NCJ Number
128464
Journal
American Journal of Police Volume: 9 Issue: 3 Dated: special issue (1990) Pages: 171-181
Date Published
1990
Length
11 pages
Annotation
If police agencies are sensitive to environmental changes, including the changing needs of the communities they serve, then changes will occur in policing to address new crime patterns and threats to the community.
Abstract
Georgette Bennett defines "crimewarp" as "a displacement in crime patterns represented by a confluence of social, political, economic, and technological forces to which police in the twenty-first century will have to respond." In describing "cultural lag" as a concept applicable to police agencies, she concludes that the institution of law enforcement is evolving more slowly than the crime patterns it must manage. All of this is to say that if policing is to be effective in the future, it must revise its organization and procedures to respond to changing community needs and threats. "Closed" police organizations that attempt to make the community conform to their preset policies and procedures foster police cultural lag. "Open" police organizations maintain responsive links to their communities to determine what changes are required in the agency to address community needs. Police agencies will inevitably change with changing environments when they maintain links with all community institutions; become involved with government, businesses, private police, and citizen groups in assessing community needs; and explore new ways to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of police services.