Police Under Fire

School Library Journal

Gr 6-9-Using accounts of true incidents to make his point, Gottfried indicates factors such as racial prejudice, cultural differences, and pressures and demands of the job that often lead to police brutality. He emphasizes the fact that the great majority of law-enforcement officers avoid violent overreaction and criminal activity. Yet, it is the descriptions of vicious beatings like those of Rodney King in Los Angeles and of Haitian-immigrant Abner Louima in New York City that stay with readers after the book is closed. The last chapter gives hypothetical examples of the types of difficult ethical situations some officers may face every day. No clear-cut answers are provided, and readers can see why police may sometimes make wrong split-second decisions under duress. Information presented in short, titled sections in a spacious layout makes the text accessible. Terms appearing in the glossary are also well defined in context. Well-chosen lists of source-note citations, books, police and civil-rights organizations, and Internet sites encourage further investigation. Kelly C. Anderson's Police Brutality (Lucent, 1995) and Paul A. Winters's Policing the Police (Greenhaven, 1995) also address these issues. Edward F. Dolan and Margaret M. Scariano's The Police in American Society (Watts, 1988; o.p.) stresses the positive aspects of police work despite occasional lapses, such as the 1968 Democratic National Convention violence in Chicago. While dated, it does provide more balancing evidence of good police work.-Ann G. Brouse, Big Flats Branch Library, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.