February 2017

Guest Editors: Sarah Guy and Rebecca Stickley, IACP

The culture of policing is multifaceted and ever evolving. It can include the policies, behaviors, and beliefs of officers and agency leaders, but it is also affected by external influences, including budgetary decisions, policy makers, community members, and legislation. There are some elements that are important across the board (such as officer safety, community-police relations, and ethical policing), yet each law enforcement organization’s culture is also shaped by the agency’s specific responsibilities and the community it serves.

Articles

• Community Caretakers: A Case Study in Changing the Culture of a Campus Police Department

  By Paul L. Ominsky, Princeton University Department of Public Safety, New Jersey, and Lewis Z. Schlosser, PhD, ABPP, Institute for Forensic Psychology
  One of the greatest challenges facing law enforcement in the 21st century in the United States is earning and maintaining the trust of the communities it serves. At present, the narrative on community...

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• Building a Quality Culture at the Mexican Forensic System

  By Leticia Collado, Forensic DNA Supervisor, International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program, Mexico
  Crime rates and violence in Mexico are topics that demand the attention of both domestic and international communities on both sides of the Mexico-U.S. border. The U.S.-funded Merida Initiative, begin...

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• The New Volume Demand: Keeping Pace with Vulnerability through Culture Change

  By Gavin Thomas, Chief Superintendent, Gloucestershire Police, President, Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales
  Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is experiencing many changes and challenges, both in terms of the demands placed on policing and law enforcement and in the complexity of providing these services...

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• What Happened to Public Trust? An Examination of Outcome-Based Strategies to Enhance Ethical Policing

  By Kris Allshouse, Detective Supervisor (Ret.), City of Long Beach, California, and Executive Director, Los Angeles County Regional Training Center, California
  In Santa Ana, California, police served a search warrant on a marijuana dispensary that was operating improperly. After the business had been cleared of patrons and workers, a video surveillance syste...

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• The Strategic Guidance Framework: A Global Strategic Impact for Law Enforcement

  By David Beer, Chief Superintendent (Ret.), Royal Canadian Mounted Police
  In a world touched by violence, crime, and conflict, the role of civilian police as a function of the international community’s peacekeeping strategies has evolved. Once deployed as mainly observers...

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• Ideas & Insights, Part 1: Police Culture in the 21st Century

  By Gary Cordner, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Criminal Justice, Kutztown University, Pennsylvania
  The importance of police culture is widely recognized—the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing noted that “[o]rganizational culture eats policy for lunch” and “[b]ehavior is more ...

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• Ideas & Insights, Part 2: The Role of Police Executives in Police Culture: A Response to Police Culture in the 21st Century

  By John King, Chief of Police, Provo, Utah, Police Department, Co-Chair, IACP Research Advisory Committee
  Dr. Gary Cordner’s research article on factors that affect police culture in the 21st century examines whether there is a universally identifiable police culture present in U.S. law enforcement. Whi...

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• Event Deconfliction Avoids Operational Conflicts, Saves Lives, and Solves Cases

  By Tom Carr, Director, Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Kent Shaw, Executive Director, Western States Information Network Jack Killorin, Director, Atlanta/Carolinas HIDTA
  One of the greatest responsibilities a country has is to provide a safe working environment for its law enforcement professio...

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