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How do prosecutors behave when the state puts them in charge of solving social problems? Drawing on interviews with prosecutors in California, this article investigates the degree to which problem-oriented strategies can transform the conventional prosecutorial role. The data show that problem-oriented prosecutors regard themselves as more responsive to the communities they serve and more inclined to develop creative and broad-ranging strategies to manage deviance within these communities. But there are significant limitations to the social worker role embedded in the problem orientation. First, problem-solving approaches are most compatible with chronic, low-level criminal offenses that hold little professional allure for prosecutors, who therefore have little incentive (at least in traditional professional terms) to devote time and energy to solving them. Second, the problem-oriented model produces among prosecutors a challenging role conflict, as the skills required for effective, creative problem-solving contrast sharply with those traits that traditionally define a good prosecutor. If problem-solving strategies are to effectively take hold, therefore, the prosecutorial role must be reconceptualized and the institution of prosecution reconstituted to accommodate a wider range of attitudes and actions.

Aims to understand whether there is any linkage between theoretical models and realistic perceptions of policing. Presents the results of a survey in which both police officers and community members were sampled to rate police activities and organizational principles that represent police professionalism, community policing, problem‐oriented policing, and the security orientation. The data were collected in the Rutgers community in Newark, New Jersey, USA, through a survey questionnaire, and analyzed through factor analytical models to see whether different police activities and organizational principles clustered under different factors. Suggests that the result prompted some rethinking about the policing models factored in this study. Discusses how they relate to each other conceptually and how they should be utilized operationally in the context of the research setting. Suggests further studies of policing models using factor analyses.

Information users find online access to bibliographic databases and other sources of information fast and convenient. INION RAN is developing new ways of disseminating search results in order to overcome temporary difficulties — these can be through a text file or a problem‐oriented database. The latter is preferable as (1) it contains the results of cross‐searches in different databases and (2) it is flexible: the records in such a database can be sorted in various orders depending on individual information requirements; an alphabetical subject index to any part of the database can be formed; etc. Problem‐oriented databases can also be updated regularly using internal and external information resources (CDROMs, online systems, printed indexes). Problem‐oriented databases are a response to the changing information needs of both expert and non‐expert users in today's Russia, which is changing faster than ever.

The strategic intelligence assessment (SIA) plays an important role in contemporary intelligence‐led policing by helping to identify strategic priorities for policing activity, crime reduction and improvements in community safety. Originally defined in the UK's National Intelligence Model, the SIA is produced annually by all local UK police districts as well as other agencies in the UK and internationally that have adopted intelligence‐led principles. The purpose of this paper is to critique the two most common approaches to its production, structuring its content following a “crime‐type” template or an assessment that is based on previous strategic priorities.

The paper's critique is based on reviewing one hundred SIAs from police forces and Community Safety Partnerships in the UK and through speaking to practitioners on their experiences in using these intelligence products to determine strategic priorities.

The paper identifies weaknesses in both, arguing that neither tends to generate strategic intelligence products that are fit for the purpose for effective decision making, and in particular in helping to harness support from local government partners to address persistent and causal factors. As an alternative the study introduce a problem‐oriented approach to the production of strategic intelligence, with an assessment made in relation to place (locations and temporal features), offending and offender management, and victimisation and vulnerability.

The paper illustrates that the problem‐oriented approach leads to the production of a SIA that is more cross‐cutting in its analysis of crime and community safety issues, and more naturally leads to the identification of strategic priorities that focus on addressing causal issues.

Roskilde University was established in Denmark in 1972 as a critical reform university based on the principles of participant directed problem-oriented project learning (PPL). In 2009, the university launched a new master programme in Urban Planning (Planning Studies). This chapter presents experiences from student projects working with action research in facilitating citizen-driven urban development. Firstly, we outline the key theoretical foundations of the Planning Studies programme: planning as social learning, empowerment and social mobilization. Secondly, we describe the principles of the Roskilde University pedagogical model (PPL) rooted in the tradition of experiential and critical pedagogy of Oskar Negt, John Dewey, Paulo Freire and others. Thirdly, we present two cases of problem-oriented projects working with action research in bottom-up urban planning and sustainable transition in Copenhagen. The first case concerns the involvement of local residents in the redesign of a public square through a series of aesthetic experiments. The second case concerns an experiment with alternative transport solutions and sustainable street transition through reduction of private car use and the creation of new public spaces on former parking lots. The article concludes that action research in problem-oriented project work is promising way of involving students in community empowerment processes. Doing action research strengthens the students understanding of ‘the logic of practice’ and their ability to master practical and ethical judgements in complex real-world empowerment and learning processes. This both prepares them for professional practice and provides them with an embodied and pragmatically empowered understanding of how transformations towards a more sustainable and just society can be brought about.

This study aims to explore students’ interests in multimodal texts by focusing on videos of social issues.

Data from 50 students in a first-year multilingual composition course were analyzed in two phases. Phase One examined 14 students’ reasons for self-selecting videos for multimodal analysis essays in one section of the course. Phase Two explored 50 students’ selected videos in four sections of the course across four semesters. The videos were classified as either problem- or solution-oriented to examine the students’ interests.

Analyzing the students’ responses in Phase One revealed that most of the selected videos included solutions to a social problem, and the students advocated the compelling ways in which the characters therein dealt with those problems. The findings for Phase Two revealed that the students’ selections were equally divided between problem- and solution-oriented videos. Nevertheless, a gradual increase in the selection of solution-oriented videos was observed over time.

A significant implication of this study is that it can help teachers expand their understanding of interesting and meaningful texts and make more engaging and effective instructional decisions.

The study contributes to the literature on text selection as it highlights students’ inclination toward what type of learning content interests them.

Problem‐oriented training (POT) requires considerable skill from a trainer with wide experience in identifying the optimum training approaches for resolving management issues and the ability to convince managers throughout the organisation that improvement and change are feasible. It draws on the collective goodwill and enthusiasm that a competent trainer can generate. Examples of the use of POT in telecommunications, a government agency and by an aerospace contractor are given.

The process of institutionalizing police reform has been relatively ignored in the policing literature. Owing to this, there is no established framework for institutionalizing police reform. This article seeks to add to the knowledge regarding the institutionalization of police reform by presenting the results from a study that examined the institutionalization of problem‐oriented policing (POP) in the CMPD.

The research was guided by the limited amount of organizational change in policing research and the limited amount of organizational development literature pertaining to institutionalization. The research utilized captain interviews and rank‐and‐file surveys to determine officer knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes towards POP in the CMPD. The CMPD's policies, procedures, and practices pertaining to POP were also outlined.

It was found that POP has become institutionalized in the CMPD. POP principles are evident in the captain's culture, rank‐and‐file's culture, and the policy and procedure of the CMPD.

The study puts forth a framework for assessing and institutionalizing police reform that other departments can test and utilize in their efforts to institutionalize police reform.

The paper is one of the first to examine the institutionalization process of police reform. A framework is put forth to assess and aid in other police departments' efforts to institutionalize police reforms.

Problem‐oriented policing has been widely implemented during recent years, but researchers have conducted few controlled evaluations to assess its effectiveness. This paper presents a quasi‐experiment designed to test the effects of one such programme. Interviews with Santa Ana residents before and after the introduction of problem‐oriented policing in the city’s developmental district suggest that the archetype can lessen citizens’ complaints about their neighbourhoods.