Policing & Firearms New Perspectives and Insights

Policing and firearms: it is a crucial relationship. Should police be routinely armed? If so, what restrictions should be imposed on the use of firearms? Where police are not routinely armed, there is still a need for specialist armed police: how do these units operate, and are they effective?

This ground-breaking edited book explores the nexus between policing and firearms with a genuinely international focus. Contributors from Ireland, Germany, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, the United States, Venezuela, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada explore the issues from a range of perspectives, including human rights, militarization, police legitimacy, and the risks police firearms pose to the community and to police themselves.

This thought-provoking collection is an indispensable resource for law enforcement policymakers and students of policing and criminal justice.

1.            Introduction

Richard Evans & Clare Farmer

Part 1: Policing, Firearms and Human Rights 

2.            Unarmed Police: Myths, Rights and Realities

3.            Are the Brazilian Police Forces lethal weapons?

4.            The Routine Arming of the Police in Britain, the Right to Life and the Security Theory of John Locke and Benedict de Spinoza

5.            Armed responses and Critical Shots: Learning lessons from Police involved shootings in England and Wales

Part 2: Policing, Firearms and Militarization 

6.           ‘Gung-ho’? An examination of the move to militarise policing in Australia

7.            Direct and indirect militarization of public security in Mexico and gun use during arrests 

8.            The myth of ‘routinely unarmed’ policing 

Part 3: Policing, Firearms and Risk 

10.          Access to firearms – A risk factor for police suicide? 

11.          How do police die in Venezuela? A comprehensive analysis of the death by homicide of State security force/policing officials 

12.          Pathways to preventing fatal police-involved shootings of people in mental health crisis 

13.          ‘Facing death gave him new life’: On-screen police gun violence and Weapon Product Placement  

Part 4: Policing, Firearms and Legitimacy 

15.          Armed police in an unarmed country: Legitimacy and self-legitimacy of English firearms officers 

16.          Public Acceptance of Police Use of Deadly Force: An Exploratory Study 

17.          Connecting officer appearance with officer safety: A survey of police officers’ perceptions of uniforms and accoutrements 

Dr. Clare Farmer is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Deakin University, Australia. She is a member of the Adult Parole Board in Victoria, Australia, and previously served as a Magistrate in England. Clare’s research expertise focuses on procedural justice across criminal and civil processes, and she publishes widely in this field. Her teaching extends across undergraduate and postgraduate domains, specializing in criminal justice, policy development, research methodologies, and research ethics, and she is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Dr. Richard Evans is a criminologist, researcher, teacher, and writer. He is the author of six books and many peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, on topics as diverse as crime history, policing, disaster studies, hazing in the military, and surveillance. His books include The Pyjama Girl Mystery (Scribe, 2004) and Disasters That Changed Australia (Victory, 2009). He is co-author, with Dr. Clare Farmer, of Do Police Need Guns? Policing and Firearms: Past, Present, and Future (Springer, 2020). His areas of expertise include crime, policing, mental health, drug policy, Australian history, politics, public policy, and religion. He has commented on crime, policing, and history for both print and broadcast media. A former journalist, Richard is also a visual artist and songwriter and has a strong interest in music and culture.