books of note: Police and Government Relations:

Cloth 0802091520 (£48.00) $75.00Paper 0802094236 (£22.50) $35.00 to shopping basket	Police and Government Relations: Who’s Calling the Shots? Edited by Margaret Beare and Tonita Murray University of Toronto Press © 2007 Paper: Apr 29 2007 Active/Available Cloth: May 2 2007 Active/Available World Rights 464pp /
Questions of police governance, accountability and independence have been subjected to thorough research before. That the issue still draws critical attention more than twenty years after the McDonald Commission of Inquiry into Certain Activities of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police suggests that understanding and a resolution to the issue still elude us. Despite the modifications to police practice that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has brought, there is still concern over the degree of independence the police exercise, and debate over where the line between legitimate government direction of the police and illegitimate political interference should be drawn. Police and Government Relations explores the question of police governance and independence from a number of different points of view. Editors Margaret E. Beare and Tonita Murray offer multi-disciplinary, comparative, and case-study methodologies written by scholars from law, political science, and criminology to illustrate the diversity of opinion that exists on the topic and to explore how the operating tension between police independence and democratic governance and accountability has played out, both in Canada and other countries. This book does not attempt to find final answers; its goal is to provide a framework for a continuing discussion that may lead to helpful and workable recommendations for the future. It serves as an academic and intellectual contribution to an important matter of public policy. Contributors Margaret E. Beare Alan Borovoy Gordon Christie Susan Eng Dianne Martin Tonita Murray Kim Murray W. Wesley Pue Kent Roach Robert Simmonds Lorne Sossin Philip Stenning Toni Williams
Tonita Murray is a consultant and gender advisor to the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs and former director of the Canadian Police College. Margaret E. Beare is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and the Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. Endorsements/Review Excerpts ‘Margaret E. Beare and Tonita Murray have assembled an excellent volume and, in Police and Government Relations, have made a major contribution to our understanding of democratic policing. The chapters are erudite, well written and documented, and, most impressively, arranged in such a way that a dialogue emerges between the authors so that they speak to and compliment one another’s arguments.’ -Peter K. Manning-Brooks Professor of Criminal Justice, Northeastern University Table of Contents Foreword Acknowledgments Contributors Introduction MARGARET E. BEARE and TONITA MURRAY The Overview: Four Models of Police-Government Relations KENT ROACH • Commentary by R.H. Simmonds The Oversight of Executive-Police Relations in Canada: ‘The Constitution, the Courts, Administrative Processes, and Democratic Governance’ LORNE SOSSIN • Commentaries by A. Alan Borovoy and W. Wesley Pue Police-Government Relations in the Context of State-Aboriginal Relations GORDON CHRISTIE • Commentary by Toni Williams and Kim Murray The Idea of the Political ‘Independence’ of the Police: International Interpretations and Experiences PHILIP STENNING Accountability Mechanisms: Legal Sites of Executive-Police Relations – Core Principles in a Canadian Context DIANNE MARTIN • Commentary by Susan Eng Steeped in Politics: The Ongoing History of Politics in Policing MARGARET E. BEARE • Commentary by Tonita Murray Epilogue: Extracts from the Ipperwash Inquiry Transcripts Appendix: Discussion Paper and Questions Used to Guide the Ipperwash Deliberations on Government-Police Relations Bibliography Index