Toronto: University of Toronto Press; Oxford: Oxford University, 1997
Policing the Risk Society
Richard V. Ericson and Kevin D. Haggerty

The information age has left few of us untouched; individuals and institutions have undergone radical transformations in the race to get the most out of new technologies. The police are no exception. Policing the Risk Society introduces us to a new vision of police work where information gathered by the police with surveillance and data collection technologies is brokered to other institutions. The authors document the ways in which the police have become information brokers to institutions such as insurance companies and health and welfare organizations that operate based on a knowledge of risk. In turn, these institutions influence the ways that police officers think and act. A critical review of existing research reveals the need to study police interaction with institutions as well as individuals. These institutions are part of an emerging 'risk society' where knowledge of risk is used to control danger. The authors empirically examine different aspects of police involvement: the use of surveillance technologies, and the collection of data on teritorial protection, securities, careers, and different social, ethnic, age and gender groups.

They conclude by looking at how police organizations have been forced to bureaucratize and to perpetually develop new communication rules, formats and technologies to meet external demands for knowledge of risk. This book revolutionizes the study of policing and is the first to provide concrete evidence of central tenets of risk society theory. It will impact heavily on scholars in criminology, social theory, and communications as well as on policing and the public.