ABSTRACT
This chapter examines two crucial and inter-related issues: police reform and the policing mandate. Argued throughout is that if the police are to change their operational strategies and behaviours, developing a clearer understanding of what they currently do and what is wanted for them to do in the future is needed. While researchers have examined these matters, much of the existing scholarship focuses on actual and perceived incentives and barriers to change, such as ‘police culture’ and creating regulatory and accountability measures. These issues are essential to reform discussions, but changing policy or altering aspects of police occupational cultures can only be seen as ‘Band-Aid solutions’ when the overall operational environment remains unchanged. This chapter details that the operational environment is driven by political and citizen demands whereby police respond to specific social issues under the guise of law enforcement or the broader and more nebulous concept of ‘public safety.’ These demands shape what the police do and can be traced to greater social issues with complex causes and no one politically easy or palatable solution. Finally, attention is drawn to the porous boundaries of the policing mandate and the lack of a coherent sense of the police role and function.
