This national best-selling text examines police administration from multiple perspectives: a systems perspective (emphasizing the interrelatedness among units and organizations); a traditional, structural perspective (administrative principles, management functions, and the importance of written guidelines); a human behavioral perspective (the human element in organizations); and a strategic management perspective (communications and information systems, performance evaluation, strategies and tactics, and prevailing and promising approaches to increasing effectiveness of police agencies).

Coverage of management functions and organizational principles is streamlined while providing a stronger emphasis on diversity principles and on developing police agencies as learning organizations. A concluding chapter covers contemporary issues, including community engagement, collaboration, privatization, globalization, police legitimacy, police diversity, predictive policing, police technology, evidence-based policing, learning organizations, emotional intelligence (EQ), and servant leadership. Case studies based on real-life events invite students to practice managing the conflicting circumstances, and Modern Policing blog posts offer news and developments in the policing world.