in the same society, it may be the agent of both the people it polices and
the dominant class controlling these same people. An analysis linking the
origin of the modern police function to social change in stateless societies
has important implications for an understanding of contemporary prob-
lems in police-community relations. It allows the dynamics of the social
control function of police in small homogeneous social units to be inte-
grated with a consideration of its role in a complex society. In addition, it
illuminates how an understanding of this specialized role may be obscured
by the more general social control function of police displayed in simple
social units, resulting in differential and conflicting expectations about the
role and functions of police in the modern world.

The original idea for this book originated with Robinson, who as a
lawyer had had considerable experience with cases involving the police;
had been interested in and had written articles on police history, and had
become frustrated with the sources of police history that normally stopped
at the organization of the English police in 1829. One of his law school
professors had counseled that legal analysis consisted in always taking
one step backwards. In this instance, that meant looking at police institu-
tions in pre-state societies. Robinson developed the basic theory of tran-
sition of the police institution from pre-state to state societies, and then
sought the help of an anthropologist, Richard Scaglion, with whom he
collaborated to complete the manuscript. Scaglion, a legal anthropologist,
has published on police-community relations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
but specializes in the study of "pre-state" societies, which he prefers to
call non-state, tribal, or kinship-based societies.

We were fortunate in obtaining a faculty development loan from South-
ern Illinois University and support from the Crime Study Center at the
University for a then graduate assistant, Michael Olivero, who under the
direction of Scaglion, did most of the cross-cultural tabulation and data
collection. A preliminary summary of our work was initially published by
Robinson and Scaglion as "The Origin and Evolution of the Police
Function in Society: Notes Toward a Theory" ( Law and Society Review,
1987, vol. 21:109-152). Olivero discussed our research method in "Re-
search Notes--A New Look at the Evolution of Police Structure" ( Journal
of Criminal Justice, 1990, vol. 18: 171-176).

Along the way we have had critical help from a number of people whose
useful comments improved this work, including Jane Adams, Michael
Banton, Paul Chevigny, Charles Cobb, and David Greenberg. We also
wish to thank the staff at Southern Illinois University's Morris Library
staff, especially James Fox and Walter Stubbs; and for the innumerable
drafts ably executed by Kieshia Cobb, Jennifer Gist, Margaret Highland,

-x-