As communities continue to undergo rapid demographic shifts that modify their composition, culture, and collective values, police departments serving those communities must evolve accordingly in order to remain effective. The Future of Policing: A Practical Guide for Police Managers and Leaders provides concrete instruction to agencies on how to promote successful policing by proceeding on a course informed by future trends and emerging community forces.

Explores critical variables necessary for decision-making

Designed for typical police departments with common structures, problems, and opportunities, this book offers a unique juxtaposition of real-life examples, futures research, emergent trends, and management implications. Each chapter provides a discussion of the professional literature, current and projected trends, and situations faced by agency executives and leaders. Through this multidimensional and contemporaneous approach, the book explores community and political variables crucial to the decision-making process. It describes methods that managers can employ to explore the future and prepare their agencies for possible, probable, and preferable trends and opportunities.

Provides specific, concrete examples

Drawn from the authors’ research, as well as their own instructional and practical experience in the policing profession, this volume goes beyond esoteric, theoretical analysis and instead provides practical and well-grounded strategies for those who aspire to become police managers or current managers wishing to improve their proficiency. Using futures research and methodologies as the foundation for the text, this volume prepares practitioners to meet the challenges of policing and police management in the 21st century.

Table of Contents

Setting the Stage

Challenges in Police Organizations

Leadership, Management, Supervision, and Administration

Problems with the Present Police Organizational Model

An Analysis of Failure

The Potential Benefits of Futures Studies for Policing

Five Key Themes

The Emergence of Futures Thinking Within and About

American Policing

The Organization of This Book

Futures Thinking and Research

The Acceleration of Change

What Is Futures Studies?

A Short History of Futures Research

Futures Studies as a Leadership Tool

Methods of Forecasting the Future

Future Trends

Technological Trends

Demographic Trends

Economic Trends

Social and Community Trends

Political Trends

What Does All This Mean for Policing?

Communities

The Police and the Community

The Evolving Nature of Community

Communication Technology and Community

Communication Technology and Policing

Social Networking Tools and Social Engagement

Policing Implications of Social Networking

Involving Communities in Policing

Trust, Transparency, and Leadership

Challenges and Opportunities Created by the Changing

Nature of Community

Boundaries: Disappearing, Reemerging, and Merging

Three Examples in High Relief

Why Boundaries?

Technologies and Policing

Jurisdiction, Mandates, and Threats

The Influence of Money

Federal vs. Local Responsibilities

Intelligence

Militarization

Transparency

External Oversight and Influence

The Future of Crime

Economic Drivers

Health Care

Technology

Immigration

The Drug War

A Problem of Identity

Gang-Based Crime

Other Trends in Crime and Policing

Investigation

Criminals

Victims

Citizen Resilience

On the Beat

Technology

Future Law and Governance Considerations

What Works in Policing? Evidence-Based Operations

Predictive Policing

Police Personnel: Culture, Hiring, and Development

Cultural Forces

Personnel

Hiring

Training

Employee Development

Discipline

Organizational Solutions

Mission, Vision, and Values

Economic Realities in Policing

Managing through Tough Times

Employee Input

Organizational Evaluation

Policy Development and Accreditation

Progressive Approaches to Employee Discipline

Opportunities Emerging through Change

Leadership and Care

From Where Will Future Police Leaders Emerge?

On The Horizon: The Police Organization of the Future

A Brief Look Backward

Structures and Processes

Maximizing the Power of Generations

Eligibility for Employment

Creating a Preferred Culture

The Nexus between Training and Education

Purposive Career Development

Radical Change

Putting It All Together

Revisiting the Book’s Themes

Other Considerations for the Future

Wild Cards

Leveraging Culture

The Role of Community

Using the Leadership GPS to Navigate into the Future

Practical Strategies

Reconceptualizing Police Management and Leadership to

Create Better Policing

Appendix: Principles of the Wheaton Police Department

As communities continue to undergo rapid demographic shifts that modify their composition, culture, and collective values, police departments serving those communities must evolve accordingly in order to remain effective. The Future of Policing: A Practical Guide for Police Managers and Leaders provides concrete instruction to agencies on how to promote successful policing by proceeding on a course informed by future trends and emerging community forces. Explores critical variables necessary for decision-making Designed for typical police departments with common structures, problems, and opportunities, this book offers a unique juxtaposition of real-life examples, futures research, emergent trends, and management implications. Each chapter provides a discussion of the professional literature, current and projected trends, and situations faced by agency executives and leaders. Through this multidimensional and contemporaneous approach, the book explores community and political variables crucial to the decision-making process. It describes methods that managers can employ to explore the future and prepare their agencies for possible, probable, and preferable trends and opportunities. Provides specific, concrete examples Drawn from the authors research, as well as their own instructional and practical experience in the policing profession, this volume goes beyond esoteric, theoretical analysis and instead provides practical and well-grounded strategies for those who aspire to become police managers or current managers wishing to improve their proficiency. Using futures research and methodologies as the foundation for the text, this volume prepares practitioners to meet the challenges of policing and police management in the 21st century.