who are located inparticular places]."For each of the six "normative orders," Herbert writes a multifaceted analysisbased on his eight months of participant observation field notes. Herbert's work was done as a participant observer in The Wilshire Division of theLAPD. His opportunity to do this research was because of efforts to reform the"overly professionalized" LAPD, an effort resulting largely from the brutal beatingof Rodney King. Thus, Herbert was in a rare historical situation where he hadaccess that would ordinarily be denied. His challenge was to make useful senseof what he observed in a manner that would explain police behavior in ways thateven the police might find enlightening. Thus, this is not an "expose" of policebehavior. Reading this book makes it clearer why cops become so righteouslyincensed at people who try to run away from them or angry at gangs who tagneighborhoods with graffiti or even dismissive of their fellow police who choosenot to go for the most arrests in the most dangerous areas. (These latter copsare called "Station Queens." How homophobic!) Over the past six years I've tried to march with ILGO (Irish Lesbian and GayOrganization) in the St. Patrick's Day Parade. (I really don't want to beassociated with that awful display, but I express my right to march in a publicevent regardless of my sexuality.) Every year, despite the fact that the protesthas been peaceful the previous year, the police bring up the most awesome arrayof artillery that you can imagine. There are literally blocks lined with vans andcommunication units and equipment of unimaginable uses. There are hundredsof police dressed up in riot gear. It has always seemed a bit of a mystery to mejust why it is so important to the police that they display this kind of out of whackresponse to a few hundred peaceful protesters. After all, there are real problemsin New York that could be attended to. This book helps me understand theirneed to control space and to deny my challenge to their control.

Rating:
Summary: Duller side of average
Review: This work was insightful but it suffers from its largely anecdotal structure. Through the entire work, the author employs a "present a short scenario - analyze the short scenario" method. Though the author's analysis is commendable, his technique is rather tiring after a few chapters. However, if you are patient and seriously interested in the aspects of police patrol and territoriality, you should enjoy it... just be prepared for minor de ja vu.