Intelligence‐Led Policing by J. Ratcliffe

Cullompton : Willan ( 2008 ) 265pp. £50.00hb ISBN 978-1-84392-340-4 £22.00pb ISBN 978-1-84392-339-8 Intelligence-Led Policing brings together for the first time the concepts, processes and practices of the policing movement of the same name, providing a much-called-for explication of what the author heralds to be ‘the most significant and profound change in modern policing’ (p.88). In what might be considered the culmination of his work to date, Ratcliffe – a police officer-turned-academic who is, perhaps, the foremost authority on intelligence-led policing, proficiently interweaves an extensive array of empirical research findings, case-studies, and viewpoint contributions from experts, in what is an important, cutting-edge criminological analysis of contemporary Anglo-American policing. Exploring the origins of intelligence-led policing in Chapter 2, Ratcliffe identifies various late modern ‘universal drivers’ and ‘national idiosyncrasies’ that have both stimulated and obligated the police to adopt a more intelligence-led approach. Chapter 3 goes on to argue that the magnitude of the crime challenge necessitates such an approach, drawing attention to what is termed the ‘crime funnel’ of the criminal justice system, and the problem of persistent prolific offenders. Intelligence-led policing, albeit widely espoused in policing rhetoric, has remained a somewhat nebulous concept. Clearing up this conceptual confusion in Chapter 4, Ratcliffe determines the central tenets of intelligence-led policing, and cogently distinguishes it from related policing frameworks, namely community policing, problem-oriented policing, and Compstat. Ratcliffe suggests that intelligence-led policing can best be defined as ‘a business model and managerial philosophy where data analysis and crime intelligence are pivotal to an objective, decision-making framework that facilitates crime and problem reduction, disruption and prevention through both strategic management and effective enforcement strategies that target prolific and serious offenders’ (p.89). Moving on to look at how intelligence-led policing should work in practice, Chapter 5 begins by discussing the concomitant terminology, such as ‘criminal intelligence’ and ‘crime analysis’, before evaluating a number of conceptual analytical frameworks. The focus here, and for the three chapters that follow, is on the author's ‘3-i model’, which suggests that intelligence-led policing analysts, using a range of analytical techniques, must interpret the criminal environment, then influence the most appropriate decision makers, who might then have a positive impact on crime. The paradigm shift from ‘investigation-led intelligence to intelligence-led policing’ (p.88), the author acknowledges, is an ongoing and evolutionary process that faces many future challenges, as illustrated in the concluding discussion in Chapter 10. Ratcliffe is an emphatic advocate of the need for the academic community to join forces with the police, so as to improve the operational response to crime problems. Accordingly, whilst being an essential read and comprehensive resource for both academics and students of policing, this book is primarily written for policing practitioners, particularly the next cohort of police leaders, whom the author believes are the key to the success of intelligence-led policing. At all times pertinent to the police perspective, he incisively proposes an eclectic profusion of practice advice, which, if followed, could enable the police to escape the gravitational pull of day-to-day reactive needs, smooth the progress of unavoidable cultural change, and eventually cement intelligence-led policing into the working practices of police departments. A minor criticism is that more attention could have been given to the occupational culture of the police, by which I mean the multitude of informal norms, understandings and beliefs that police practitioners use as a guide for how policing should and can be done. Ratcliffe almost entirely neglects the wealth of research on this area (for example, Chan 1997), and seems largely to assume that the reader has a pre-existing knowledge of what is meant by police culture, its significance, and how and why it impacts upon policing in practice

Community policing · Confusion · Criminal justice · Criminology · Police science · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Rhetoric · Sociology · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Policing Practices and Perceptions · Psychology

• Changing Police Culture

  Open Access•J Chan, Janet B L Chan•Changing Police Culture•1997

  Add to list