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Law Enforcement--Driven Action Research

NCJ Number
212671
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 72 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2005 Pages: 62-68
Author(s)
Thurston L. Cosner Ph.D.; Greg M. Loftus
Date Published
October 2005
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article explores how university-based researchers can be more responsive to the needs of law enforcement.
Abstract
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) has been active in promoting effective partnerships between law enforcement and university researchers in order to improve the effectiveness of policing. However, a recent roundtable to explore problems hindering the relationship between research and law enforcement revealed that researchers were not responding to the practical needs of law enforcement managers. Indeed, the roundtable discussion uncovered police distrust of research due to the fact that the bulk of this research does not produce practical information with stated solutions, but seems instead to revolve around the researchers’ need to be published. In order to understand the type of research needed by police agencies, the authors outline the four types of police organizational culture (power, role, achievement, and support) and discuss the culture preference of police officers, which tends to sway toward the achievement work culture. As such, police officers have expressed an interest in research that helps them achieve success in their organization, such as research on the effectiveness of training methods and performance reviews. Recommendations are offered for the improvement of police-researcher partnerships, including the recommendation for police agencies to establish regular forums to communicate their research interests and priorities. Endnotes