The Value of Asking Questions
Police practitioners are accustomed to asking questions. They do it all the time - out in the community, during investigative interviews, in an many other situations. I'd say the nature of how the police use questions to do their work is changing. One place in which we see this is in Compstat. Compstat is a tool used by police leaders to hold police managers accountable for crime and disorder in their areas of responsibility. Compstat is a regularly held meeting in which different police managers use crime statistics to talk about and reflect on effective crime reduction strategies. When Compstat began in NYPD (by then and current Commissioner Bill Bratton and team), higher-ups would question district commanders about their tactics in an effort to hold commanders accountable. Reportedly, the tone of the question was very heavy-handed, with the intent on emphasizing a level of seriousness and accountability relative to crime. At that time, it seemed that traditional police interrogation (aka question) approaches were being applied to this performance management tool.
Today we have learned so much about Compstat, and the way in which it is run is quite different than what has been reported about NYPD in the 1990's. Grounded in research from policing and management, police leaders utilize a different approach. "Management by Inquiry" is a new way of interacting with, and learning from various police managers about the challenges they see in their areas of responsibility, and in the various ways in which these challenges are being addressed (deHavern-Smith and Jenne, 2006). Using questions to engage diverse participants of the Compstat meetings, asking and answering important questions about the underlying causes of some crime and disorder issues, and asking questions to support creative and collaborative brainstorming, are new and more effective ways of working together to tackle crime problems. My colleague, Anthony Braga and I, learned so much through the re-creation and evaluation of crime problem solving meetings, designed much like Compstat, but intentionally reinventing the way meeting participants communicated with each other (2013). Using questions to openly and honestly explore and solve the very "wicked" crime problems that plague communities seems to be a more productive way of working...and, there is growing research to support this approach.
Police practitioners are accustomed to asking questions. They do it all the time - out in the community, during investigative interviews, in an many other situations. I'd say the nature of how the police use questions to do their work is changing. One place in which we see this is in Compstat. Compstat is a tool used by police leaders to hold police managers accountable for crime and disorder in their areas of responsibility. Compstat is a regularly held meeting in which different police managers use crime statistics to talk about and reflect on effective crime reduction strategies. When Compstat began in NYPD (by then and current Commissioner Bill Bratton and team), higher-ups would question district commanders about their tactics in an effort to hold commanders accountable. Reportedly, the tone of the question was very heavy-handed, with the intent on emphasizing a level of seriousness and accountability relative to crime. At that time, it seemed that traditional police interrogation (aka question) approaches were being applied to this performance management tool.
Today we have learned so much about Compstat, and the way in which it is run is quite different than what has been reported about NYPD in the 1990's. Grounded in research from policing and management, police leaders utilize a different approach. "Management by Inquiry" is a new way of interacting with, and learning from various police managers about the challenges they see in their areas of responsibility, and in the various ways in which these challenges are being addressed (deHavern-Smith and Jenne, 2006). Using questions to engage diverse participants of the Compstat meetings, asking and answering important questions about the underlying causes of some crime and disorder issues, and asking questions to support creative and collaborative brainstorming, are new and more effective ways of working together to tackle crime problems. My colleague, Anthony Braga and I, learned so much through the re-creation and evaluation of crime problem solving meetings, designed much like Compstat, but intentionally reinventing the way meeting participants communicated with each other (2013). Using questions to openly and honestly explore and solve the very "wicked" crime problems that plague communities seems to be a more productive way of working...and, there is growing research to support this approach.
References:
Bond, B. J., Braga, A. A. (2013). Rethinking the Compstat
process to enhance problem-solving responses: Insights from a randomized
controlled trial. Police Practice and Research: An International Journal.
Bond and Braga (2013) Police Practice and Research
deHaven-Smith, L. and Jenne II, K.C., (2006) Management
by Inquiry: A Discursive Accountability System for Large Organizations, Public Administration Review, Volume 66,
Issue 1.
Dr. Bond Bio Link: https://www.suffolk.edu/business/faculty/12309.php
Dr. Bond Bio Link: https://www.suffolk.edu/business/faculty/12309.php
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