ABSTRACT
This chapter looks analytically at police organizational technology. In traditional police terms, this refers to tactics and strategies, which are simply combinations of specific tasks and methods for achieving police organizational objectives. It identifies the most commonly utilized police strategies and tactics and assesses the available evidence about their effectiveness. The chapter summarizes the findings of research on the effectiveness of detective follow-up investigations. It also summarizes the findings of the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment. The chapter explains the rationale underlying differential responses to calls for service. It also explains how problem-oriented policing differs from traditional reactive policing. The chapter aims to distinguish between the police–community relations programs of the 1960s and 1970s and community policing since the 1980s. It describes how the police response to domestic violence has evolved and how the police response to missing children has changed.
