Criminal justice management principles and practices

Criminal Justice Management Policing Matrix

The Matrix provided here is a detailed and thorough plotting of research findings in a number of specific areas that are defined by their level of proactive nature and success levels. Essentially, it is a survey of research conclusions that is laid out in a format that helps make understanding modern research much easier, especially in a context of strategy planning and execution within various policing agencies around the nation. The Matrix takes a wide number of research study findings and plots them in a thorough diagram that rates effectiveness of particular strategies. It aids policing agencies in the development of strategies to combat very specific issues they may be facing within their department jurisdictions. Thus, the Matrix represents a move away from generalized and vague statistics, and more into very thorough and detailed evaluation of up-to-date research. It takes very detailed study findings and combines them into an easy to use and easy to read format that can be applied in the field without confusion or the need to work through administrative teams to decipher research statistics.

There are a number of areas that are important, but a few that really stick out both in the Matrix itself and in articles reviewing some of the research that helped create it. First, it is clear that in a number of target crime areas, taking a more proactive approach to managing crime is a huge benefit to the overall success of implementing various strategies. This includes the process of stepping up patrol proactively in areas which prove to have higher rates of criminal incidences. Proactive approaches have been increasingly successful with the use of data and conclusions from the Matrix. The articles show several instances were proactive strategies designed with the conclusions of the Matrix in mind have been successful in developing and executing strategies that target specific crime incidences. The Repeat Offender Program (ROP) in Phoenix and the DARE programs are positive examples of how proactive approaches based on research findings can be successful in reducing crime rates for targeted offenses, like drug use and sales. Finding the right level of proactive approach depends on the specific nature of the crimes being targeted, but it is clear that in almost every category of targeting, proactive approaches are more successful. This then is a catalyst for designing future policing tactics around a more proactive approach.

Moreover, the ability to use the Matrix as a self-assessment tool for individual agencies and departments is also a very crucial element of the research here as well. The Matrix can help local agencies examine their department performance as well as individual officer performances within that jurisdiction. Use of the Matrix increases the active role of Sergeants in supervising officer and department performance, allowing them to take on greater levels of responsibility in developing their own unique and tailored tactics to combat specific issues being faced in their individual situations. Moreover, the Matrix increases the scope of self-assessment to include much more thorough and detail orientated measures that are based on actual evidence in the field.

There has been a recent explosion of research conducted within a policing context. I was actually impressed with the degree of study policing has received in contemporary times. Still, more specific research articles, like the ones examined here, are often not given directly to those in the field. Rather, their findings are interpreted and simplified into the ones found in magazines distributed to practitioners. Research findings included in the Matrix must me "methodologically rigorous" and uses the Scientific Methods Scale. These thus differ from other reports in their intense methodological structures and foundations. As a result of these differences and the format of current dissemination to practitioners, there should be more options available. Fairness and Effectiveness in Policing: The Evidence is incredibly dense and can be a lot to handle for practitioners actually working out in the field. Although the book is a wealth of information that is assembled in one text, it is often too broad for use in specific incidences where its conclusions need to be adapted into field strategies quickly. Rather, research findings should be available in a more condense manner, with options for greater detail provided for later review. Annual or semiannual journals could be disseminated that contain the latest research findings. This would make the process of reading and keeping up-to-date with research findings easier to do in the actual field and can be logged for use later in the creation of more specific strategies.

Lum presents her idea that something as serious as policing must be tied to more reliable and valid measurements. Law enforcement is a very complex concept, and must be approached with the same scientific reasoning that other complex sciences must. This has led to many within the field to continue working on more evidence-based practices. Such methods have proven successful in strategies such as increasing citizen policing measures where residents are more supportive in law enforcement strategies. As such, Lum helps construct a viable matrix which helps place law enforcement research on a measurable platform that can be better utilized in practical applications.

Still, many forces within law enforcement have proven resistant to introductions of much more detailed practices based on data observations. Law enforcement has been one industry to resist change. Typically, it is not an industry that incorporates new innovations from other industries. Yet, recently law enforcement agencies have been structuring themselves on more empirical methods which rely on practical applications.

Compared to previous generations, there is much more research on specific tactic designs and how those designs have proved to be either successful or unsuccessful in their approach to targeting specific crimes. This has come about through a general trend that focuses on developing more tailored policing strategies based on evidence coming directly from the field. This is explained in the article by Cynthia Lum, where evidence-based policing is defined as using research findings to adopt new strategies in policing tactics.

Ted Gest's 2010 article clearly shows the disadvantages of the fractured law enforcement system that is in use in most places today. One of the major elements Gest believes will help unify those divisions is a greater sense of coherence, where these vastly different law enforcement agencies still practice similar techniques and strategies that will help provide a more unified front.

Coherence can be achieved through agencies using new research as a foundation for future strategies. Obviously, the research that is most profound in the industry tends to have similar results based on field data. In an era where law enforcement is so fractured, evidence-based practices can help unify how law enforcement strategies are designed and executed in the field. Thus, the increased prominence of research can help establish a more coherent front that law enforcement agencies across the country can utilize to their advantage.