NCJ Number
231264
Date Published
April 2010
Length
52 pages
Annotation
Based on findings in the authors' 2007 study of problem-oriented policing in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (North Carolina) Police Department (CMPD), this report presents a framework that other police departments can use and test in their efforts to institutionalize various police reforms.
Abstract
The report first reviews two examples of current police reforms: problem-oriented policing and community policing. This is followed by case studies of particular police departments' reform efforts and a brief statement of the nature of the institutionalization of reform. Institutionalization occurs when the reform becomes a routine way of conducting police business as a result of the integration into the organization of the values, norms, and structures essential to the reform. This requires a department to have continued commitment to the reform. How to measure this commitment is explained in this report. Three data sources are identified for assessing an agency's institutionalization of a particular reform. One source is an assessment of the rank and file's culture, focusing on knowledge, attitudes, and behavior through a random survey of a sample of officers, sergeants, and detectives. A second source is an assessment of the midlevel managers' culture, focusing on knowledge, attitudes, and behavior through interviews with all captains. A third source is an examination of agency policy and procedural changes that pertain to the reform. This framework for assessing the institutionalization of a reform is followed by the presentation and discussion of 11 lessons learned from previous case studies of efforts to institutionalize police reform, with a focus on the successful institutionalization of problem-oriented policing in the CMPD. 79 notes