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Managing With Less Technology - The Impact of Information Technology on Police Management

NCJ Number
74598
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 20 Issue: 4 Dated: (October 1980) Pages: 344-357
Author(s)
M Hough
Date Published
1980
Length
14 pages
Annotation
The impact of information technology on police resource management is assessed, with particular attention to England.
Abstract
In Britain and elsewhere, little successful use of management information systems has occurred. While advocates of the application of information technology to the police patrol function have argued that ineffective uses of the technology stem from faulty implementation, there is justification for concluding that the basic problem is a mismatch between technology capabilities and the nature of police administration. Information technology focuses on the measurable concepts of 'productivity,' 'effectiveness,' 'efficiency,' 'input/output ratios,' etc. The imposition of these concepts on policing fails to appreciate that (1) most aspects of police work lack clear task differentation, since patrol officers in particular pursue multiple objectives, often conflicting, simultaneously; (2) the concepts of productivity, efficiency, etc. become increasingly inappropriate to organizations as they pursue complex and multiple objectives; and (3) the measurable concepts of information technology are no more appropriate to the police than they are to other organizations with complex, multiple objectives, such as schools and universities. Information technology has focused upon the patrol function, the least promising area of police activity for the technology's application. Investigative police work, where the objectives are clearer, and traffic control, where objectives are simpler, would be more appropriate for matching the capabilities of information technology with the objectives of the work performed. Approximately 30 references are provided.