With a keen and incisive perspective, esteemed authors and policing researchers, Samuel Walker and Carol Archbold, address the most recent developments and provide an analysis of what works, what reforms are promising, and what has proven unsuccessful. The book’s analysis draws on current research, as well as the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing and the reforms embodied in Justice Department consent decrees.
Samuel Walker is Professor Emeritus at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where he taught for 31 years. He holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.
Sam is the author of 14 books, which have appeared in 39 different editions over the years. His most important books include Sense and Nonsense About Crime, Drugs, and Community (8th ed., 2018), The Police In America: An Introduction, with Charles M. Katz (9th ed., 2018), Police Accountability: The Role of Citizen Oversight (2001), and In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the ACLU (1990). He is also the author of several reports, including Early Intervention Systems for Law Enforcement Agencies (2003), and Mediating Citizen Complaints Against Police Officers: A Guide for Police And Community Leaders (2002).
Over the years, Sam has engaged in numerous speaking and consulting activities with federal agencies, local police, community groups, and private professional associations. He is presently an Advisor to the American Law Institute, Principles of Police Investigations Project. He testified before the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing (2015) and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (2015). In 2013 he was an expert witness for the Plaintiffs in Floyd v. New York City, a challenge to the stop and frisk program of the New York City Police Department.
He has consulted with police departments and/or mayor’s committees in Albuquerque, Austin, Boise, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Kansas City, King County (WA), Los Angeles, Madison, Minneapolis, the New Jersey State Police, Oakland, Pasadena, Phoenix, Portland (OR), Reno, St. Louis, San Diego, Seattle, and other cities. He has spoken to and/or consulted with community groups in Ashland (OR), Baltimore, Biloxi, Boston, Chicago, Chico. Cincinnati, Des Moines, Los Angeles, North Charleston (SC), Omaha, Pasadena, Rochester (NY), San Francisco, Seattle, San Juan (PR), Washington, DC, and other communities.
Carol A. Archbold is a Walter F. and Verna Gehrts Endowed Professor at North Dakota State University in the Department of Criminal Justice and Political Science in Fargo, North Dakota. She earned her PhD from the University of Nebraska–Omaha in 2002. Her research interests include police accountability and liability, police misconduct, women in policing, and police and race issues. She has published articles in such journals as Police Quarterly, Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, Journal of Criminal Justice, and the Journal of Crime and Justice. In 2004, Dr. Archbold published a book based on the first national study of the use of risk management in law enforcement in the United States, Police Accountability, Risk Management and Legal Advising (LFB Scholarly Publishing). This study was the focus of her dissertation. In 2011, she was one of three authors of a reader, Women and Policing in America: Classic and Contemporary Readings (Wolter Kluwers/Aspen Publishing). In 2012, Dr. Archbold authored “Policing: A Text/Reader” for SAGE Publications. She was also co-author of the second edition of “The New World of Police Accountability” with Dr. Samuel Walker in 2014. She is currently working on a national study of police accountability in rural law enforcement agencies, and will be the author of “Policing: The Essentials” textbook (with contributions by Dr. Carol Huynh and Dr. Thomas Mrozla) published by SAGE Publications in 2020.
