Fairness and Effectiveness
in Policing: The Evidence
NRC Report sorts through data, makes recommendations for
future research
Fall 2004, Volume 26, Number 2
When Wesley G. Skogan
became chair of the National
Research Council’s Committee to Review Research on Police Policy
and Practices in 2000, the nation experienced one of the most precipitous
drops in crime in its history. By the time the committee finished its
work in 2003, the 9/11 attacks had led to the creation of the Department
for Homeland Security, and new demands were being placed on policing at
all levels. Skogan is an IPR faculty fellow and professor of political
science.
The committee organized its 413-page assessment of 30 years of research
on the police around two dimensions, the fairness and effectiveness of
policing. They dubbed these the “dual mandates” of the police,
and the report stresses the importance of both.
“The work of this committee suggests that policing that is perceived
as just is more effective in fostering
| There is only a limited role for the federal government to play in “sparking innovation or encouraging uniformly progressive policies.” On the street, police act on their own, with little direct supervision. |
a law-abiding society, and that success in reducing crime enhances police
legitimacy,” Skogan said.
The report surveyed the following four areas and recommended eight areas
for more research:
The
Nature of Policing in America
American policing is extremely diverse and decentralized; policing is
one of the most locally funded and locally controlled activities of government.
Many changes occur in policing due to trends in local demography, politics,
and legal action. There is only a limited role for the federal government
to play in “sparking innovation or encouraging uniformly progressive
policies.” On the street, police act on their own, with little direct
supervision. Though most police-citizen encounters are trouble free, one
citizen’s bad experience with the neighborhood officer can lead
to widely divergent public opinions on police effectiveness and legitimacy,
especially from minority groups.
Explaining
Police Behavior
The committee found that most research in this area only focuses on patrol
officers, excluding many important elements of police work, Some under-researched
areas of policing include the effectiveness of detectives—which
is seriously in doubt, training strategies, and the impact of civilian
review boards and external watchdogs on police behavior. On the street,
police behavior is largely shaped by situational factors rather than either
departmental rules or a suspect’s class, race, or gender. Research
on the influence of officers’ educational background or recruitment
is sorely lacking, as is research on police leadership.
Crime
Control Effectiveness
The committee summarized a large body of research documenting that the
“standard model” of policing— characterized by reliance
on random patrol, rapid response to 911 calls, and follow-up investigations
by detectives—is of limited utility in advancing the fight against
crime. Research indicates that more promising strategies include those
that focus resources on concentrations of crime—known in the trade
as “hot spots”—and abandons one-size-fits-all strategies
for tactics that are carefully planned to respond to the specifics of
local crime problems. The committee concluded that there is not yet sufficient
evidence concerning the crime-control impact of community and problem-oriented
policing.
Lawfulness
and Legitimacy
Several of the report’s chapters focus on police lawfulness and
legitimacy. Modern police research began with concern about police racism,
violence, and corruption. The report reviews what is known about the impact
of constitutional rules, state statutes, and department regulations on
police misconduct. It notes that there has not been enough research on
the effectiveness of civilian review boards and other external police
watchdogs, but concludes that the most immediately effective controls
on police behavior are internal ones. These include recruitment, training,
supervision, and leadership strategies crafted to enhance the quality
and responsiveness of policing to communities. Adhering to the letter
and spirit of the law will increase police estimation in the eyes of the
public, and reinforce public acceptance of police actions. Studies have
shown that citizens will follow the law as long as they believe it is
justly administered. The report calls for a new focus on “process-oriented
policing” that takes advantage of what has been learned about the
sources of police legitimacy.
Recommendations
• Enhancing crime control effectiveness by focusing
police attention on accountability through achievement of measurable,
visible, and “fair” results linked to community goals.
• Enhancing the lawfulness of police actions through
pursuing police fairness, restraint in the use of force, and equity in
allocating police resources; by providing the public with more information.
• Enhancing the legitimacy of policing by conducting
a regular national survey to gauge public perceptions of police; through
more research on the experiences of crime victims and the public; and
through better overall data collection.
• Improving personnel practices and doing more
research on how to measure police performance, assess officers, and provide
incentives that will improve police practices.
• Fostering innovation through more research on
police organization, innovation processes, and organizational change.
• Assessing problem-oriented and community policing by
improving the police information systems that monitor them.
• Responding to terrorism through research on effective
domestic responses and on the need for new information and intelligence
sources.
• Organizing research by reinventing the National
Institute of Justice so that it can fund and oversee a portfolio of well-crafted,
evidence-based police research.
Fairness and Effectiveness
in Policing: The Evidence, edited by Wesley G. Skogan and Kathleen
Frydl (The National Academies Press, April 2004).