Organizational Change and the Future of Policing

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses some of the past predictions concerning the future of law enforcement and provides an overview of these current trends to develop an informed assessment of how law enforcement organizations will likely change in the future in response to these trends. A summary of the research and salient findings are presented in the conclusion.

Outline:
Review and Discussion
Theoretical Background and Historical Overview
Current Research
Future Trends in Police Organizations
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Throughout the 20th century, police departments in the United States experienced some disconnection from the public they served that created the need for organizational change that would make these agencies more responsive. For example, in his essay, "Assigned to Patrol," Thale (2004) advises, "Public and scholarly discussions of twentieth-century policing seem to agree that police became disconnected from citizens and neighborhoods during the twentieth century, and that political, technological, and organizational changes have resulted in suspicion, alienation, and loss of important feedback to the police" (p. 1037). In response to these problems, police science has increasingly sought to incorporate policing techniques that could overcome these constraints and provide law enforcement officials with the feedback they needed to accomplish their respective missions. Unfortunately, some of the policing techniques and innovations that have being embraced by police scientists over the years have simply exacerbated these problems of disconnect between law enforcement officials and the communities in which they serve."

Sample of Sources Used:

• De Lint, W. (1998). Regulating autonomy: Police discretion as a problem for training. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 40(3), 277-304.
• Fillichio, C. A. (2006). The new beat: The Washington Metropolitan Police Department's gay and lesbian liaison unit is transforming law enforcement and redefining the concept of 'community' policing. The Public Manager, 35(3), 56.
• Forman, J., Jr. (2004). Community policing and youth as assets. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 95(1), 1.
• Glenn, R. W., Panitch, B. R., Barnes-Proby, D., Williams, E., Christian, J., Lewis, M. W., Gerwehr, S. & Brannan, D. W. (2003). Training the 21st century police officer: Redefining police professionalism for the Los Angeles Police Department. Santa Monica, CA: Rand.
• Hanlan, M. (2004). High performance teams: How to make them work. Westport, CT: Praeger.

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