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Police Detectives in History, 1750–1950
While the history of the uniformed police has prompted considerable research, the historical study of police detectives has been largely neglected; confined for the most part to a chapter or a brief mention in books dealing with the development of the police in general. The collection redresses this imbalance. Investigating themes central to the history of detection, such as the inchoate distinction between criminals and detectives, the professionalisation of detective work and the establishment of colonial police forces, the book provides a the first detailed examination of detectives as an occupational group, with a distinct occupational culture. Essays discuss the complex relationship between official and private law enforcers and examine the ways in which the FBI in the U.S.A. and the Gestapo in Nazi Germany operated as instruments of state power. The dynamic interaction between the fictional and the real life image of the detective is also explored. Expanding on themes and approaches introduced in recent academic research of police history, the comparative studies included in this collection provide new insights into the development of both plain-clothes policing and law enforcement in general, illuminating the historical importance of bureaucratic and administrative changes that occurred within the state system.
- GenresHistory
266 pages, Hardcover
First published September 6, 2006
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September 10, 2018
The humanist-SF writer Kurt Vonnegut used to joke that his problem with Willa Cather's writing is that he has trouble getting worked up about stories in which Catholic bishops attempt to establish new dioceses in New Mexico. I thought of that quote more than a couple times while reading "Police Detectives in History."
The book consists of several different essays by numerous scholars, with each contribution dealing with another chapter in the history of the evolution of the police detective. This official detective is often contrasted with the private detective, and the sleuths of fiction that evolved through the centuries; there's still not a consensus on the official first technical detective yarn, and the debate, while not central to "Police Detectives", does bleed into the text at times.
The book does a good job of showing how real police detectives bridled at the way they were depicted in fiction, and thus perceived by the public, as overly-officious sort of bumbling by-the-book types who are always being upstaged by maverick private detectives (you know, like the one with the Meerschaum pipe and the deerstalker hat), who use the scientific method to solve cases that confound Scotland Yard.
Less interesting for me were the essays on subjects like "New Zealand Policing." Sometimes a subject is neglected merely because it was overlooked, and closer inspection reveals a heretofore-unknown and fascinating new world or culture. Sometimes scholars don't cast their ken in a certain direction because their initial probing attempts revealed that there just wasn't that much there. That honestly felt like the case with a couple of the pieces, like the aforementioned one on New Zealand.
Equally frustrating is that essays that start well and seem ripe to bear fruit are too short, and end up being truncated just as it feels like they're getting started. The best example of this I can cite is the piece on "The Image of the Gestapo," which talks about how Germans, in their day-to-day dealings with the Staatspolizei, actually came away with good impressions of Hitler's Praetorian Guard. It's disturbing to say the least, but it made for fascinating reading, for as long as it lasted, which was only a few pages.
All of that said, mileage will vary from layman to layman, and scholar to scholar. Maybe you've been waiting your whole life to read about New Zealand Policing, starting in the fin-de-siecle period and going until roughly the mid-fifties. In which case, have at and ignore this churlish minority report.
The book consists of several different essays by numerous scholars, with each contribution dealing with another chapter in the history of the evolution of the police detective. This official detective is often contrasted with the private detective, and the sleuths of fiction that evolved through the centuries; there's still not a consensus on the official first technical detective yarn, and the debate, while not central to "Police Detectives", does bleed into the text at times.
The book does a good job of showing how real police detectives bridled at the way they were depicted in fiction, and thus perceived by the public, as overly-officious sort of bumbling by-the-book types who are always being upstaged by maverick private detectives (you know, like the one with the Meerschaum pipe and the deerstalker hat), who use the scientific method to solve cases that confound Scotland Yard.
Less interesting for me were the essays on subjects like "New Zealand Policing." Sometimes a subject is neglected merely because it was overlooked, and closer inspection reveals a heretofore-unknown and fascinating new world or culture. Sometimes scholars don't cast their ken in a certain direction because their initial probing attempts revealed that there just wasn't that much there. That honestly felt like the case with a couple of the pieces, like the aforementioned one on New Zealand.
Equally frustrating is that essays that start well and seem ripe to bear fruit are too short, and end up being truncated just as it feels like they're getting started. The best example of this I can cite is the piece on "The Image of the Gestapo," which talks about how Germans, in their day-to-day dealings with the Staatspolizei, actually came away with good impressions of Hitler's Praetorian Guard. It's disturbing to say the least, but it made for fascinating reading, for as long as it lasted, which was only a few pages.
All of that said, mileage will vary from layman to layman, and scholar to scholar. Maybe you've been waiting your whole life to read about New Zealand Policing, starting in the fin-de-siecle period and going until roughly the mid-fifties. In which case, have at and ignore this churlish minority report.
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