Governing: New Policing Strategies and the Challenge of Implementation

The policing profession spends a lot of time discussing and studying programs and policies, and less time thinking about how they’re implemented. Why can a program that’s effective in one city be a disaster in another city? How much of a program or policy’s effectiveness can be attributed to the way it was implemented?

At the recent American Society of Criminology conference in Philadelphia, our organization convened a panel discussion on implementation with practitioners and academics. I want to share a few highlights from the session.

Former Camden County, N.J., Chief Scott Thomson discussed his experience implementing the Integrating Communications, Assessment and Tactics training program. One lesson he learned was that it’s important that the change not be optional. He made it part of the agency’s policy, and there were consequences for not following agency policy…