This book is the result of David Bayley's multi-year study of policing in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Japan, and the United States. A recognized authority on policing, Bayley set out to examine the police as a whole, to work out whether police do what the citizens of democratic societies require and expect, and to formulate a future policy for the role of police in crime prevention.

This book presents a theory of policing. Not a theory in the scientific sense of explaining why police act as they do (although there is some of that), but a theory that explains the choices democratic societies face about the police. Are the police doing what they should? If not, what are the possibilities for improvement? In particular, what are the advantages and disadvantages of continuing as we are or of pressing forward in different ways? This book presents a theory of policy choices. It presents what people need to consider in order to frame police policies intelligently.

A `benchmark' study and analysis of police operations and outcomes....a very useful blueprint for the future.