Book Review: Weitzer, R., & Tuch, S. A. (2006). Race and Policing in America: Conflict and Reform. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. xi, 225

• DOI: 10.1177/0734016808314548
• Date: 01 March 2008
• Published date: 01 March 2008
• Subject Matter: Articles

112
Criminal Justice Review
Ultimately, however, the book works rather well and effectively showcases the spectrum
and the current state of law enforcement policy innovations. Later chapters treat Compstat,
evidence-based policing, hot spots policing, and third party policing with rigor, adroitness,
and aplomb. The criminal justice academy is well represented in Police Innovations, and
the discourse in policy analysis, future initiatives, and past strategies are nicely articulated.
Thomas W. Nolan
Boston University
Weitzer, R., & Tuch, S. A. (2006). Race and Policing in America:
Conflict and Reform. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press. pp. xi, 225.
DOI: 10.1177/0734016808314548
Race and Policing in America: Conflict and Reform is a comprehensive and coherent
book explaining just how and why race matters in policing. No stone seems left unturned
as the authors examine public attitudes toward police misconduct, racialized policing, and
the degree to which racial groups support police reform and policy efforts. Using national
survey data, the authors find that Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics differ on every policing
issue examined in the book. African Americans by far hold the most critical views, and
while Hispanics hold less favorable views than Whites, both Blacks and Hispanics express
similar concerns for the need of police reform.
Weitzer and Tuch’s book begins with a discussion of police–minority relations in
America, where the racial divide on police work has a rather long and extensive history,
showing that distrust occurs at many stages of the criminal justice system and ranges from
attitudes to experiences. Whites tend to trust, have positive experiences with, and avoid the
abuses of police action more often than others. African Americans are on the polar opposite
side of the scale. The authors not only document differences in public perceptions by race
and ethnicity, but also investigate what shapes police–citizen relations, such as experiences
with the...