Whither฀problem-oriented฀policing

By Nick Tilley

Herman฀Goldstein’s฀(1979,฀1990)฀vision฀of฀problem-oriented฀policing฀(POP)฀has฀not฀ been฀difficult฀to฀sell,฀at฀least฀in฀principle,฀and฀in฀the฀30฀years฀since฀he฀first฀mooted฀ it฀many฀scholars฀and฀police฀agencies฀have฀bought฀into฀it.฀POP฀promises฀a฀move฀ away฀from฀managerial฀priorities,฀standardized฀(and฀often฀ineffective)฀ways฀of฀working,฀and฀law฀ enforcement฀as฀an฀end฀in฀itself.฀It฀focuses฀instead฀on฀relevant฀community฀concerns,฀the฀openminded฀pursuit฀of฀ethical฀and฀effective฀solutions฀to฀recurrent฀problems,฀and฀attention฀to฀results฀ to฀learn฀better฀how฀to฀deal฀with฀similar฀problems฀in฀the฀future.฀It฀also฀suggests฀an฀efficient฀and฀ effective฀way฀of฀handling฀heavy฀demands฀on฀police฀time,฀by฀resolving฀problems฀rather฀than฀ simply฀by฀responding฀to฀them฀incident฀by฀incident.฀

American฀Society฀of฀Criminology. Criminology฀&฀Public฀Policy฀•฀Volume฀9฀•฀Issue฀1. 13p.