Policing America: Challenges and Best Practices

Taking a new direction and emphasis, this edition of Policing America offers a problem-solving approach and emphasizes what is actually working in the field. Based on the author’s over thirty five years of experience, the book offers complete coverage of traditional policing topics, a concise view of the reorganized federal law enforcement system, and coverage of topics such as homeland security, community policing, investigations, accountability, patrol and technologies. This edition features two new problem-solving chapters, an new problem-solving appendix and over thirty case-study exhibits that reinforce what works to attack such problems as terrorism, gangs, and crimes involving drugs, hate, and youth. For those involved/interested in General Policing, Community Policing, and Policing Issues.

Ken Peak’s career as a practitioner and educator in law enforcement and criminal justice spans more than 35 years — including nearly eight years as a police chief executive and beat officer. He is currently a full professor and former chairman of the Department of Criminal Justice, University of Nevada, Reno, where he was named teacher of the year by the university’s honor society. He entered municipal policing in Kansas in 1970 and subsequently held positions as a nine-county criminal justice planner in Kansas; director of a four-state Technical Assistance Institute for the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration; director of university police at Pittsburg State University in Kansas; acting director of public safety at the University of Nevada, Reno; and assistant professor of criminal justice at Wichita State University.

He has authored or coauthored twenty other textbooks, including Justice Administration: Police, Courts, and Corrections Management (5th ed.); Community Policing and Problem Solving: Strategies and Practices (5th ed., with Ronald W. Glensor); Police Supervision and Management: In an Era of Community Policing (2nd ed., with Ronald W. Glensor and Larry K. Gaines); Women in Law Enforcement Careers: A Guide for Preparing and Succeeding with V. Lord); and Policing Communities: Understanding Crime and Solving Problems (an anthology, with R. Glensor and M. Correia). He has also published two historical books– Kansas Temperance: Much Ado about Booze, 1870 — 1920 (with P. Peak) and Kansas Bootleggers (with Patrick G. O’Brien)–as well as more than fifty journal articles and book chapters.

He has served as chairman of the Police Section of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and as president of the Western and Pacific Association of Criminal Justice Educators. His teaching interests include policing, administration, victimology, and comparative justice systems. He received two gubernatorial appointments to statewide criminal justice committees while residing in Kansas and holds a doctorate from the University of Kansas.