NCJ Number
128463
Journal
American Journal of Police Volume: 9 Issue: 3 Dated: special issue (1990) Pages: 161-169
Date Published
1990
Length
9 pages
Annotation
The author proposes a scenario of future policing that is a combination of Mastrofski's scenario and Bennett's scenario.
Abstract
Mastrofski does not believe there will be any radical change in policing strategies in the foreseeable future. Although police will be more educated and better trained, the organizational structure within which they operate will remain essentially the same as will patrol strategies. Bennett, on the other hand, predicts radical changes in offender and crime profiles that will require significant modifications in police personnel and strategies. Police must become more educated and technologically oriented to combat the growing number of complex, white-collar crimes, and police strategies will focus less on neighborhood street crime and more on large-scale, white-collar crime centered in businesses and institutions. The scenario of future policing proposed by this paper's author involves more change than Mastrofski's scenario, but less than that envisioned by Bennett. The author foresees future police as community organizers who work in decentralized units of no more than 50 officers and support personnel. Operations are conducted at the neighborhood level in cooperation with residents. A secondary thrust will be high-quality support services within police agencies to address complex crimes such as serial murders and white-collar financial offenses. The paper includes a letter from a police officer in the 21st century describing the nature of his/her work.