This course focuses on policing as a set of social and legal practices and institutions. It is particularly concerned with the potential role of law in policing, both as a resource and as a regulator. Comparative material is used, drawing out similarities and contrasts between policing in New South Wales and elsewhere. The course's approach is inter-disciplinary, drawing on a wide range of historical, socio-legal and criminological research. Policing is placed in its social and historical contexts by assessing conflicting interpretations of its history and of police public relations. This leads to an investigation of some developments in modern policing. In particular, the course investigates police uses of law, the relevance of law to policing, and the effectiveness of statutory and other rules in influencing and controlling police decisions and activities. Classes will also discuss drug policing, police culture, the policing of social divisions, police corruption and deviance, the policing of public order, fictional representations of policing, investigative methods, developments in community, private and international policing, and the limits and possibilities of police reform in the wake of the Royal Commission into the NSW Police Service.