NCJ Number
122836
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 59 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1990) Pages: 13-17
Date Published
1990
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article addresses societal change from a historical perspective, focusing on social norms and value shifts, policing reform, resistance to organizational change, and the implications for law enforcement of maintaining the status quo.
Abstract
Historically, the role of law enforcement has been to maintain the status quo. Reliance on past or existing practices, however, will not prepare law enforcement for the future. The driving force for changes in social norms and values is information, and social changes have forced law enforcement changes. There is now a substantial body of literature on organizational behavior, management, and innovation that addresses the issue of resistance to change. Law enforcement administrators must realize that organizational and managerial methods of the past may no longer work. Additionally, they must realize that law enforcement officers' values will change as society's values change and that the role and goals of policing must be clearly articulated. Law enforcement must anticipate the future in an imaginative, analytical, and prescriptive manner. 39 references.