Police Management Research Articles

Reports from the Inaugural Australasian Policing Forum Executive Session 2009-2011

This paper on the Future of Policing in Australia arises from the work of the first Australasian Policing Forum conducted over several sessions between March 2009 and March 2011 at the Australian Institute of Police Management (AIPM) in conjunction with Australian Research Council, Centre for Excellence in Policing and Security (ARC CEPS). The paper is written by participants from Victoria Police (Lucinda Nolan), South Australia Police (Michael Cornish and Linda Williams) and the Australian National University (Roderic Broadhurst), who came together to conjure some likely futures for Australia and their impact on police. Anticipating what the future might bring for police was the challenge addressed by this group. The report does not try to predict what Australia will be like in 2021 but rather proposed some possibilities based on how Australia’s social cohesion and economy might evolve. The group focused on the economy because changes and shocks in the economy were thought to be crucial in the challenges faced by police. The role of social cohesion (and social inclusion) was also seen as important because the fabric of the community is undergoing a transformation as Australian households become older, smaller, more mobile and less engaged in traditional or organised activities (e.g. such as church, sporting clubs and other groups). The report makes several suggestions and recommendations about how Australian policing forces could adapt to the likely changes to be faced in 2021 and beyond.

The Role of Experience in Prioritizing Adherence to SOPs in Police Agencies

Research has perennially substantiated the belief that experience is a crucial determinant of an officer’s ability to effectively use discretion in making decisions. Officers cite experience as “the best teacher”, and police managers are likely to agree, usually with an anecdote or two about their personal maturation experiences. This study is an attempt to investigate this question with a bit more subtlety. In the following sections, we will: (1) explain the theory behind the discretion-experience relationship we propose, as well as theoretical opposition to this notion, (2) hone in on the perceived importance of agency standard operating procedures as an influence on discretion, (3) demonstrate that the relationship between officer experience and the priority attributed to SOPs is parabolic, and (4) discuss our findings in the context of structural functional organizational theory.

Job characteristics and work‐home interaction

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is too investigate whether race moderates the relationship between job characteristics (job demands and job resources) and negative and positive WHI (work‐home interaction) in a sample of white and African South African police members.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaires were distributed to African (n=197) and white (n=222) ranked police members in the North West Province of South Africa. Hierarchical multiple regression and moderated multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data.FindingsThe results showed that race had moderating effects on the relationship between the positive spill‐over of mood and overload, as well as the relationship between the positive spill‐over of skills and overload. No interaction terms were found significant for the relationships between job characteristics and negative time‐based WHI, or for the relationships between job characteristics and negative strain‐based WHI. It is therefore concluded that race does not moderate the relationship between job characteristics and negative WHI.Practical implicationsThe paper will raising awareness among police members and police management about the effect of job characteristics on WHI. This can provide a platform from which to start addressing issues that could decrease police stress.Originality/valueThis paper shows that although South Africa is working towards uniting all South Africans as a nation, differences between race groups should still be acknowledged and addressed appropriately.

The County Sheriff's Leadership and Management Decisions in the Local Budget Process Revisited

LaFrance and Placide found that a substantial majority of county sheriffs (10/12, or 83 per cent) are likely to cooperate with the county legislative body during a budget crisis (LaFrance, T. C., & Placide, M. (2010). Sheriffs' and police chiefs' leadership and management decisions in the local law enforcement budgetary process: an exploration. International Journal of Police Science and Management, 12(2), 238–255). However, their study is plagued by a small sample size that does not allow for generalisability of their findings. Describing these limitations, the researchers ask for subsequent research with a larger number of cases. In this paper, this call is answered by proposing an identical scenario to a sample of 107 sheriffs in three states.

Lessons for Policing from Moneyball: The Views of Police Managers – A Research Note

Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball demonstrates how Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane used research evidence to improve his team’s performance in a cost-effective manner. This presentation focuses upon the responses of police managers attending the Administrative Officer’s Course in the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisville. The respondents identified three elements of Moneyball that could be applied to police management: 1) using statistical analysis to guide operations, 2) challenging the status quo, and 3) doing more with less.

The efficiency of police stations in the city of Ankara: an application of data envelopment analysis

PurposePolice organizations' main goal is providing the security of the neighborhoods for citizens. This paper aims to investigate how efficiently the police stations in the city of Ankara work. It also seeks to determine how the efficiency of police organizations can be measured by using data envelopment analysis (DEA).Design/methodology/approachThe study uses DEA to measure the efficiency of police stations in the city of Ankara in Turkey. DEA measures the relative efficiency of decision‐making units (DMUs) based on their inputs and outputs.FindingsThe results showed that ten of 19 police stations in Ankara were efficient. In other words, 52.6 percent of police stations were found to be efficient.Research limitations/implicationsAll police stations in Ankara could not be included in the study. Since DEA analysis the relative efficiency of DMUs, including all police stations in Ankara, may have given a broader perspective for police managers.Practical implicationsInefficient police stations in this study should either reduce the number of incidents that occurred in the precinct or solve those crimes and increase the number of solved incidents. Preventing crimes may be achieved by employing community policing strategies, thus, police managers should focus on adopting community policing strategies.Originality/valueThe results of the DEA analysis can be used to help police stations in Ankara to be more efficient. Furthermore, applying DEA may be a new approach to measuring the efficiency of police services.

Attitudes of police managers to different leadership roles in their jobs: An empirical study in Norway

AbstractThe background for this study is the increased complexity in policing that has become more knowledge‐based and more professional in the past decade. The aim of this article is to present empirical results from a study of attitudes of police managers to different leadership roles in their jobs in two police districts in Norway. A questionnaire was developed and administered among police managers in two police districts in Norway. Participants in leadership programs were selected for this survey research. The Follo police district and Hedmark police district had a total of 130 participants in these programs, with 60 managers from Follo and 70 managers from Hedmark. The research was carried out in March and April 2010. The personnel leader role was found to be most important, followed by the resource allocator role. Responding police managers reported that they felt least competent in the liaison role.

An exploratory study on ideal leadership behaviour: the opinions of American police managers

An exploratory study on ideal leadership behaviour: the opinions of American police managers

Examining the validity ofThe Leadership Challengeinventory: the case for law enforcement

The purpose of this study is to examine the validity of the Leadership Practices Inventory. Previous research has used exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency for this sort of analysis without specifying the validity for a specific group or sample. We propose to use confirmatory factor analysis — via structural equation modelling — of responses from police officers from around the country. This type of analysis will allow us to determine if the factors of the Leadership Practices Inventory provide valid measures of police leadership performance as an assessment tool. We determined that the measures were indeed valid and that differences of opinion existed between the police managers assessed and their observers regarding their perceived performance under the Leadership Challenge Model.

Top-Down Management and Patrol Officers’ Attitudes About the Importance of Public Order Maintenance

Police organizations are inherently top down in their managerial style, and order maintenance policing—being a strategy adopted by top management and implemented by lower ranking personnel—may hit a roadblock that is typical in top-down organizations: Lower ranking personnel may not embrace the mission of order maintenance to the same extent that their superiors do. The present study compares attitudes about order maintenance policing across rank in an urban police department. The results indicate that patrol officers express significantly less support for public order maintenance relative to personnel of higher ranks; however, educational attainment and attachment to supervisors emerged as meaningful influences on attitude as well, which suggests that police managers and supervisors can improve lower ranking officers’ endorsement of top-down strategies like order maintenance through their supervisory and hiring practices.

Somewhere between distrust and dependence: young people, the police and anti-social behaviour management within marginalised communities

Recent concerns in the UK about youth disaffection, anti-social behaviour and gang culture have led to an increase in pre-emptive intervention strategies focused on the policing of groups of young people. This article explores the literature on youth/police relationships and the evidence that suggests that preventive police strategies may have weakened these relationships and may also have had a negative impact on youth engagement in the law enforcement process. The article reports on the outcomes of a small-scale qualitative study conducted in two socially deprived communities in Glasgow (Scotland's largest city). The researchers gathered interview data from young people, police officers, youth workers and local community residents as a means of exploring the current relationship between young people and the police and the way in which local people view this relationship. The findings illustrate the existence of a localised cyclical relationship of mistrust alongside more ambivalent views by the local residents, youth and police. While resentful of police practices in general, young people and residents welcomed the prospect of a procedurally just police force to protect them; police officers valued the opportunity to uphold community safety, but still projected some cynical and stereotypical views. The article concludes with suggested implications for policy, practice and research.

Evaluating Crime Prevention—Scientific Rationality or Governmentality?

This article explores the field of crime preventive evaluation. Based on a comparative analysis of three different evaluation traditions that have been developed during the last 20 years in Great Britain, USA, and Scandinavia, it outlines the importance of a critical approach to the kind of evaluations that are commissioned and their underlying purpose(s). It also discusses the possible consequences of the current emphasis on strengthened evaluation of crime prevention. A brief history of the development of crime preventive evaluation is presented, followed by a comparative analysis of the three evaluation traditions' strengths and weaknesses. In particular Norwegian and Swedish governmental documents call for strengthened evaluations of crime preventive initiatives and development of operational measures that can form the basis for police management. This article argues that such contemporary evaluation initiatives may suffer due to a lack of critical approach to different evaluation traditions, and under the pressure of two rationalities that are not easily harmonized: scientific rationality and ‘governmentality’.

Emphasizing the servant in public service: the opinions of police managers

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine the opinion of 126 police managers from 23 US states regarding their ideal leadership style as expressed under the items of the leader behavior description questionnaire (LBDQ).Design/methodology/approachPolice managers attending a management course – the Administrative Officer's Course at the Southern Police Institute during the academic year 2007‐2008 – were surveyed regarding their opinions of ideal leadership styles. They responded to items on the leadership behavior questionnaire. The analysis is based on this survey.FindingsItem analysis of their responses revealed the existence of three subscales (servant, autocratic, and laissez‐faire leadership), ANOVA revealed a strong preference for the style of servant leadership. These results indicate that these police managers believe that leaders should follow the tenets of servant leadership. They rejected the creeds of both the autocratic, command and control method and the hands‐off, detached style of laissez‐faire leadership. Policing has been long considered an autocratic, quasi‐military organization, yet these police managers expressed a decided preference for servant leadership.Research limitations/implicationsTaking into account the limitations of the data set used in current analyses, the sample characteristics and the sample size, results should be interpreted cautiously. The sample used in this analysis is not a probability sample and cannot be considered representative for the entire population of American police officers. Because this is only an exploratory analysis, the sample used was relatively small. In addition, the LBDQ may not be the most appropriate scale to assess levels of servant leadership. Future studies on this subject and population should take heed of these limitations. However, due to the positive responses received from this sample concerning the applicability of servant leadership in police organizations, justification for further research on this subject is warranted.Originality/valueThe results indicate this sample of police managers believe that leaders should follow the tenets of servant leadership as expressed under the items of the leader behavior description questionnaire. Compared to these values, they rejected the creeds of both the autocratic, command and control method and the hands‐off, detached style of laissez‐faire leadership. Policing has been long considered an autocratic, quasi‐military organization, yet these police managers expressed a decided preference for the style of servant leadership. Perhaps a new wave of leaders is coming to policing with different ways of thinking about how the organization should operate.

Professionalism in Crime Scene Examination: The Seven Key Attributes of Top Crime Scene Examiners

Abstract The crime scene is a critical element of criminal investigations and where forensic science begins. Inadequately managed scenes lead to poor evidence and risk of wrongful convictions. Reports from the United States and the United Kingdom highlight that some crime scene examiners (CSEs) outperform their peers, leading to less unsolved cases. What neither report explained was why some CSEs excel. We identified the attributes of top-performing CSEs using job analytical techniques with 72 police investigators, forensic scientists, senior police managers, and 18 top CSEs from across Australia. We analyzed the data and found seven distinct critical skill sets for top performance in CSE: knowledge, life experience, professionalism, approach to life, communication, cognitive abilities, and stress management. In this paper we present the critical skills and discuss the multiple ways that top CSEs positively impact the work of criminal investigators and other CSEs, as well as the impact they have upon effi...

Development of Police Personnel Training System in Lithuania in 1990–2010

The paper deals with the development of the police personnel training system in Lithuania in the period of 1990‑2010. Assessing cultural and social circumstances of the formation and functioning of police institution, the degree of modernization of police management and personnel policy implemented in the system, the reasons of inefficiency in training police officers have been revealed. The problems discussed in the paper have been revealed investigating the development of personnel training system by conditionally dividing it into two stages in which the prevailing cultural and social environment and the former model of police institution management had determined the implementation of the officers training policy. The findings of the research showed that in Lithuania inefficient implementation of the reforms in the police system and insufficient cooperation between the Ministry of the Interior and universities are the reasons of failure to create a modern police officers training system, which secures the efficient preparation of police officers. http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ppaa.10.3.638

Becoming a learning organization

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to investigate the extent to which espoused values among police managers in the Norwegian police force are compatible with those of a learning organization.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was developed and administered to police managers in two police districts in Norway. A set of values was developed to measure police culture and their significant correlation with those of a learning organization. All values were believed to represent cultural dimensions of potential importance to law enforcement performance.FindingsIt was found that police managers espoused values of informality and empowerment rather than authority and hierarchical order. These values are the only police values that are found to be significantly correlated with those of a learning organization. Moreover, these findings contradict the previous literature within policing, which describes a police culture of hierarchy, authority and closeness. Also, these values only represent two of the eight values that were found to be crucial for becoming a learning organization.Research limitations/implicationsThere is a need for police managers to both espouse and enact values in accordance of those of a learning organization, but this study only investigates espoused values. Hence, further research is needed to investigate the possibilities for the Norwegian police force to become a learning organization.Originality/valueThe paper provides empirical research to generate insights into espoused values of the Norwegian police force and identifies those values that are crucial for their possibilities of becoming a learning organization.

Managers in Suits and Managers in Uniforms: Sources and Outcomes of Occupational Stress

Sources and outcomes of occupational stress among police managers are examined on a sample of 267 senior police officers in one of the Central European countries, using the Occupational Stress Indicator 2 (OSI 2), the Work Locus of Control Scale, the Hofstede's Scale of Work-Related Values, as well as several demographic variables. The results are then contrasted with those of 232 managers in private industry in the same country. Managers in the private sector work longer hours, report higher impatience (one component of a Type A behaviour pattern), are more internal in locus of control, rely less on social support as a means of coping with stress, and perceive more masculinity, less uncertainty avoidance, and less long-term orientation in their culture than do their police counterparts. Police managers, on the other hand, perceive more pressures related to their workload, relationships, work hassles, recognition and organisational climate. As a consequence, they are less satisfied with the job itself and with their organisation, and more frequently consider an option of quitting their job. At the same time, police managers report better physical wellbeing and higher mental contentment than their colleagues in private industry. The results are discussed in terms of their practical value for police administrators.

New public management

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the use of new public management (NPM) as a major strategy for democratic police reform in transitioning, developing and post‐conflict nations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews the literature and history of the use of NPM in the public sector and policing in Western nations and considers its use in programs of police reform.FindingsThe review identifies that NPM can be used as a strategy in police reform and is able to be used in conjunction with policing approaches such as community‐oriented policing. However, the adoption of NPM must be culturally specific and implemented within local capability constraints.Practical implicationsPolice reform, transparency and accountability are an important concern for all post‐conflict and transitioning police agencies; therefore, the findings of this research are useful for implementation or planning of police reform and restructuring programs.Originality/valueWith its focus on police management accountability in post‐conflict or transitioning nations, this article expands research on strategies of democratic police reform and capacity development.

Compstat and The New Penology: A Paradigm Shift in Policing?

James J. Willis* and Stephen D. MastrofskiUsingfieldworkdatacollectedatsevenpoliceagencies intheUnitedStates,thisstudyasks‘Towhatextent is the operation of Compstat, a recent and highly touted police management and account-abilitysystem,consistentwiththenewpenology?’.Examiningamultidimensionalreforminanarea(police innovation) that has been relatively neglected helps illuminate to what degree Compstat ispart of a new trend in criminal justice, and it gives theoretical insight into how the applicability ofthe newpenology’selements mayvary acrossdifferentinstitutionalsettings.Ourfindingssuggestedsupport for the new penology at a general level but this weakened significantly upon closer exam-ination.Thisarticlethenprovidesabroader theoreticalexplanationfor thisloosenessoffitwithourobservations of Compstat’s operation.Keywords: Compstat, new penology, police reformIntroductionScholars have observed that, over the last 40 years, large-scale political, social and eco-nomic changes in Western democratized countries have given rise to new responsesto crime (Cohen 1985; Ericson and Haggerty 1997; Garland 2001; De Giorgi 2006).One such response is Compstat, a highly focused strategic management system concen-trating on reducing serious crime by decentralizing decision making to middle manag-ers operating out of districts (district commanders who often hold the rank of captain),by holding these managers accountable for performance, and by increasing the po-lice organization’s capacity to identify and respond to crime problems (Henry 2002;Weisburd et al. 2003). To what extent these new approaches are extensions of pastpractices or constitute a radical change is the subject of much debate, but there isbroader agreement, at least among scholars analysing trends in punishment and socialcontrol, on the sources shaping criminal justice. These include revamped expectationsfor what the state can accomplish and heightened concerns, especially among politicalelites,abouttherisks presentedbycertainpopulations,particularly thelowerclassesandracial and ethnic minorities (Bottoms 1995; O’Malley 1998; Rose 1999; Garland 2003;Simon 2007). Because these present new challenges to social order, they require newconcepts and theories for their explanation.One of the most best known attempts to understand these developments is MalcolmFeeley and Jonathan Simon’s (1992) ‘new penology’. Elaborating on the work of others(Cohen 1985; Foucault 1978/1991; Reichman 1986), their purpose is to provide anintegrative framework for what appear to be major transformations in the traditional

Effective police management of the media

The adoption of the community policing philosophy identifies the need for closer ties to the community by keeping them informed of their police department’s actions and strategies. The major conduit for this information is not the new departmental website but by the media; radio, television, and newsprint. That places a responsibility on the police (and other law enforcement agencies) to establish a police-media relationship based upon mutual respect and trust. This paper examines the roles of the media and the police in serious incident investigations and questions whether the police-media relationship could be improved by training.