NCJ Number
130322
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 18 Issue: 6 Dated: (June 1991) Pages: 26,28,52-53
Date Published
1991
Length
4 pages
Annotation
In this interview, Anthony V. Bouza, former chief of police in Minneapolis and the Bronx, discusses his often controversial attitudes toward law enforcement.
Abstract
Although Bouza loved working in law enforcement, he was often critical of the ways in which departments were operated. He believes that police management must be improved by focusing on performance and productivity, by regarding policing as a business. The police have two tasks: to fight urban wars and to comment on them from an intellectual perspective. Bouza claims that the second task has been ignored by police administrators. In order to provide expert leadership to police, there should be a Police Command College where officers can be properly trained. Most importantly, the socioeconomic causes of crime need to be eliminated in order for the police to dispense justice. Bouza sees the police as the means used by the overclass to control the underclass. Citing crime, drugs, violence, and guns as the biggest problems facing the U.S., Bouza urges chiefs of police to speak out against the problems of racism and poverty that are destroying American cities.