For undergraduate-level courses in Field Operations, Police Patrol Procedures, and Basic Police Operations, THE standard text for twenty-first century policing, this practical introduction to police field operations is written from the perspective of a working police officer and presents the real-life scenarios an officer is likely to encounter while on-duty. Focused on community policing throughout, it details how and why certain procedures are used, and provides instructional techniques from leading police academies around the country.

As a peace officer it is your responsibility, in partnership with the people you serve, to maintain the peace and tranquility of your community and to protect the lives and property of the people who live in--and visit--that community. There are few individuals in our open society who have a more sacred trust than yours. People from all over the world are encouraged to come and mingle among us with virtual freedom of action and movement. What we have so dramatically been awakened to is that some of those guests, and even some of our own citizens, have evil designs to destroy our prosperity and way of life. There will be times when you will have to decide whether to stop a person for questioning or to arrest someone for a real or suspected violation of the law, and your action will have a profound effect on the lives and reputations of many people. In less than a second, you may have to make the awesome decision whether or not to use deadly force to end the life of someone you believe is presenting an immediate threat to your own life or that of someone else. You will make wise decisions, and you will make mistakes in judgment as well. No other professional in our society has the power, and the accountability that goes with it, to use physical force upon other people in order to do their job. At times you will have the overwhelming support of many people for what you do, and at other times you will be all alone, with no one willing to give you moral or physical support. For these reasons, service as a peace officer is one of the most selfless and courageous career choices you could make. Police Field Operations,editions one through six, has been specifically developed over the last thirty years from a vast variety of sources, including training bulletins, academy notes, general and special orders, and the personal experiences of the author and a great many colleagues, to provide you, the police professional, with a body of knowledge to better prepare you to perform your duties as a field officer. The outline ofPolice Field Operationscorresponds with that of a second- or third-year college course of the same name developed many years ago and updated every two or three years, including as recently as this edition's publication date. Our sources for the material contained in this book include hundreds of training bulletins and class outlines and a number of volumes of contemporary literature on the subject, as well as many years of teaching in two police academies, fourteen years as a municipal police officer, and numerous years as a college professor, spanning more than forty-eight years of combined experience since I became a police officer in 1954 and started teaching in 1959 (and I'm still teaching, I might add). Colleagues throughout the world have had their brains picked so that we could keep the material relevant and current. It is my fervent hope that it will serve you well and aid you in developing your own base of police knowledge, which will enable you to perform as a true police professional. I have learned a great deal from others. So shall you. All the information and techniques presented in this text are the culmination of the collective wisdom and experience of my colleagues, past and present. You will notice that there is not an abundance of footnotes. That is because most of the material is sourced from the author, except where duly referenced. Space restrictions have made it necessary to leave out some information, but what is contained herein includes what I consider to be the information most critical to the successful performance of your job. Once you have settled into your field duties, you are going to develop better ways to handle some of these procedures, ways more suited to your own personal style and your own unique community. In the meantime, however, while you are finding those special ways to do it your way, may I suggest that you try these. Then, wh