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                            Library & Multimedia
 Persistent Pull of Police Professionalism
NCJ Number
              232676

Author(s)
          David Alan Sklansky
Date Published

March 2011
Length
              20 pages
Annotation
              This paper from the Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management examines the return to the core ideas of police professionalism.
Abstract
              The article examines the shift in thinking by policymakers and law enforcement professionals regarding the fundamental mindset that governs today's policing practices. The police professionalism of the 1960s led to changes in police methods and brought about the idea of community policing, promoted heavily through funding from the Federal Government in the 1990s. Since that time, however, Federal support for community policy has declined, pushed aside for new approaches such as intelligence-led policing and predictive policing. This article begins with a discussion of these new approaches to policing and examines the ways that they constitute a return to the ideal of police professionalism. The second section of the article discusses reasons for why police professionalism seems to be reappearing, while the third portion of the article cautions that despite changes to the ideal of police professionalism from the 1960s and 1970s, reasons still exist for why police departments should not rush their return to that mindset. The final section of the paper discusses why community policing may still be the better approach for policymakers and law enforcement executives to pursue in today's world of policing.
      
  
          Additional Details
Grant Number(s)
        2011-IJ-CX-0025


  
  
        
  Agencies
        NIJ


  
  
        
  Publication Type
        Issue Overview


  
  
        
  Award
        An Executive Session on Policing and Public Safety
    
  
  
Date Published: March 1, 2011
    
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