Strategic policing
Strategic policing is an approach to law enforcement that emphasizes outcome-oriented performance over traditional output-based metrics. This method represents a significant shift in police administration, moving away from merely counting activities, such as arrests or traffic citations, to evaluating the actual impact of police efforts on community safety and well-being. The transition to strategic policing emerged in response to broader governmental reforms in the early 1990s, aiming for smarter and more efficient government operations.
In strategic policing, police departments collaborate with community members to identify service priorities and develop measurable outcomes that reflect their goals. For example, instead of focusing solely on the number of traffic citations issued, a department might prioritize reducing traffic fatalities as a key performance indicator. This collaborative and outcome-focused approach encourages police agencies to assess their effectiveness based on meaningful community impacts rather than just numerical outputs. Overall, strategic policing aims to foster improved relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve while ensuring that policing strategies are aligned with community needs and expectations.
On this Page
Strategic policing
SIGNIFICANCE: The move to strategic policing changed the view of police administration from one of cost-of-service, response-based policing to one of outcome-oriented performance. This can be thought of as a shift in central focus from one of “what one does” to “what one is trying to accomplish.”
A major push to “reinvent” government began in the federal bureaucracy during the early 1990s, central to which was a move toward smarter, more efficient operation of government programs. As the federal government began to administer its agencies based on this new way of thinking, state governments followed suit. Not long after, county and municipal administrations instigated similar changes. As government agents, many police chiefs and county sheriffs saw the expectations of their governments changing and so began embracing strategic policing as a way to meet the expectations of this new brand of management.
Strategic policing is a method of police administration and management that is outcome- and performance-focused, rather than output- and accounting-focused. During the Reform and Professional eras of American policing, many police departments had adopted output-related management styles, in which accounting practices were brought to bear on information about the tasks police undertake. Police departments established their annual goals and budget requirements based on output-based indicators, such as the numbers of traffic citations, arrests, motorists assisted, and the like. Departments’ success was judged based on how well they met or exceeded their output goals.
Under the move to strategic policing, police administrators shifted focus from outputs to outcomes. While a traffic-related output assessment might count the things police do, such as number of citations issued, a traffic-related outcome assessment might count the things police officers try to affect, such as number of fatal crashes. Rather than judging a department to be successful based on their output goals, departments are rewarded for having a meaningful impact on the community and for meeting their outcome goals.
The move to strategic policing has been important for fundamental reasons. While output goals were traditionally established based on accounting projections and other scientific methods, strategic policing ensures that agencies seriously evaluate their outcome expectations. Often this involves closely working with all members of the department, as well as members of the community. Working together, the department establishes service priorities and then constructs outcome measures that will assess whether the department is adequately addressing those priorities. If the community agrees that traffic fatalities are a serious problem, the department may establish the number of fatal crashes as an outcome-related measure. While the number of traffic citations is an informative gauge, it does not measure the thing police are interested in changing—crashes.
Bibliography
Brady, T. V. Measuring What Matters, Part One: Measures of Crime, Fear, and Disorder. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice, 1996.
Bureau of Justice Statistics. Performance Measures for the Criminal Justice System. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1993.
Hendrix, Joshua A. et al. "Strategic Policing and the Acquisition of Technology: Findings from a Nationally Representative Survey of Law Enforcement." Policing & Society, vol. 29, no. 6, 2019, pp. 727-743, www.policechiefmagazine.org/turning-point-policing-methods/. Accessed 10 July 2024.
Langworthy, R. H. Measuring What Matters: Proceedings from the Policing Research Institute Meetings. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice, 1999.
National Institute of Justice. Measuring What Matters, Part Two: Developing Measures of What the Police Do. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice, 1997.
Rawlings, Sally P. "A Turning Point in Policing Methods." Police Chief, 5 Apr. 2023, www.policechiefmagazine.org/turning-point-policing-methods/. Accessed 10 July 2024.