Recent Book: … The End: “Harmless Weapons”
| Date | 01 January 1979 |
| Author | Richard Clutterbuck |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X7905200132 |
| Published date | 01 January 1979 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
THEN
FOLLOWED
PHILlPJOHNSTEAD(ANO OTHERS): Pioneers in Policing. McGraw
Hill-
£8.75
A first examination of the contents list
makes one wonder at the strange
collection of subjects
that
Professor
Stead has invited his distinguished
contributions to consider.
His own opening chapter makes things
clearer and he shows us his attempt to
draw together adisparate collection of
threads, which together help to make up
the weave of police history.
John
Stead has always been a good
writer but his Americanization has made
him a more incisive one, even thoughit is
at first strange to read him referring to
'garbage'.
He is well served by the majority of his
team, although problems of space have
obviously
made
some
of
the
contributions a little sketchy and little
more
than
fingerposts to further study.
Some, like
Jean
Nepote, on 'Interpol'
hardly seem worthy of inclusion, being
little more than acatalogue of names and
at that, not in any real sequence.
Others
like C. H.
Rolph
on
"Trenchard", one could have wished to
be twice as long, albeit without the
political comments on the subject's
theories of aerial strategy.
One omission issome definition for the
student for whom the book is intended
(and to whom it can be thoroughly
recommended) of the different types of
investigative agencies in Europe alone.
Nevertheless, a most welcome addition
to the literature of the police.
AEOlUS
T. A.
CRITCHLEY:
A History
of
Police in England and Wales (Second Edition).
Constable £5.50
The first edition of this book was and the challenges they face in the 70's.
rightly heralded immediately as the The police service owes Tom Critchley
definitive work and has been used by a debt and he will undoubtedly be
writers and lecturers and students remembered as its most outstanding
throughout the world. historian.
- All one can add insofar as the second A book for every police library and for
edition is concerned is
that
it now has a the shelves of every discerning student.
foreword by Sir Robert Mar.k and more
An~
do. not be content with the first
importantly, an entirely fresh chapter in edition If you.
ar~
fortunate enough to
which the
author
re-examines some of his own a copy. Give Itto a deserving fnend!
main historical themes about the police, H.V.H.
their control, the type of person they are
...
THE END
T
HE
COUNCIL
FOR
SCIENCE
A
NOSOCIETY:
"Harmless Weapons"
Barry Rose Publishers £4.50
"Harmless Weapons" is the report
ofa
Working Party for the Council for
Science and Society for a study of "The
problems of the introduction of
sophisticated weapons for the control of
civil disorder in Great Britain."
Basically the book is divided into three
parts, the first of which following on
from the Introduction deals with the
definition of harmless weapons and the
social and policy context of harmless
weapons.
The second area covered discusses the
Police, the Armed Forces and the drift to
athird force with a responsibility for
dealing
with
potential
violent
disturbances.
The last part of the report provides an
analysis of the types of weapon which
have been used or are available or may be
available to control any civil disorder
situation.
98
The beginning of the book is emotive
in its use of the word "harmless" and
completely irresponsible comparisons
with the war in Vietnam, the bombing of
Germany in World War Two and the
British involvement in Northern Ireland
during the present day are made with the
use of weapons by British Police to
control rioters.
Nobody would suggest that any
weapon used by the Police is harmless,
but the report leads the reader to the
suggestion that this is what should be.
There is some examination of various
definitions. but it is the Committee and
nobody else who suggest that weapons
are harmless, and
it-
is they who point out
that their use of the word is very
deliberate.
The second part of the report deals
with Policing in Great Britain and has a
potted history of its development as an
Januarv 1979
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