Seventeen core lessons of
reforming a police force
For an elaboration on each
lesson please see the original source by David H. Bayley:145
1. "Any reform program
must be based on a clearly articulated understanding of the connections between
the objectives to be achieved and the actions proposed."
2. "Sustained and
committed leadership by top management, especially the most senior executive, is
required to produce any important organisational change."
3. "The key to changing
any aspect of policing is management, that is, the way in which the members of a
police organisation are brought to do what policies call for."
4. "Police behaviour
cannot be changed by formal reorganisation within the police or by restructuring
on a national basis."
5. "Material resources may
support desired changes, but they are rarely essential and never sufficient to
bring them about."
6. "Significant reform
requires widespread acceptance across ranks and assignments in a police
department."
7. "When pilot projects
are undertaken, they must have committed leadership and personnel who are not
continually pulled away for other purposes."
8. "Police officers will
not change their behaviour unless they perceive it to be in their personal
interest to do so."
9. "Reformers both inside
and outside police organisations should be careful not to denigrate the
motivation, knowledge, or skill of the people whose behaviour they are trying to
change."
10. "Programme evaluations
that emphasise outputs rather than outcomes as a measure of success inhibit
organisational creativity."
11. "Reform requires that
new programmes be monitored so that midcourse changes can be made. At the same
time, burdensome evaluation can discourage reform."
12. "Change is more likely
to occur when new resources are made available rather than when existing ones
are redistributed."
13. "If the incidence of
crime and disorder is thought to be unacceptable or increasing, police reform
will be inhibited."
14. "Increasing contacts
between police personnel and respectable, non-criminal members of the public in
an important way of encouraging the development of an accountable
service-oriented police organisation."
15. "Issuing clear
statements of organisational policy accompanied by appropriate positive and
negative sanctions is a powerful way to change the behaviour of police officers,
even in situations of high stress and urgency."
16. "Reform is more likely
to occur if police officials are onnected to professional networks of
progressive police leaders (regional, national and international)."
17. "Labour organisations
within the police must be included in the development and planning of any reform
programme."
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