A Study Of The Negro Policeman: Book Review :: essays research papers

A Study of the unrelenting Policeman Book ReviewNicholas Alex, assistant professor of sociology at The city Universityof New York, holds a Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research and a B.S.from the Wharton School. He was formerly a research assistant with the RussellSage Foundation, an teacher at Adelphi University, and has had workingexperience in his academic particularty-the sociology of professions andoccupations-while an industrial channelize in the aircraft industry, later asbusiness manager of the Walden School. This is his first book.In this book Alex made an effort to examine the peculiar problems ofNegro policemen who drop dead in an age which has not yet resolved to problem of inconsistency in an assertedly democratic society. He drawn heavily on thereflections of 41 Negro policemen who made plain to me the difficultiesinvolved in being black in blue. Alex was concerned with the ways in which themen were recruited into the police, the nature of their relation s in regard totheir immediate clientele, their counterparts, and the rest of society. In thebroadest terms, the book examines the special problems that Negro policemen facein their efforts to reconcile their race with their work in the presentframework of Ameri sack up values and beliefs.     The research for the check was found on intensive interviews collectedover a period of xi months, from December 1964 to October 1965. During thattime the author talked with Negro police engaged in different types of policespecialties, and men of different rank and backgrounds. Alex was interested inpreserving their anonymity, and substituted code numbers for names. Thelanguage in which their thoughts were expressed is unchanged.     Most of the interviews were obtained all at the policemans home orthe authors. Some were held in parks, playgrounds, and luncheonettes. every ofthe interviews were open-ended. All the policemen refused to have thereconver sations taped. "I know too well what tapes can do to you," said one. "Ican refute what you write conquer on that pad, but I cant if its taped. We usetapes too, you know." The author was dealing with a highly expressive andliterate group of men who thought of the study as a way in which they could makethemselves heard.     This book is create very well. It consist of eight chapters, and eachchapter is broken into subdivisions. The first chapter talks about thepolicemen in the community. Within this chapter mainly describes the police asand occupation, and states how the policemens play is uncertain. The secondchapter deals with the recruitment of Negroes for police work.