The diffusion of police innovation: A case study of problem-oriented policing in England and Wales
| Author | Karen Bullock,Aiden Sidebottom,Gloria Laycock,Nick Tilley |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14613557221106084 |
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Original Research Articles |
The diffusion of police innovation: A case
study of problem-oriented policing in
England and Wales
Karen Bullock
Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, UK
Aiden Sidebottom
Department of Security and Crime Science, UCL, UK
Gloria Laycock
Department of Security and Crime Science, UCL, UK
Nick Tilley
Department of Security and Crime Science, UCL, UK
Abstract
There is significant evidence demonstrating that when done well, problem-oriented policing is associated with mean-
ingful reductions in crime and public safety concerns. And yet, history shows that the implementation and delivery of
problem-oriented policing is challenging, and that police organisations have generally not adopted it and even when
they try to it is often rejected over time. This article draws on the concept of ‘diffusion of innovation’(Rogers,
E. (2003) Diffusion of Innovations, 5th edn. New York: Free Press) to unpick aspects of the processes through which
problem-oriented policing has been adopted or otherwise among police forces in England and Wales. This article
shows how factors related to the nature of problem-oriented policing –notably its incompatibility with prevailing
norms and values of the police service, its complexity and unobservability –have influenced its adoption.
Implications are also discussed.
Keywords
Diffusion, problem-oriented policing, innovation, police reform
Submitted 10 Oct 2021, Revise received 7 Apr 2022, accepted 13 Apr 2022
Background
The history of policing is filled with innovation. One such
innovation is problem-oriented policing (POP), proposed
by Herman Goldstein in 1979 as a framework for improving
police effectiveness through paying greater attention to
resolving the substantive community problems that fall
within the police remit rather than responding to calls for
service as they arrive. This article considers the processes
through which problem-oriented policing (Goldstein,
1979, 1990) diffuses, or fails to diffuse, through police
organisations.
Problem-oriented policing is a framework for improving
police effectiveness. Goldstein was critical of the tendency
Corresponding author:
Karen Bullock, Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford
GU2 7XH, UK.
Email: k.bullock@surrey.ac.uk
Original Research Article
International Journal of
Police Science & Management
2022, Vol. 24(4) 397–405
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/14613557221106084
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