POLICING FOR PEOPLE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 9, 1999

CONTACT: Mary Malina (202) 833-1460

WASHINGTON, DC–"There are six characteristics that Americans associate with ‘good service’ from their police," Stephen D. Mastrofski, a professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, writes in Policing For People, just published by the Police Foundation. Focusing on the "processes of policing–what police do when they police for people"–Mastrofski identifies attentiveness, reliability, responsiveness, competence, manners, and fairness as the six criteria that "illuminate the service aspects of policing." He goes on to assess how police are doing at "policing for people" and offers a reform agenda that promotes its practice.

Professor Mastrofski delivered Policing For People, the third Ideas in American Policing lecture, in November 1998. Papers from the series, which present commentary and insight from leading criminologists, are published by the foundation.

David H. Bayley, Dean of the School of Criminal Justice, The State University of New York at Albany, delivered the premier lecture, Policing in America: Assessment and Prospects in August 1997. The second lecture was given in February 1998, when Lawrence W. Sherman, Professor and Chair of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland, presented Evidence-Based Policing..

On March 18, 1999, Jerome H. Skolnick, Emeritus Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Policy, UC Berkeley, and Co-Director, Center for Research in Crime and Justice at NYU School of Law, delivered the fourth Ideas in American Policing lecture. Professor Skolnick’s address, On Democratic Policing, will be published by the foundation later this spring.

As part of the series, the foundation plans to sponsor two major addresses each year at its Washington, D.C. headquarters. Requests for single copies of the monographs from this series, which are available at no charge, should be sent via mail, fax, or email to the Police Foundation, Attention: Publications, 1201 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036, fax (202) 659-9149, email: pfinfo@policefoundation.org.

The Police Foundation is a private, independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting innovation and improvement in policing through its research, technical assistance, and communications programs. Established in 1970, the foundation has conducted seminal research in police behavior, policy, and procedure, and works to transfer to local agencies the best new information about practices for dealing effectively with a range of important police operational and administrative concerns. Motivating all of the foundation’s efforts is the goal of efficient, humane policing that operates within the framework of democratic principles and the highest ideals of the nation.

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