Twenty-First Century Policing?
Nigel Fielding · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2018
Chapter 3 discusses the implications of managerialism and organizational structure for police professionalism, with a substantial discussion of the role of Police and Crime Commissioners. It looks at two principal aspects of the contemporary managerial agenda—the use of targets and Key Performance Indicators, and the drive for force amalgamations and mergers. It sets this agenda in the context of the individual officer’s accommodation to the police organization. Technology is a mark of the twenty-first century and the chapter considers both conventional ‘blunderbuss’ technologies and the rising importance of social media, forensic use of DNA, and techniques for combatting cybercrime. It highlights three distinctive challenges of contemporary times: domestic abuse, mental health, and organized/gang crime. It closes by considering the importance of community policing to the public, its effectiveness, and the challenge it poses to training.