Book Review: Cordner, G. W., Scarborough, K. E., & Sheehan, R. (2004). Police Administration (5th ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Anderson. 517 pp

• Author: Arvind Verma
• Published date: 01 September 2007
• Date: 01 September 2007
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734016807305974
• Subject Matter: Articles

report what he saw, with minimal judgment and interpretation. Still, the simple fact is that

he was an observer with his own experiences and opinions. Offering some impressions

would have added an interesting layer to the book, although it is nevertheless insightful in

its current form.

Jean Marie McGloin

University of Maryland, College Park

References

Bittner, E. (1967). The police on skid row:A study of peace keeping. American Sociological Review, 32, 699-715.

Ohlin, L. E., & Remington, F. J. (Eds.). (1993). Discretion in criminal justice:The tension between individual-

ization and uniformity. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Cordner, G. W., Scarborough, K. E., & Sheehan, R. (2004).

Police Administration (5th ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Anderson. 517 pp.

DOI: 10.1177/0734016807305974

As the authors state at the beginning, this book is primarily for students and practitioners

interested in police administration. Gary Cordner is of course a well-known police scholar

and his numerous contributions to literature are acknowledged widely. It is therefore not

surprising that this book is now in its fifth edition, an indication of its popularity and utility

for the readers. The book is a standard text in many criminology programs and rightly so.

This fifth edition is a comprehensive treatise on police administration and covers an extensive

range of topics from basic management to emerging topics of cybercrimes and terrorism.

The book is well organized: divided in four parts, it covers police administration from its

basics and moves toward the traditional and human perspectives, concluding with strategic

management tactics. Beginning with the historical development of policing and laying out the

social, political, and legal context of police work, the nature, goals, and organizational tasks

are comprehensively covered in the first part. The strength of the book begins to emerge in

the second part where principles of the organization, functions of the management, and the

role of executive are explored. Although many departments are going “beyond” traditional

administrative forms (as acknowledged by the authors), the need to understand this structure

is undisputed as this still forms the “core” of police administration. Even with new forms of

organization and ways of operations, concepts such as planning, staffing, supervision, and

leadership remain pertinent to police departments. The role of police leader, for example, in

developing proper relations with the community, politicians, media, and union remains as

important as during the time of Vollmer. The authors do well to emphasize these themes while

at the same time introduce the readers to new issues of performance appraisal, cultural diver-

sity in the organization, and reinvention of the government.

Part III brings out another major strength of the book where the human dimensions of police

administration are described. Undoubtedly, “the individual is the basic subsystem of the orga-

nization” and human behavior is an important issue for administration of any organization. The

Book Reviews 277