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Explores the links between processes of globalization and new public management (NPM), and examines their effects on the management of the police in particular. Assesses whether managerial unity or managerial disunity will characterize the future of police management. Looks at the effects of globalization on academic disciplines; the role of the State in an era of globalization; the rise of NPM; the effects of NPM on the management of the British police; the implications of police management reform for the police; and future scenarios of police management.

Since the late 1970s the public sector in Britain has been subject to major reforms, which have been consistent with the prominent international trend of bringing new public management into government. The police service has escaped significant reform, particularly when compared with other policy areas. But in 1993 the Conservative government put forward a series of police reform measures, corresponding largely to the tenets of new public management. However, despite political commitment to reform, the implementation of many of the reform proposals has been successfully resisted by the police. Provides an explanation of the attempt to reform the police service by using a policy networks approach.

This paper examines the implementation of new management techniques in Australian police services since the late 1980s, within an international context of demands for greater public sector efficiencies and accountability. Through an examination of police organisations in Queensland and New South Wales, the paper demonstrates that the impetus for organisational change, particularly in the context of employment practices has largely been driven by revelations of entrenched corruption and police misconduct. As a result, organisational goals of accountability and cultural change have been the critical influences on the restructuring agenda. The paper argues that management strategies should be suited to the specific organisational settings within which they are being applied. It suggests that the process of restructuring and the emphasis on changing employment practices have led to greater potential for conflict between management and police officers.

The term capacity development, and to a lesser extent, capacity building, started to be substituted for institutional development and institution building in donors’ vocabulary for the last couple of decades. As mentioned in the book, capacity development is used along with capacity building,¹ institutional development, public sector reform (PSR), and governance reform, frequently to mean the same thing. For example, capacity development is understood as building and strengthening human, organizational, institutional, and societal capabilities in developing countries mainly focused on their public administration systems (IMF, 2007). The World Bank's Strategy for Reforming Public Institutions and Strengthening Governance defines capacity building as “building effective and accountable [public sector] institutions to address development issues and reduce poverty in borrowing countries,” and emphasizes its importance as the core of the World Bank's activity (2000a, p. xii).

A number of external and internal forces are influencing policing efforts to service the community. These external forces include public expectations for traditional services, and the State government's push towards new public management practices. Internal forces include legacy management practices and inappropriate asset holdings. While there have been a plethora of companies from the private sector that have successfully used information and communication technology (ICT) to address similar influences and ameliorate their performance, this has not been the case in the policing environment. To obtain the strategic, tactical and operational benefits that can be acquired through the adoption and widespread implementation of ICT, a framework is presented to enable virtual policing in Western Australia.

The aim of this paper is to examine the significance and the implications of efforts to institute workforce modernization within the police service in England and Wales.

The approach taken uses an analysis of the modernization proposals advanced by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary as its starting point.

The development of workforce modernization in the police service would appear to have eroded the hitherto “reform‐resistant” nature of policing, however political factors continue to impede reform.

Although more evidence concerning the scale and the outcomes of the reform process would be desirable, the main implication of this paper is that workforce modernization in the police is viable, but constrained by political factors.

Empirically, the paper focuses on developments in a sector – the police service – that has been neglected by the existing literature on workforce modernization; theoretically, it demonstrates the important influence often exercised by political contingencies over public sector workforce reform.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the significance and necessity of adequate management tools to face dynamic complexity. In particular, the paper shows the importance of model‐based support for designing public systems defined through laws. This is illustrated by means of an example: the new reform of the Colombian criminal justice system.

Literature review of model‐based reasoning and justice systems. Illustration with a case study: reform of the Colombian criminal process.

Human reasoning can be characterized as a model‐based activity, which in turn can be improved by constructing and using diverse models. The support of dynamic models for designing law‐defined public systems represents an open field of research. Specific relevance and conceptualization for criminal justice systems are developed.

To introduce the significance of the contribution of computer simulation modeling for supporting system design and lawmaking processes.

Fundamental “purposes” of Australian police organizations are examined, not with a view to solving the complex and ongoing question of an accountable police mandate, but to consider the difficulty of its reconciliation with the new managerialism sweeping numerous public organizations in Australia – police organizations included. Briefly explores the purposes of policing and a problematic police culture as a lead in to a discussion on the possibly deleterious effects of new managerialism and its associated management faddism. Problems associated with the theory of managerialism, which police managers may not be aware of, are explored: managerialism and economic rationalism; management fads and tool tropism; managerialism as a thinly veiled control agenda; and the potential human costs to police officers arising from managerialist approaches. Suggestions are made for ways forward for police organizations which include a recognition of the down‐side of managerialism and a suggested shift away from a belief in a purely rationalistic organization to one which recognizes and accommodates an actor’s “voice” as a legitimate input to growth, learning and institutional development.