This book provides broad exposure to a variety of policing reforms that have not received adequate attention. It includes information and examples from different countries regarding efforts to change aspects of policing that are problematic or involve changes in the way crimes are committed. Some of the efforts to improve the police are relatively recent (i.e., using social media) and some areas of policing that seem to require frequent attention (i.e., working with the public).

This in-depth case study of a mid-sized police department captures the dynamics, struggles, and successes of police change, revealing the positive organizational and community outcomes that resulted from a persistent drive to reinvent public safety and community relationships. The police profession in the United States faces a legitimacy problem. It is critical that police are prepared to change constantly, be adaptive, and adopt openness to self-reflection and external comparison, moving beyond their comfort zone to overcome the inevitable cultural, structural, and political obstacles. Using previously unpublished longitudinal data examining a 25-year period, Bond-Fortier offers a rich account of the complexity of police management and change within one particular mid-sized city: Lowell, Massachusetts. The multidisciplinary lens applied provides crucial insights into how and why police organizations respond to a changing environment, set certain goals, and make decisions about how to achieve those goals. The book analyzes the community and organizational forces that stimulated change in the Lowell Police Department, describes the changes that enabled the department to achieve national model status, and builds a nexus between influencing forces, interdisciplinary theory, and the creation of an adaptive 21st-century police organization. Organizational Change in an Urban Police Department: Innovating to Reform is essential reading for academics and students in criminal justice, criminology, organizational studies, public administration, sociology, political science, and public policy programs, as well as government executives, crime policy analysts, and public- and private-sector managers and leaders engaged in professional development and leadership courses.

Policing in the US and many western nations is in an era of crisis, facing extensive calls for reformation and change. This edited book outlines the major challenges and changes needed to achieve a more stable future for the policing profession and police organizations. The chapters come from innovative police leaders and officers as well as academics with subject matter expertise, to provide insight into how reform can be done with the police. It focusses on how leaders should understand and approach their role during times of instability and uncertainty. It starts with an examination of how policing reached this state of crisis and discusses some interviews conducted with police leaders, particularly chiefs as agents of change and reform. This is followed by chapters from several veteran police leaders and personnel describing some of the factors that brought policing to this critical time of change and reform, how has policing evolved in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and how that impacts the current environment, and some potential strategies to create meaningful change while considering unintended consequences. The following chapters from academics seek to define paths that policing can take toward needed changes that will increase legitimacy, trust, and equality of policing services. It speaks to students, academics and professionals interested in police organization and administration, police leadership, and contemporary issues in policing and criminal justice.

What role can and should police unions and rank-and-file officers play in driving and shaping police reform? Police unions and their members are often viewed as obstructionist and conservative, not as change agents. But reform efforts are much more likely to succeed when they are supported by the rank-and-file, and line officers have knowledge, skills and insights that can be invaluable in promoting reform. Efforts to involve police unions and rank-and-file officers in police reform are less common than they should be, but they are increasing, and there is a good deal to learn about policing, police reform and participatory management from the efforts made to date. In this pioneering volume, an international, cross-disciplinary collection of scholars and police unionists address a range of neglected questions, both empirical and theoretical, about the place of police officers themselves in the process of reform – what it has been, and what it could be. They provide a fresh view of police reform as occurring from the bottom up rather than the top down. This book will be highly useful for practitioners and scholars who have a serious interest in the possibilities and limits of police organizational change. This book is based on special issues of Police Practice and Research and Policing and Society.

The first thorough study of the Justice Department’s pattern or practice program, examining how it works and how court-imposed consent decrees implement needed reforms American society grapples with an enduring crisis in policing which is inextricably intertwined with the nation’s deeply rooted racial issues. While there have been great strides in policing over the past five decades, the United States continues to wrestle with serious crime and strained relations between law enforcement and African American communities. In this comprehensive analysis, Samuel Walker, a leading figure in the study of criminal justice, focuses on the pivotal federal effort behind police reform—the US Justice Department’s pattern or practice program. Created by Congress in 1994, this program gives the Justice Department the authority to investigate police departments that display patterns of unconstitutional practices, initiate civil suits, and secure court-enforced consent decrees that mandate reform. Walker meticulously examines the reforms dictated by these consent decrees, delves into the challenges of their implementation, and evaluates the progress made by various departments in enhancing police services. Despite various obstacles, the program has proven successful. The Future of Police Reform also considers the broader societal, political, and legal issues that profoundly influence reform efforts, such as an entrenched police subculture hindering change, the formidable power of police unions, and a lack of full support from local political leaders. In conclusion, Walker celebrates reform efforts across the country and foresees a network of local and state centers of activity fostering continued optimism for the future of police reform in the US. A collective effort holds the promise of genuine and lasting change.

Community policing continues to be of great interest to policy makers, scholars and, of course, local police agencies. Successfully achieving the transformation from a traditional policing model to community policing can be difficult. This book aims to illuminate the path to make that change as easy as possible. Morash and Ford have produced a contributed anthology with original articles from a variety of well-known researchers, police trainers and leaders. They focus on: Recent research for developing data systems to shape police reform Changing the police culture to implement community policing Creating partnership strategies within police organizations and between police and community groups for successful community policing Anticipating future challenges

This in-depth case study of a mid-sized police department captures the dynamics, struggles, and successes of police change, revealing the positive organizational and community outcomes that resulted from a persistent drive to reinvent public safety and community relationships. The police profession in the United States faces a legitimacy problem. It is critical that police are prepared to change constantly, be adaptive, and adopt openness to self-reflection and external comparison, moving beyond their comfort zone to overcome the inevitable cultural, structural, and political obstacles. Using previously unpublished longitudinal data examining a 25-year period, Bond-Fortier offers a rich account of the complexity of police management and change within one particular mid-sized city: Lowell, Massachusetts. The multidisciplinary lens applied provides crucial insights into how and why police organizations respond to a changing environment, set certain goals, and make decisions about how to achieve those goals. The book analyzes the community and organizational forces that stimulated change in the Lowell Police Department, describes the changes that enabled the department to achieve national model status, and builds a nexus between influencing forces, interdisciplinary theory, and the creation of an adaptive 21st-century police organization. Organizational Change in an Urban Police Department: Innovating to Reform is essential reading for academics and students in criminal justice, criminology, organizational studies, public administration, sociology, political science, and public policy programs, as well as government executives, crime policy analysts, and public- and private-sector managers and leaders engaged in professional development and leadership courses.