Book Review: Masculinities in the criminological field: Control, vulnerability and risk-taking

• DOI: 10.1177/0734016815585603
• Date: 01 December 2015
• Author: Melissa Dearey
• Published date: 01 December 2015
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

the Milwaukee andNewark Police Departmentthat precluded statisticalsignificance testing beingper-

formed. Theyalso acknowledge the inabilityto survey Boston and LosAngeles police officers because

of concerns amongemployee unions and the size of the agency,respectively. Also, the interviewscon-

ducted providerich information about eachagency’s dynamics, but respondentswere obtained through

the snowball sampling technique. However, the information obtained through the various data collec-

tion measures contribute toward understanding police officers’ contemporary perceptions of their

work. Even though the authors encountered obstacles, the results are significant to further the readers

understanding of an institution that has historically been difficult for researchers to penetrate.

Jenkins and DeCarlo describe the delicate balance that exists in policing when implementing

community problem solving because of the desire to rely on broken windows and zero tolerance

policing to address a problem. The organizations examined were able to resist the temptation and

followed a philosophical framework to improve their long-term performance. The book dedicates

a chapter to each of the agencies studied to illustrate the flexibility involved when implementing

communityproblem solving. The authors describethe various crises involvedwithin each organization

that further accentuates the dynamic environment involved in policing America’s communities.

A central component of community problem solving is the emphasis that traditional police tactics

(i.e., arrests and issuing citations) are an important component to solve community problems. Orga-

nizational leadership was salient to provide transparency among officers that enabled them to under-

stand the outcomes that the ‘‘numbers’’ produced; where quality was emphasized over quantity. The

focus was on results and communicating the reasons tactics are used, but also to use police authority

wisely. Overall, the transition to community problem solving requires administrative, programma-

tic, and technological innovations. Jenkins and DeCarlo provide readers the navigational path each

agency pursued to break down barriers to facilitate teamwork and improve communication across

police divisions/bureaus, the creation of specialized units to enhance problem solving, emphasizing

the importance of accountability and discretion to address quality of life offenses without a zero tol-

erance mandate, the development and maintenance of community partnerships to facilitate

community-wide problem solving, and organizational transparency through the use of technology

to identify and address community concerns.

The new communityproblem-solving era has arrived. Jenkins and DeCarlo articulate that the com-

munity problem-solving modelis an effective approach to police America’scommunities by providing

a coherent, but flexible, implementation strategy. The clarity contained in the community problem-

solving philosophy best suits the current era to be titled the new community problem-solving era.

This book is an excellent supplement to use in upper-level undergraduate and graduate policing

courses because it illustrates the problems associated with policing that has compromised police

legitimacy and trust, but it provides a model where legitimacy and trust can be restored. Police prac-

titioners, regardless of their position in an organization, can also use this book to understand the

value the new community problem-solving era philosophy and strategies have toward effectively

policing a community.

Lander, I., Ravn, S., & Jon, N. (Eds.). (2014).

Masculinities in the criminological field: Control, vulnerability and risk-taking. Farnham, England: Ashgate, 268 pp.

$119.95, ISBN 9781472410139.

Reviewed by: Melissa Dearey, University of Hull, Kingston upon Hull, England

DOI: 10.1177/0734016815585603

Book Reviews 525