Book Review: Police-Community Relations: Crisis In Our Time, H. H. Earle, Thomas, Illinois, 1970, 2nd ed., 205 pp.; The Police and The Underprotected Child, C. J. Flammang, Thomas, Illinois, 1970, 310 pp.
| Author | Janet Clunies-Ross |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486587000300410 |
| Date | 01 December 1970 |
| Published date | 01 December 1970 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
248 AUST. &N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (Dec., 1970): 3, 4
Book Reviews
Police-Community Relations: Crisis In
Our
Time, H. H. Earle, Thomas, Illinois, 1970,
2nd ed., 205 pp.
The Police
and
The Underprotected Child,
C. J. Flammang, Thomas, Illinois, 1970,
310 pp,
THE role of
the
police in
the
changed
and
changing society of
the
second half of
the
20th
century
appears to be developing into
an even
more
urgent question as
the
1970s
begin
their
inexorable progression in an
atmosphere of dissent, disturbance
and
violence. .
Dissertations on
the
police
more
often
than
not
have dealt
with
their
subject
on all
fronts
at
once--selection of recruits,
training, educational standards, adminis-
tration, promotion policies,
law
enforce-
ment practices in certain situations
and
press
and
community relations.
The
two
books
under
review have, how-
ever, devoted
their
whole
attention
to a
specific
area
of the general police role.
Earle, a veteran of
the
Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Department, a
member
of the teaching staff of
the
University of
Southern California
and
president of
several Police Community Relations Com-
mittees,
has
produced in Police
and
Community Relations
what
is essentially
aguide book for police officers in
their
publicity work, as well as a record of
what
the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Depart-
ment has done and is doing in
this
direc-
tion. It is a glossily produced book
with
many illustrations, which, as well as pro-
viding amanual for
the
police, will no
doubt enlighten members of
the
general
public on police duties and difficulties,
and enhance
their
image as welfare-
minded co-operators
with
the
citizens in
preserving
the
peace of
their
community.
Important as this aspect of police
work
is,
the
area
which Flammang deals
with
in
The Police
and
the
Underprotected Child
seems even
more
vital to
the
well being
of
the
community in
the
future long
range
view, as well as in
the
present. How
children in
need-those,
neglected, abused,
or in
trouble
with
the
law -
are
treated
by
the
police in
their
first experience of
the
authority
of society
may
in
many
cases
make
the
difference between
later
nor-
mality or deviance,
and
determine
whether
or
not
a
future
career will be one of
delinquency
and
crime.
Flammang, a police science
instructor
at Fresno City College
and
the
Delinquency
Control
Institute
of Indiana University, is
aformer detective sergeant in
the
Fresno
County Juvenile Bureau,
and
well qualified
by his experience
and
knowledge to tackle
the
problems of children and
parents
in
trouble. This book
with
its somewhat
understated
title
("unprotected" might be
a more realistic word) is, as a result, a
fund of information and practical advice
for police
and
public alike.
His thesis is
the
necessity of specialized
training for
this
sensitive
area
of police
work. Particularly important is know-
ledge of
the
psychological and sociological
problems involved in child protection
cases, which would provide some under-
standing of
the
behavioural symptoms
and
environmental situations of parents
as
well
as children,
and
of
the
needs of both.
This is made especially clear in relation
to the suspected
battered
child,
where
certain suspicious circumstances
both
medical, psychological and situational
have
been shown to be factors highly
related
and indicative of this phenomenon
and
must be quickly recognized
and
as speedily
acted upon.
In the preface (p, vii) Flammang
states
his case -
what
he intends to do in dis-
cussing at book length this
area
of police
work in which "welfare" tends to out-
weigh
"law
enforcement" as
the
key
concept
and
overriding aim of
any
action.
"The
proper
protection of children is
within
the
scope of the police mission.
The fact
that
certain police officials, as
well as those in
other
disciplines, do
not
give credence to this concept, is due
to
their shortsightedness.
For
many police
personnel,
any
departure
from the tradi-
tional views of police
work
is an intoler-
able inconsistency. Child protection is
not
new to
the
police function. It is a
part
of
the
obligation of law enforcement to
protect persons
and
property. As such,
there
is a need for understanding of
this
mission, and for
the
development of prac-
tices and procedures to ensure its effective
and efficient completion. It is
the
intent
of this book to give to
the
police
the
most
current
and
sophisticated information
relating to child protection."
In successfully doing this, Flammang of
course acknowledges
that
the
police
are
only one facet of
the
attack
on
the
prob-
lem of
the
underprotected
child-the
entire
judicial process,
the
medical, social wel-
fare and educational systems have
their
important contributions to make,
but
he
develops agood case for
the
vital role
the police
are
required to fill.
It should perhaps be noted here
that
Flammang has an advantage over
any
of
us in Australia
who
would agree with all
he says, and would like to preach
the
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