Policing is at a crossroads. At a time of unprecedented cuts and
increasing levels of demand, the British police service (like many
others) faces enormous challenges. Under the most radical reforms the
service has ever experienced, its leadership is looking for new
approaches that can maintain levels of service delivery and secure
efficiency, accountability and public confidence. Recent history shows
that applying private sector business models to the public sector often
generates hidden costs and unintended consequences that damage
productivity and morale. In spite of this evidence, reform programmes
and prevailing management practices still seek to enforce approaches
that have demonstrably failed. In Intelligent Policing, Simon Guilfoyle
proposes a simple and elegant solution that refocuses organisational
activity on the service user. Drawing on his own experience as a police
officer, he uses a range of evidence to explore the possibilities that
systems thinking offers. He clearly outlines how a systems-based
approach can bring greater efficiency, improved service delivery,
enhanced morale and reduced cost. He shows that the practices and models
proposed in the book can be implemented immediately and insists that
senior police leaders and policy makers have an ideal opportunity to
make lasting improvements today that will resonate throughout policing
and leave a positive legacy for the future.. Intelligent Policing is a
rich resource for those - in the UK and around the world - who care
about delivering an effective policing service in the 21st Century. It
will also interest systems theorists for its practical approach to
policing and inform academic debate in the fields of management and
human behaviour.
