David G. Barrie's Police in the Age of Improvement provides a detailed account of Scottish policing reform from 1775 until 1865. The book has been thoroughly researched and makes a notable contribution to an otherwise overlooked area of Scottish policing. The book introduces the reader to complex social and economic conditions that influenced, to a greater or lesser extent, urban development during this period, and it describes the political and intellectual forces that were at work to promote a Scottish policing model. Barrie himself points out the methodological challenges to producing this book. Many local archival records were missing or inadequate, and data collection in libraries and archive centers that were scattered across a wide geographical area was difficult. To overcome the challenges associated with the data, the author, in some instances, adopted a case study approach.

The book is organized around ten chapters of which eight are substantive. In chapter 2, Barrie gives a general overview of the system of policing in Scotland in the late Georgian era: an account of policing before the police. At this time a number of Scottish cities were experiencing rapid population growth alongside significant social and economical developments. Barrie then traces the establishment of the “watching and warding,” whereby unpaid, voluntary citizens would undertake communal duties to oversee the policing of towns after dark. Barrie notes that, in many burghs, policing arrangements were “primitive” at best and that short-term solutions sufficed as there was no real will to reform the system of policing at that time. Finally, this chapter is also peppered with comparisons between the working of the judicial systems in Scotland and England in order to give an insight into developments in other parts of the country in the late eighteenth century.

Chapter 3 takes a case study approach and gives an overview of the social and economic change from 1779 until 1788 in the rapidly expanding city of Glasgow. At this time Glasgow was experiencing an influx of people lured to the city by an expansion in manufacturing employment opportunities. Increased social tension began to emerge with the existing middle class becoming even more concerned and mistrustful of the perceived ever-growing poor and undisciplined working class. Fearful of the criminality associated with the lower classes, the middle class sought additional protection, leading to a new impetus for policing reform. Barrie describes these years as ones fraught with social tension and bitter industrial relations, made more difficult by the eventual decline in manufacturing and the onslaught of recession, which resulted in increased unemployment and low wages. The chapter then focuses on the contribution made by particular individuals to the subsequent debate around policing, such as the political reformer Patrick Colquhoun. Here Barrie challenges the extent of Colquhoun's contribution to the advancement of the policing model in Scotland. Discussion then moves on to the impact made by Scottish scholars, including Adam Smith, who is credited with stimulating the intellectual debate around policing and private property.

Chapter 4 touches on urban growth in Scotland and the subsequent “strain” on municipal services in a climate of growing calls for statutory policing powers. Barrie notes that this was premature in that a more general will for political reform was not yet fully established. This was despite growing concerns about public safety, with some citizens becoming even more intolerant of particular groups, such as vagrants and beggars. Barrie notes that any progress in urban improvement programs appeared only to tinker around the edges of crime prevention, dealing with issues such as improved lighting and cleansing.

Chapter 5 looks at conflict and consensus with regard to the development of the police model of urban management in the early nineteenth century, highlighting how police reform was hampered by political, financial, and legal implications. Chapter 6 looks at the significance of local policing acts that were implemented (which laid the founding principles of the Scottish criminal justice system), as well as the establishment of police and watch forces that represented the “triumph” of the new police model. Chapter 7 highlights gradual reform and the role of central government local constabularies, whereby the impetus was on a drive for a professional workforce that would be disciplined and efficient and have the correct level of manpower. Chapter 8 describes the drive for moral and structural advancement and the desire to control the behavior of the lower classes, particularly with regard their leisure time. Finally, chapter 9 maps out the downfall of the police commissions, which was in part attributed to the faltering support of men of influence.

Barrie has plotted for the reader the barriers to reform in the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Scotland, for example, the struggle to appease social and political activists who were attempting to secure their own vested interest in Scottish policing affairs. Barrie has used a number of useful examples to compare and contrast policing advancements in Scotland to those of other areas in the United Kingdom and Europe, enabling the reader to gain a clear understanding of police reform in context. As a result, he has produced a book that will be useful both to those with an interest in policing reform and those with an interest in urban development and social change.