Police, Race and Culture in the 'new Ireland' An Ethnography [Hardcover]

This book explores the relationship between the Irish police and ethnic minorities, made particularly pressing by the rapid ethnic diversification of Irish society. It addresses the current deficit in knowledge of this area by exploring how Irish police officers conceive of, talk about, and interact with Ireland's immigrant minority communities.

Built upon an impressive mountain of empirical research, the book shows in great detail how police actively create the other in both discourse and action and how that creation itself is influenced by the wider political and social context. OBrien-Olingers deft combination of evidence and theory makes this book of interest far beyond policing scholars. (Jesse S. G. Wozniak, American Journal of Sociology, 2016)

Sam O'Brien-Olinger received his PhD from the School of Sociology at University College Dublin, Ireland, in 2012. He was first awarded an Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences Scholarship in 2007.

'One of the most amazing police organizations in the world, the Garda of Ireland, are little known and rarely studied. The Garda were integral to the development of the first democratic state in the twentieth century, and still stand close to the people they serve. Sam O'Brien-Olinger here presents the only fully documented, rich and detailed, study of the current everyday practices of the Garda. This well-written ethnography is the standard against which any subsequent study must be judged. The key theme here is the tension produced as a traditional organization faces social and economic change while clinging to core values.' - Peter K. Manning, Elmer V.H. and Eileen M. Brooks Chair in Policing, Northeastern University, USA