Police
London: Oxford University Press, 1959. First edition. Hardcover. Small 8vo. [6], vii-ix, [2], 2-248, [2] pp. Navy cloth with silver lettering on the spine. Price of 7s. 6d. net on the front flap of the dust jacket. Inscription on the free front endpaper that reads: "To Professor Jon Witte, In the hope that it may be of some aid in your work. As ever Paul J. Schmidt. 16 Aug. 1959. Steel Strike Era". A history of how organized police forces arose in England and in other English-speaking countries, France, and Germany. Coatman himself served in the Indian Police Service in 1910, and touches on his experiences in police traning and day-to-day life as a policeman. He touches on issues specific to British colonial policemen and para-military law enforcement, and even discusses INTERPOL. Coatman also includes a section on the importance of the relationship between the public, the press, and the police: "General satisfaction on the part of the public is the best criterion of the quality of the police of any country, and the most important factor contributory to such powers conferred upon upon them by the law". Although Coatman speaks favorably of the British police force, he also cites studies that reveal how different segments of Americans at the time viewed their police force (as surveyed in Los Angeles in 1955). A neat little compendium of law enforcement history, told from a British policeman's perspective. Near Fine / Near Fine. Item #00009743
A Near Fine book in a like dust jacket with a touch of edge wear and age darkening to its tips.
Price: $75.00