Review of Policing Immigrants: Local Law Enforcement on the Front Lines

Policing immigrants: local Law enforcement on the front lines, by Doris Marie Provine, Monica W. Varsanyi, Paul G Lewis and Scott H. Decker, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2016, 206 pp., $25.00 (paperback), ISBN 9780226363189

As any student of comparative policing will tell you, American policing is a peculiarly local affair. The authors of this ground-breaking book note that around 12,500 policing agencies operate in the US today, ranging from large-scale state or city departments to small sheriff’s offices. Local level democracy is also alive and seemingly well, and posters urging residents to vote for candidates running for local councils, school boards and even the role of sheriff often adorn American streets. Unlike the allpurpose state police in Australia (Weber 2011), immigration enforcement has not been part of the mandate of American police for more than a century. Against this backdrop, and with 4% of the US population believed to be living without legal status, recent efforts to recruit local police into the immigration enforcement effort demands serious academic attention