Table of Contents

Introduction

Politics and the police in Australia

Law and order elections
An international story

Organising the police

Before the unions
Combinations and aspirations
Police strikes

The politicisation of police

Defining the game
Political campaigns
Wages and conditions
The developing political role

Industrial battlefields

The uses of law
Matters of appeal
Commissioner-union conflict
Implications for policing: ministers, commissioners and unions

Alliances and conflicts

A national union?
Political rights
Using the media
Are police workers?
Fractured relations

Political interventions

A thousand more police, or two
Damage control-commission and inquiries
Law reform-the unions for and against
The politics of victimhood

The new politics of change

New agendas and old responses
Discipline and the commissioner's powers
Operational issues-policy and practice

Law and order

Political choices
Taking stock
Conclusion

References/ Index

Reviews

This wide-ranging book provides much more than just an account of the origins, consolidation and development of police unions. It intricately details the relationship between state police unions and their respective governments and the aggressive tactics employed to gain advantage. It probes police union influence on law and order politics and the ramifications upon the criminal justice system. ... The major source of the book is the union journals of the six states, the various Police Journals. The contentious industrial concerns and the book's narrative evolve from these rich sources, which have previously been ignored. By diligent analysis, Finnane presents the police unions' perspective about core industrial issues such as wages, conditions of work, promotion, pensions, transfers and discipline, as well as the priority law and order issues over many decades. The book makes a significant contribution to industrial history by unravelling Australian police unionism with its commonality but also state-by-state differences ... The book adroitly explores how police have come to play an active role in politics - a theme not pursued elsewhere. Although Finnane rightly documents the limits of police unionism, these unions nevertheless remain powerful bodies. As the guardians of law and order, police are vital to safeguarding internal security, a powerful position. More than 96% of police around Australia are unionised ... Finnane has achieved what he has set out to do, namely, to identify the police union perspective industrially and politically. - David Baker, LABOUR & INDUSTRY, Vol 15 No 2, December 2004 134