Enabling Policing to Be Better: Lessons from Two Case Studies in Police Collaboration

Fatema Zaghloul,Justin Partridge

doi:10.1093/police/paac018

Abstract

Abstract In the UK, the introduction of austerity measures for public services has intensified the thinking around inter-organizational collaboration between emergency services and other public and/or private sector organizations. Theoretically, while collaborative benefits are held up as beacons that drive organizations to participate in inter-organizational arrangements, a high number of such arrangements fail. In this paper, we explored the factors that influenced the collaboration process in the context of developing ‘collaborative information infrastructures’, from an organizational and collaboration level perspective, via a multiple case study approach. Our findings offer insights into how policymakers and public managers could improve their practices by considering their approach towards, and impact of, these factors when implementing collaborative projects in information technology and information systems.

Highlights

Emergency services such as the ambulance, fire, and police are continuously searching for innovative ways to maximize resources, reduce spending and bureaucracy, and improve service delivery
Our analyses revealed that Case study 1 (CS1) was driven by existing problems and challenges that needed to be addressed at the time of initiation, while CS2 was mostly driven from the ‘business’ and heavily influenced by Chief Officers
The notion of inter-organizational collaboration has received increasing attention, in solving complex problems that are beyond the capabilities and capacities of a single organization

Summary

Introduction

Emergency services such as the ambulance, fire, and police are continuously searching for innovative ways to maximize resources, reduce spending and bureaucracy, and improve service delivery. Over the past three decades, operational reforms and successive legislation (e.g. Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and Policing and Crime Act 2017) have encouraged UK emergency services to collaborate with other public and/or private sector organizations to achieve benefits such as enhanced effectiveness, efficiency, service quality, information integration, and interoperability. A key element in these collaborations is the development of ‘collaborative information infrastructures’ which can have a significant impact on emergency response and service delivery to the public through facilitating information and intelligence sharing across services, while addressing duplication and silo working within delivery networks.

Policing Article

Motivation and business objectives

Findings

Conclusion and future research