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12 Police Prac. & Res. 1 (2011)

handle is hein.journals/gppr12 and id is 1 raw text is: Police Practice and Research 1 Routledge Vol. 12, No. 1, February 2011, 1-3 Taylor& Francis Group EDITORIAL From the Editor-in-Chief With this issue, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal (PPR) enters its 12th volume, and for the editorial of the first issue in this volume, I invited Chief Todd Wuestewald, PPR's Assisting Editor - Liaison with Practitioners, to offer his commentary on the articles. In his perceptive commentary Todd presents a theme that runs through the whole issue, which he very aptly and most tellingly relates to PPR's mission of 'Improving Police Service.' In introducing this issue, Chief Wuestewald begins as follows: The ultimate value of research involving the police is its impact on practice. Police are important. Their performance involves fundamental questions of justice, freedom, and security. Understanding who the police are, what they do and why, has the potential to improve their effectiveness and their standing in society. If police practitioners listen, the systematic, rigor- ous study of all aspects of their craft can have profound outcomes. That, in fact, is the purpose of this journal: to create a community of exchange between police researchers and practitioners with the ultimate aim of improving the police service. This issue of Police Practice and Research rolls up its sleeves and delves into this mission by exploring widely diverse aspects of the police world through the scientific lens of the researcher. He celebrates the theme, 'Improving Police Service,' in each of the contributions. He says: The first paper lays the groundwork for improvement of the police service by focusing on how the training and acculturation of police recruits in Sweden can either prepare them for innova- tion or conservation in their careers. Authors Staffan Karp and Henric Stenmark of Umed University, Sweden, apply frame factor theory to 'identify and describe the tension fields' that mold police culture and specifically new police officers' attitudes toward change and innova- tion. The authors find that the legal, professional, and ideological 'frames' operating within the police profession can be contradictory, leading police recruits to focus more on practical skills than 'those intended to promote and encourage change and development in the profession.' Karp and Stenmark call for further empirical study of the innovative and conservative forces in police work using their frame factor model so that these forces can be better managed when seeking progressive change. As Chief Wuestewald moves from the North of Europe to North America in the next article, he finds the same objective, despite geographical distances between them, for 'improving police service.' He comments: Readiness for change is also the theme of this issue's second paper by Mark Correia (San Jos6 State University, USA) and David Jenks (University of West Georgia, USA). Correia and Jenks examine the effects of a new geographical patrol beat alignment in a medium sized police agency in the Midwestern United States. They find that while the geographic beat system was 'successful in creating the space necessary for officers to begin working with citizens,' change initiatives of this kind can be heavily influenced by the degree of congruence between patrol officers and their supervisors concerning expectations and roles. The authors note a degree of variability in change-related expectations between ranks. To address this, Correia and Jenks recommend crystal-clear communications to reduce 'message distortion' when implementing ISSN 1561-4263 print/ISSN 1477-271X online c 2011 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/15614263.2011.553885 http://www.informaworld.com

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