From the editor-in-chief

A special component of this issue, Volume 19, Issue 4, is the ‘Reflection Essay’ by Bruce Baker, namely, ‘Is it complex environments or complex systems that undermines police reform in developing countries?’ Reflection essays are a recently introduced innovation in PPR. This is the second essay in the series. The first essay, entitled ‘Reflections on the nature of policing and its development’, was authored by Clifford Shearing (2015).

I would like to echo here the sentiments of Clifford Shearing who suggested the new series: ‘the Reflections section might be a nice place to have thoughtful and articulate big thinkers reflect on some aspect of policing. The idea would be to invite people, to provide a fairly short reflection, that would encourage readers to rise above the normal policing discussions, especially discussions about what works and what doesn’t work, to reflect on larger issues that are of interest (and perhaps of concern) to them’. Clifford adds, ‘The purpose of the section would be to encourage readers who often have their noses, both scholarly and practitioner, close to their grind stones, to lift their gaze and to focus on wider horizons’ (Personal Correspondence, 2016).

The Reflection essay in this issue comes from a big thinker from Europe, Bruce Baker. His last book, Security in Post-conflict Africa: The Role of Non-State Policing (CRC Press, 2009; A contribution to IPES Book Series, Advances in Police Theory and Practice) won the American Society of Criminology’s Prize for Best Book in Comparative and International Criminology in 2010. Bruce has undertaken research and consultancies in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, Seychelles, Liberia, South Sudan, Comoros, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Afghanistan. He is the Editor of the Book Series, Trends in Policing: Interviews with Police Leaders Across the Globe (International Police Executive Symposium and Taylor and Francis) and a PPR editor.

Proposals for ‘Reflections’ essays from across the globe are most welcome and may be sent to Dr Garth den Heyer ([email protected]).

It is appropriate to mention here that we have another feature in PPR akin to ‘Reflections’. This is the Series, called Pioneers in Policing. According to Otwin Marenin, who edited this Series in the initial years and did the groundbreaking work, ‘pioneers’ are those ‘who through their thinking, doing research and writing about the police, broadly defined, have had an impact on how the rest of us think about, develop research and write on important aspects of police and policing.’ Gary Cordner has taken over the Pioneer Series from Otwin and hopes to attract essays on the likes of Peter Manning, James Q. Wilson. Richard Ericson, Albert Reiss, Jean Paul Brodeur, Cyrlle Fijnaut, Larry Sherman, Michael Banton, Egon Bittner, Maureen Cain, Wes Skogan, George Kelling, Nick Tilley, Maurice Punch, Hans Toch, Arthur Niederhoffer, Duncan Chappell, and others. Anyone interested in writing an essay on ‘Pioneers’ including those mentioned above is encouraged to contact Professor Cordner ([email protected]).

I thank Gary Cordner, Otwin Marenin and Clifford Shearing, all of whom are PPR editors, for their immeasurable contribution to the Pioneers and Reflection Series that have adorned the pages of PPR as well as for their help and advice in preparation of this Editorial.

 

Dilip Das
Editor in Chief
Edited in the Office of IPES