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An examination of the modernization of the English and Welsh police during the interwar years, focusing upon the increasing professionalization of the police, the Federation, forensic work and the growth of traffic policing. The authors challenge the established viewpoint by arguing that this period saw significant changes in policing.

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List of Tables Dedications Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction PART I: THE PROBLEM OF PUBLIC ORDER AND THE PROFESSIONALISATION OF THE POLICE The Legacy of the Great War: the Failure of Police Trade Unionism and the Emergence of the Police Federation of England and Wales Policing Public Order in the Interwar Years Detective and Scientific Work: A New Vista PART II: THE PROPHECY OF NAHUM: MOTOR VEHICLES, THE POLICE AND THE PUBLIC IN INTER-WAR BRITAIN ´A mere traffic signalling device´? The Debate on Policing and Traffic Control The Police and the Practicalities of Traffic Management Motoring Offences and the Enforcement of the Law Cars, Crime and Coppers: Combating the ´Smash and Grab´ Raider Conclusion Endnotes Bibliography Index

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´Laybourn and Taylor´s well-written, well-organized account convincingly shows that this was a key period in the development of the modern police´

- P.C. Kennedy, York College of Pennsylvania

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KEITH LAYBOURN Professor of History at the University of Huddersfield, UK. His main interests are in British Labour history, British social policy, the history of gambling, and the history of policing. He has written and edited more than forty books and numerous articles including Britain´s First Labour Government (2006) with John Shepherd, and Britain on the Breadline (1991).

DAVID TAYLOR Emeritus Professor of the School of Music, Humanities and Media at the University of Huddersfield. He is the author Hooligans, Harlots and Hangmen (2010) and Policing the Victorian Town: The Development of Policing in Middlesbrough c. 1840-1914 (2002)

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