Books in Brief: The Police

The Police, by Herbert T. Klein (Crown, $5.95). The police must constantly struggle to make manifest the abstractions of law in the concreteness of order. Thus, legislative acts and judicial decisions often materially alter the ability of the policeman to combat criminal elements. Klein, a retired policemen, explains and underscores his views by making examples of his actual cases (many of which have the flavor of good mystery stories). His opposition to the Supreme Court’s Miranda decision is embodied in the story of, an eleven-year-old boy who has shot two teen-agers. The boy, vaguely cognizant of the law and emboldened by misinformation, responded to Klein’s questioning with the words the Miranda decision was to make law, “I don’t gotta tell nobody nuttin.” In a similar fashion Klein attacks the proposal for a Civilian Review Board outside the Police Department (while commending the Conservative Party for its herculean efforts in this cause) and praises New York’s “No Knock” and “Stop and Frisk” laws. The book ranges beyond these positions, however, to give an overview of the awesome spectrum of the responsibilities of the policeman. It becomes evident that the most efficient police force can only enforce law to the extent the law allows enforcement. And, while the potential to substantially protect law-abiding citizens exists in today’s police forces, the power to allow the realization of that potential lies with legislators and judges. Who, then, shall be protected—the majority or the miscreants who “don’t gotta tell nobody nuttin.”?

TC

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T. Crawford

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The Police, by Herbert T. Klein (Crown, $5.95). The police must constantly struggle to make manifest the abstractions of law in the concreteness of order. Thus, legislative acts and judicial decisions often materially alter the ability of the policeman to combat criminal elements. Klein, a retired policemen, explains and underscores his views by making examples of his actual cases (many of which have the flavor of good mystery stories). His opposition to the Supreme Court’s Miranda decision is embodied in the story of, an eleven-year-old boy who has shot two teen-agers. The boy, vaguely cognizant of the law and emboldened by misinformation, responded to Klein’s questioning with the words the Miranda decision was to make law, “I don’t gotta tell nobody nuttin.” In a similar fashion Klein attacks the proposal for a Civilian Review Board outside the Police Department (while commending the Conservative Party for its herculean efforts in this cause) and praises New York’s “No Knock” and “Stop and Frisk” laws. The book ranges beyond these positions, however, to give an overview of the awesome spectrum of the responsibilities of the policeman. It becomes evident that the most efficient police force can only enforce law to the extent the law allows enforcement. And, while the potential to substantially protect law-abiding citizens exists in today’s police forces, the power to allow the realization of that potential lies with legislators and judges. Who, then, shall be protected—the majority or the miscreants who “don’t gotta tell nobody nuttin.”?