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Managing the demand for police services, or how to control an insatiable appetite

Managing the demand for police services, or how to control an insatiable appetite
Managing the demand for police services, or how to control an insatiable appetite
As the policing role expands, police in most western democratic societies strive to meet the demands of an increasingly expectant public. How to maintain the myth that they can be everywhere and do anything regardless of their capacity? How to maintain their customer focus and reputation for efficient and effective service delivery in the face of chronic resource restraint? How to encourage the public to play a greater role in attending to their own security needs, without communicating to prospective offenders just how thin the ‘blue line’ is? This paper discusses the expectations gap in Australia and examines some of the strategies police use for reducing the demand for its services and to manage the increasing demands on their limited resources. The observations and commentary are drawn from a 3-year research project in Australia, ‘Policing in the 21st Century’. The strategies are discussed in the context of deterrence, deflection, delay, dilution and denial. The paper concludes that police walk a fine line in order to maintain their legitimacy and respect, while at the same time managing the demand for their services—a demand that in many cases has become unrealistic.
1752-4512
281-291
Fleming, Jenny
61449384-ccab-40b3-b494-0852c956ca19
Grabosky, Peter
49d8ce06-3161-493e-9b50-8c2f99933c89
Fleming, Jenny
61449384-ccab-40b3-b494-0852c956ca19
Grabosky, Peter
49d8ce06-3161-493e-9b50-8c2f99933c89

Fleming, Jenny and Grabosky, Peter (2009) Managing the demand for police services, or how to control an insatiable appetite. [in special issue: Extremism] Policing, 3 (3), 281-291. (doi:10.1093/police/pap019).

Record type: Article

Abstract

As the policing role expands, police in most western democratic societies strive to meet the demands of an increasingly expectant public. How to maintain the myth that they can be everywhere and do anything regardless of their capacity? How to maintain their customer focus and reputation for efficient and effective service delivery in the face of chronic resource restraint? How to encourage the public to play a greater role in attending to their own security needs, without communicating to prospective offenders just how thin the ‘blue line’ is? This paper discusses the expectations gap in Australia and examines some of the strategies police use for reducing the demand for its services and to manage the increasing demands on their limited resources. The observations and commentary are drawn from a 3-year research project in Australia, ‘Policing in the 21st Century’. The strategies are discussed in the context of deterrence, deflection, delay, dilution and denial. The paper concludes that police walk a fine line in order to maintain their legitimacy and respect, while at the same time managing the demand for their services—a demand that in many cases has become unrealistic.

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More information

Published date: 12 August 2009
Organisations: Social Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 338253
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/338253
ISSN: 1752-4512
PURE UUID: 4f8b4819-bb81-4565-bfd4-a2e1d0db0fbb
ORCID for Jenny Fleming: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7913-3345

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Date deposited: 11 May 2012 10:25
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:41

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Contributors

Author: Jenny Fleming ORCID iD
Author: Peter Grabosky

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