Beyond Crime Rates and Community Surveys: a New Approach to Police Accountability and Performance Measurement Tarah Hodgkinson1* , Tullio Caputo2 and Michael L
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Hodgkinson et al. Crime Sci (2019) 8:13 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40163-019-0108-x Crime Science THEORETICAL ARTICLE Open Access Beyond crime rates and community surveys: a new approach to police accountability and performance measurement Tarah Hodgkinson1* , Tullio Caputo2 and Michael L. McIntyre3 Abstract In this conceptual piece, we argue that the current approach to police performance measurement typically based on the use of traditional police metrics has failed to achieve the desired results and that a diferent strategy is required. Traditional police metrics have a narrow focus on crime and the police response to it. They provide little information on how well police organizations are performing. Importantly, traditional police metrics do not incorporate input from police stakeholders in goal identifcation, nor do they use specifcally designed indicators to assess progress towards achieving these goals. Following an analysis of the criticisms levelled at the use of traditional police metrics, and subsequent attempts to address these issues, we argue that a networked governance approach represents a more promising foundation for undertaking police organizational performance assessment. Such an approach would engage stakeholders more directly in goal identifcation and performance assessment, and potentially lead to more successful, responsive and accountable policing. Keywords: Performance measurement, Policing, Accountability, Governance, Canada Introduction metrics to alternative such as public confdence through In the early 1990s, a ‘businesslike’ approach to pub- procedural justice, many police organizations continue to lic administration known as New Public Management experience pressures to demonstrate accountability. (NPM), began to take root in the United Kingdom, the In this conceptual paper, we consider the growing United States, and many other western nations (Hartley emphasis on performance measurement in policing with 2005; Hough 2010; Micheli and Neely 2010). Te impe- a particular focus on the Canadian context. We explore tus for NPM came, in part, from growing concerns over the criticisms levelled at the use of traditional police met- mounting budget defcits and the desire by governments rics for performance assessment, then consider some of to gain greater control over public sector organizations the alternatives that have been proposed for overcom- like the police (den Heyer 2011). Te impact of these pol- ing these criticisms including a shift to examining police icies and the changes they created in police organizations legitimacy through procedural justice. Finally, we outline cannot be overstated. As Reiner (2013:171) notes, the what we believe to be a more fruitful and meaningful reforms aimed at policing in the United Kingdom, includ- approach to police organizational performance measure- ing the use of performance measurement, have been the ment—one that builds on well-established governance most substantial in the past 50 years “and, arguably in the principles that ofer a promising way of addressing police nearly two centuries since the establishment of the mod- organizational performance concerns, while prioritizing ern British police”. And, despite a shift in performance police legitimacy and accountability. In this way, we out- line a path forward for policing, that shifts organizational innovation from ‘episodic’ eforts to ‘systematic’ change *Correspondence: [email protected] (Goldstein 2018, 3). 1 School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Grifth University, 176 Messines Dr., Mt. Gravatt, QLD 4122, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Hodgkinson et al. Crime Sci (2019) 8:13 Page 2 of 7 History and background UCR also measures poorly) while providing little infor- Police organizations were originally exempted from mation on how well police organizations are run (Magu- the types of budget cuts, austerity measures and other ire and Uchida 2000). Nor does the UCR provide any changes imposed on public sector organizations as a detail on the unique context of similar criminal incidents result of NPM-inspired reforms because they were con- (e.g. one assault can be very diferent from another and sidered an ‘essential service’ (Butterfeld et al. 2004). Tis require diferent police response). Furthermore, clear- situation began to change, however, in the mid-2000s as ance rates do not provide any indication about the type of the global recession put increasing pressure on govern- service provided by the police beyond whether an arrest mental budgets (Edwards and Skidmore 2006). For exam- was made, or the case was solved. ple, in Canada, the per capita cost of policing has risen Te four main types of information reported in exist- steadily since the 1950s. Accounting for infation, Cana- ing police metrics include: crime rates, clearance rates, dian policing budgets have grown more than 40% since response times and productivity or workload statistics 1986 reaching $14.7 billion in 2016 (approximately $315 (e.g. number of arrests, citations, stops and checks, etc.) per capita and 26% higher than in 2006) (Conor 2017). (Collier 2001; Fielding and Innes 2006; Maguire 2003; Concerns over policing costs prompted the Canadian Sparrow 2015). Tese metrics do not alone address police federal government to launch an “economics of polic- goals, nor do they include specifc indicators designed ing” initiative in 2012. Tis initiative focused on fnding to track progress towards goal achievement. Implicitly, ways of delivering more ‘efcient and efective’ policing police organizations are understood to be, “doing a good services while reducing policing costs (Drummond 2012; job” in relation to how well they perform on the above- Leuprecht 2014; Di Matteo 2014; Public Safety Canada mentioned traditional police metrics, rather than what 2018). some might consider legitimate police goals. While the Considerations of the costs of policing are clearly police have some ability to impact the rise and fall of of- important since they represent a signifcant expenditure cial crime statistics, most of these changes are a result of for municipal, provincial and federal levels of govern- indirect police behaviour. For example, diferent attend- ment in Canada. However, a more nuanced discussion ing ofcers may record an incident as more or less severe about these costs is required given public expectations of depending on a number of factors. If this is done over the police, the increasing complexity of police work, and time it could impact crime rates. However, traditional the greater time required to adequately perform policing police metrics continue to be used despite ongoing criti- tasks considering the legal requirements under which the cisms including questions about what is being measured, police currently operate (e.g. regulations regarding the what is being missed, how the data are collected, and how handling of domestic confict calls). As well, there has other data sources (like victim surveys) compare with been growing public demand for greater police account- these metrics (Maguire and Uchida 2000; Wells et al. ability and legitimacy in Canada, as a result of a series of 2005). Four general critiques of traditional police metrics high-profle incidents involving the police, and the devel- are outlined below. opment of the National Inquiry into Missing and Mur- Te frst critique is that they are methodologically dered Indigenous Women and Children, and the Black unsound. Critics claim that traditional police metrics like Lives Matter Movement (Lucchesi and Echo-Hawk 2019; crime rates are ill defned, poorly specifed, and often do Reiti 2016). Tese developments have put policing high not capture the actual amount of crime that occurs in a on the public policy agenda in Canada in recent years as given area (Rein and Winship 1999). Reporting practices has been the case in many liberal democracies. have received particular attention with respect to the methodological criticisms levelled at traditional police Police performance assessment and the use of traditional metrics. Te research on reporting practices suggests police metrics that high reporting rates are often linked to a variety of Te current context of policing in Canada includes a factors (Fielding and Innes 2006). For example, increas- growing emphasis on police performance measurement ing the number of police ofcers on the street could lead frameworks by police organizations (ICURS 2014). His- to higher crime rates because there are more police avail- torically, policy makers and police leaders have typically able to witness and report crime, rather than having to used existing police metrics, such as crime rates and rely on the public to make these reports (Rein and Win- clearance rates, to assess police performance. Indeed, the ship 1999). Additionally, crime rates can decrease if citi- Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) were developed