pulling together: integrating police craft and police science james j. willis & stephen d....
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Pulling Together: Integrating Police Craft and Police Science
James J. Willis & Stephen D. MastrofskiDepartment of Criminology,
Law and Society
Key question
How might the science and craft of policing engage to improve police science and increase the likelihood that it will be used well?
Two forces of influence on police decision making
Science or EBP Emphasis on
scientific method and evidence
Craft Emphasis on
knowledge, skill, and judgment based on daily experience
How much top leadership has tried to get employees to adopt/follow this approach (N=95 CEOs)
Community policingCrime analysis
Hot spotsProcedural justiceProb-oriented polBroken windows
Early interventionEvidence-based pol
Affirmative actionCompstat
Rapid responseVideo recording
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
% "great deal" or "top priority"
Importance of EBP to police officers (N = 56)
Scientific evidence on what works
Crime analysis
Computers & info technology
Good relats w/community leaders
Public speaking
Persuasion
Physical fitness
Writing
Defensive tactics
Verbal coercion
Negotiation
People/places/customs
Laws, rules, & regulations
1 2 3 4 5
Not at all important
A little important
Somewhat important
ImportantVery
important
What should we do?
1) Replace those with little faith in science with true believers
2) Convert non-believers through training and supervision
3) Seek allies among street-level officers
Ways to move science forward
1. Make science more relevant to craft
Science has tended to focus on crime prevention
Order maintenance and service functions largely overlooked yet make up bulk of police work (Bittner 1990)
Example of neighbor dispute
Video clip of actual incident of dispute between two neighbors
Goals identified by patrol officers included safety on the scene maintaining order throughout the encounter satisfying the complainant’s concerns mitigating the likelihood the dispute would
reoccur in the future Science’s contribution to our understanding of
these goals or outcomes and their attainment is currently very modest
Science and the processes of street-level police work
What can science tell us about pragmatic concerns of patrol officers? For example: How can police officers do procedural
justice? How can police officers diagnose a
problem most effectively?
2. Treat craft with respect
The craft of problem diagnosis (Muir 1977) Can involve sophisticated decision-
making techniques and careful observation of human behavior
Neighbor dispute as: Mental health issue? Serious criminal
matter? Minor dispute, or a family matter?
Treat craft with respect (cont.) Science could consult with craft on
discovering the best means to a given end Requires systematically tapping into the best
that craft has to offer E.g., testing several fine-grained
responses to neighbor dispute More efficient and insightful than just
divining from scientific theory
In sum
May well improve acceptance of science by: Allowing craft a hand in “crafting”
research Conversing with craft rather than
asserting virtues of science
Conclusion
Though none but a fool or a madman will ever pretend to dispute the authority of experience, or to reject that great guide of human life
-- David Hume (1748:26)
Further reading
Bayley, David and Egon Bittner. 1984. “Learning the Skills of Policing.” Law and Contemporary Problems 47: 35-39.
Mastrofski, Stephen D. 1996. “Measuring Police Performance in Public Encounters.” In Quantifying Quality in Policing, edited by Larry Hoover, pp. 207-41. Washington, DC. Police Executive Research Forum.
Willis, James. 2013. Improving Police: What’s Craft Got to Do with It? Ideas in American Policing. Washington, DC: The Police Foundationhttp://www.policefoundation.org/sites/g/files/g798246/f/201306/IAP16_Willis_2.pdf