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The Police Foundation presents the next lecture in its series, IDEAS IN AMERICAN POLICING, on February 23, 2012, 3 pm: THE CRAFT OF POLICING Patrol officers’ encounters with the public are highly varied. While some of these are routine, patrol officers must also confront situations with high levels of uncertainty and complexity. Handling these situations requires that officers, in the words of police scholar Egon Bittner, use their “resources of knowledge, skill, and judgment.” Those officers who handle these situations well are recognized as craftsmen. This lecture begins by conceptualizing policing as a craft and considering its key dimensions. It then examines how research might be used to understand the craft of policing and to identify criteria for judging the quality of work that patrol officers perform so that it can be done better. It concludes by discussing some of the challenges that the police craft presents for science and for policy. The lecture and a reception immediately following will take place at the Police Foundation, 1201 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 200, Washington, D.C. 20036, located two blocks north of the Farragut North Metro (Red Line) on the corner of Connecticut and Rhode Island Avenues. Seating is limited. Please R.S.V.P. by Tuesday, February 14 to Kristen Koval, (202) 833-1460 or kkoval@policefoundation.org. Colleagues are welcome; please R.S.V.P. with their names, titles, and organizations.
Captain David Huchler of the Alexandria (VA) Police Department was recently selected for a Police Foundation Fellowship. He has served with the Alexandria Police Department since 1991, and is currently assigned to the Administrative Services Bureau, with responsibilities for planning and accreditation, property and evidence, and duties related to the Department of Emergency Communications. Captain Huchler is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and received his MPA from George Mason University. Police Foundation President Hubert Williams has been appointed by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to the Homeland Security Advisory Council Southwest Border Task Force, which is charged with examining DHS efforts along the U.S.-Mexico border and providing advice and recommendations directly to the Secretary.
This report presents the results of the first known comprehensive randomized experiment of CWWs in law enforcement. The Police Foundation experiment was designed to test the impacts of three shift lengths (8-, 10-, and 12-hour) on performance, health, safety, quality of life, sleep, fatigue, alertness, off-duty employment, and overtime among police. In addition to scientifically rigorous research design and methodology, the number of reliable outcome measures employed to analyze the impact of shift length, including departmental data, laboratory simulations and exercises, and previously validated self-report instruments, make this study one of the most comprehensive ever undertaken in this area. The experiment was conducted in the Detroit (MI) and Arlington (TX) Police Departments between January 2007 and June 2009 As part of the shift length experiment, the Police Foundation conducted a random telephone survey of 300 police agencies to determine the proportion of agencies that have adopted compressed schedules. We also examined variables based on agency size and the use of shift rotation, as well as trends associated with each over time. The purposes of this telephone survey, conducted first in November 2005 and again in November 2009, were to determine the proportion of agencies that use compressed shift schedules (e.g., 8-, 10-, or 12- hour shifts, or some variation) for their field patrol officers, and to identify the extent to which agencies employ rotating shifts. The first report below is a comparison report of the survey results in Time One and Time Two. Trends in Shift Length: Results of a Random National Survey of Police Agencies Law Enforcement Shift Schedules: Results of a 2005 Random National Survey of Police Agencies Law Enforcement Shift Schedules: Results of a 2009 Random National Survey of Police Agencies
An Experimental Study of Compressed Work Schedules in Policing: Advantages and Disadvantages of Various Shift Lengths Filling the Security Gap: Military or Police This paper adds to the growing body of research that explores which force, military or civilian police, would be more effective in filling the security gap in a post-conflict environment. The current debate centers on specialized units within the military or paramilitary constabulary forces such as the Gendarmerie or the Carabinieri as being more appropriate than civilian police in filling the security gap. The paper explores the idea that civilian police with the correct training and equipment are as competent as any other force in providing immediate post-conflict security and are in fact superior to military forces in establishing a sense of democracy and rule of law in a war-torn nation. DOI:10.1080/15614263.2011.596715 New Public Management: A Strategy for Democratic Police Reform in Transitioning and Developing Countries |
The Shift Length Experiment: What We Know About 8-, 10-, and 12-Hour Shifts in Policing