The authors bring more than 100 years of practical (including administrative, managerial, and supervisory) and academic police experience to this textbook; therefore, the chapters contain a "real world" flavor. A uniquely comprehensive view is provided of police supervision and management, and chapters also discuss such topics as critical incidents, tactical operations, patrol problems, officers' rights and discipline, community policing and problem solving, ethical issues and liability, and training and. evaluation. From beginning to end, the book provides an inside view of what are certainly difficult and challenging roles.

A comparatively large number of textbooks on police management and administration have been written over the past several decades, addressing the roles and responsibilities of chiefs of police or sheriffs. This text, however, focuses on first-line supervisors and middle managers and is grounded on the assumption that the reader is an undergraduate, possibly even a graduate, student or a neophyte practitioner, possessing but a fundamental knowledge of police organizations and operations. It is intended to help those persons learn more about the field of policing, as well as help those practitioners who are preparing for promotion, and new and experienced supervisors who are seeking to improve their skills. It will help to lay the foundation for the reader's future study and experience. This text also assumes that apracticalpolice supervision perspective is often lost in many administrative texts; therefore, while necessarily delving into some theory, this text is intended to focus on the practical aspects of a supervisor's or manager's job. Those of us who have held a job or position, unless self-employed, have had a supervisor to whom we reported. That individual probably had a hand in showing us how to do our work and certainly was responsible for making sure that we did it properly. Even persons who have not yet entered the working world have experienced supervision in school, in sports, in the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, or in other nonwork settings. Supervision is a crucial element of any organized activity and is present in all organizations. Our supervisors often reported totheirsupervisors, or managers. The managers coordinated and supervised the efforts of the lower-level supervisors as well as ensuring that the unit functioned as higher-level administrators envisioned. Supervisors and managers are the keys to quality work in any organization. This book specifically concernspolicesupervision and management. In order to address these topics thoroughly and to provide as much useful information as possible, we must maintain a dual approach by looking at supervision and management broadly, while also focusing narrowly on these areas in police organizations. All supervisors and managers, whether in police departments, construction, or business firms, share similar concerns and duties. They manage people and activities. It is also true that each and every organization is unique. Police departments in particular are different from most other organizations, for the simple reason that police work is different from most other vocations and occupations. Police officers have the unique authority to arrest people and investigate their activities. Also, police departments are not all made from the same mold. The New York City Police Department and the Chicago Police Department, the two largest departments in the United States, are different from the Las Vegas Police Department or the Nashville Police Department. Although all of these departments have the same or similar responsibilities, substantial variation within the police profession itself makes the job of police supervisors or managers unique and challenging. In addition, the police supervisors' and managers' jobs have recently been made even more specialized as a result of the implementation of community policing. Community policing has placed many new responsibilities on the police sergeant and manager. During the course of a workday, police supervisors and managers directly oversee several employees in the performance of their activities and may even supervise a life-threatening situation or a critical incident or disaster. While a supervisor may not have ultimate command and control over critical incidents or disasters, he or she is often the first responder at the scene; his or her actions and directions to subordinates will be vital in determining the eventual success of the police in dealing with the problem. Ma