The Influence of Technical, Social and Structural Factors on the Effective use of Information in a Policing Environment

Abstract

Throughout the world, police services are increasingly adopting a proactive, intelligence‑led approach to crime management. These services operate within environments characterized by firm hierarchy, the command and control paradigm and high social sensitivity. The implementation of strategies for the exploitation of knowledge and information within such environments reveals particular insights into organizational knowledge management. Understanding these issues may be of great value, particularly as despite the commitment to intelligence led policing, the outcomes to date have not met expectations. This paper proposes that social and political issues have the ability to influence knowledge management strategy by drawing upon Pan and Scarbrough's socio‑technical model to show the progression of the intelligence‑led policing philosophy over the past decade.