Page 38 - 1Proactive Policing

Pro-Active Policing

Although intelligence-led policing builds on earlier paradigms, such as community

policing, problem-oriented policing, and the partnership model of policing, it originated as a
rejection of the "reactive" focus on crime of community policing, with calls for police to spend more
time employing informants and surveillance to combat recidivist offenders.

Recently, intelligence-led policing has undergone a 'revisionist' expansion to allow incorporation of

reassurance and neighbourhood policing.

Since the 1990s, ―intelligence-led policing‖ (also known as intelligence-driven policing‖) has

entered the lexicon of modern policing, especially in the UK and more recently Australia. Yet even
with the ability of new ideas and innovation to spread throughout the policing world at the click of

a mouse, there is still a lack of clarity among many in law enforcement as to what intelligence-led
policing is, what it aims to achieve, and how it is supposed to operate. This can be seen in recent
inspection reports of Her Majesty‘s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) in the UK (HMIC 2001,

2002), and in the lack of clarity regarding intelligence-led policing in the United States. A recent
summit in March 2002 of over 120 criminal intelligence experts from across the US, funded by the
US government and organized by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, may become a

turning point in policing within the US. The participants called for a National Intelligence Plan, with
one of the core recommendations being to ―promote intelligence-led policing through a common
understanding of criminal intelligence and its usefulness‖.

Intelligence-led policing is 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.‖

Police departments routinely improve their effectiveness and efficiency. They develop new
strategies and tactics for reducing crime and protecting the public. When implemented at street
level, even with proper planning, some strategies pose problems. Departments use simplistic

explanations, such as lack of resources, to explain strategic or tactical failures. Often, a more
complex explanation exists. Based on past examinations of policing strategies, implementation

problems occur when rank-and-file officers are not included in the planning process. Mid-level

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