This paper argues that police organizations remain underinformed about society's expectations of them, that they are unnecessarily overloaded with unanalyzed crime data, and that an adequate understanding of police effectiveness calls for a principled strategy of making police organizations active participants in a knowledge production process that satisfies most of the scientific norms of social science research. The ability of police organizations to develop a strategic research agenda that addresses in a systematic fashion their key concerns depends in part on changing their attitudes toward knowledge itself. 9 notes and 32 references (Author abstract modified)