Review: Deadly Force: Firearms and American Law Enforcement, from the Wild West to the Streets of Today, Handbook of Firearms and Ballistics: Examining and Interpreting Forensic Evidence: Second Edition
| Author | Peter Squires,Zoe James |
| Published date | 01 March 2010 |
| Date | 01 March 2010 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1350/pojo.2010.83.1.504 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
ZOE JAMES
Reviews Editor
Z.James@plymouth.ac.uk
REVIEWS
DEADLY FORCE: FIREARMS AND AMERICAN LAW
ENFORCEMENT, FROM THE WILD WEST TO THE
STREETS OF TODAY
C. McNab
Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2009
HANDBOOK OF FIREARMS AND BALLISTICS:
EXAMINING AND INTERPRETING FORENSIC
EVIDENCE
Second Edition
B.J. Heard
Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008
Reviewed by Peter Squires
There is a timeliness to the publication of these two books such
that it makes sense to review them together, different as they are.
Neither book is chiefly written for criminologists, although
criminologists and students of criminal justice might find plenty
of relevance in each of them. To take McNab’s Deadly Force to
begin with, its relevance for our times is rooted in a debate,
developing on either side of the Atlantic and in other societies
too, about the legitimate use of force by the police and certain
paramilitary tendencies that may be stretching a conventional
definition of ‘policing’. In the UK, particularly since the Stock-
well shooting and revisited following the unfortunate policing of
the 2009 G20 summit in London, this debate has led both the
IPCC and HMIC to seek to re-establish certain parameters for
‘policing by consent’ while reasserting a principle of the min-
imum use of force. Such issues have surfaced in the USA too;
there has been growing criticism of the increasingly militaristic
policing adopted by specialist ‘anti-gang’ or ‘anti-drug’ units.
During 2008 this culminated in the publication of a report by a
Special Board of Inquiry to look into the culture, behaviour and
performance of the LAPD SWAT Unit in the light of its heavy-
handed response to a number of incidents. The final sections of
McNab’s book have plenty that is constructive to say about these
issues and we will return to his conclusions later.
The Police Journal, Volume 83 (2010) 87
DOI: 10.1358/pojo.2010.83.1.504
To continue reading
Request your trial