Policing the Wild Northwest - Zhiqiu Lin

Policing the Wild North-West: 

A Sociological Study of the Provincial Police in Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1905-32

 

Zhiqiu Lin investigates the complex relationship between the role of policing, the political sphere, and social progress. This book attempts to analyze the effects on provincial police in Alberta and Saskatchewan of various social phenomena ranging from political radicals and vagrants, to prohibition bootleggers and black market profiteers. These factors placed enormous demands on the development of policing and had a significant impact on three specific and interrelated areas: first, the professionalization of police organizations within society, as evidenced by changes in policing technology, varying political agendas, and perhaps most importantly, within the police organizations themselves; second, the shifting of focus away from the "dangerous classes" and social agitators towards investigative procedures required for solving serious crime; and finally, the impact of policing on the rates of crime as influenced by the role of police officers as agents of social change and the value of social service in strengthening community and reducing the motivation towards criminal activity.

 This book donated by the University of Calgary Press

More Alberta Prime Crime gets into the hands of Bloody Words readers

Dave Bennett found the University of Calgary Press's donation, "Canadian Indian Cowboys in Australia" too fascinating to resist. 

Author and activist Stephen Legault pounced on "Policing the Wild Northwest", another University of Calgary Press donation.

BC historical mystery author Sharon Rowse was delighted to get her hands on 'Mobsters & Rumrunners of Canada', a donation from Folklore Publishing.