Policing and decolonisation provides the first comprehensive study of the problems faced by the imperial police forces during the acute political dislocation following decolonisation.Decolonisation in the British Empire placed new and heavy burdens on colonial police forces. As imperial political authority was increasingly challenged, sometimes with violence, locally recruited police became the front-line guardians of alien law and order. The contributors to this volume look at the changing roles and experiences of the police forces. They look at the heightened political involvement of the police, the increase in the size of the force, improvement in armament and the development of Special Branches. The book also explores the degree to which the central co-ordination of police activities conflicted with local sympathies causing crises in loyalty and recruitment.The role of the police was central to the process of decolonisation and this book will be vital reading for specialists and undergraduates studying the history of the British Empire and the transfer of power.
