MANAGING AUSTRALIA'S POLICE: THE CHALLENGE TO IDENTIFY WHO SHOULD BE IN CHARGE—POLITICIANS OR POLICE?

Abstract: The management of police by government in Australia is a controversial but neglected topic, with little research or theoretical work having been undertaken. What is clear from the limited information available is that governments tend to adopt an arms-length policy and allow police to act with a greater degree of independence than they do with many other government agencies. What underpins this approach is the traditional British model for managing police. This model is considered in this paper, along with other matters such as local police statutes, discretion, statutory authority status and accountability. These aspects of the arms-length approach are discussed in the light of current policy-making and accountability systems. Consideration is also given to the question of whether this approach by government is still appropriate.     

POLICE ADMINISTRATION: THE RESPONSE TO CHANGE*

Abstract: The organizational structure of Australian police forces is based on the quasi-military pattern established by the London Metropolitan Police Force. While community values, attitudes and aspirations remained comparatively static, this pattern seemed to both police and the public to be workable, if not completely satisfactory. However, it is becoming increasingly evident to police administrators that the traditional pattern of organization is experiencing difficulties in coping with a changing society. In America, in particular, attention has been given to attempts to replace the traditional police bureaucracy with a more flexible, participatory, science-based structure. Changes in police structures come about very slowly for a variety of reasons, including bureaucratic resistance to change. Australian Commissioners of Police are usually career appointments from within the force of practical officers who are not necessarily interested in administrative principles. Ministerial heads also are often not committed to innovative programs. In most cases, changes within Australian police forces have resulted from outside pressures, and major reforms have usually been associated with outside appointments to the post of Commissioner. A Commissioner who elects to be an innovator needs powerful backing from his minister and from within his organization, the support of influential community voices, reasonably long tenure of office and adequate financial allocations. His freedom to introduce reform is also affected by the philosophy of his police union. Available data suggest that our traditional law enforcement system is not succeeding in its prime tasks of preventing and solving crimes. Several courses of action are open to enable Australia's law enforcement agencies to be more responsive to a changing society: senior police officers should establish a national forum to enable their views to be heard, opportunities should be provided for concerned civilians to be informed about and involved in crime prevention and criminal justice, and the feasibility of copying the American system of State Criminal Justice Planning Agencies should be examined.     

INTERMODALISM—A SOLUTION FOR HIGHWAY CONGESTION AT THE MILLENNIUM?

Highway congestion in the Northeastern U.S. is increasing beyond practical ability to obtain relief by the construction of added lanes. Single mode solutions, including HOV lanes and transit, have failed to significantly mitigate problems of highway congestion. Traditional and innovative public transportation modes using intermodal centers and enhanced transfer facilities are discussed as solutions for the congestion. Efforts in Connecticut, including projects in New Haven, Norwalk, Hartford, and New Britain are examined to show the need for coordinated transportation services that provide seamless trip options for users.     

THE CURRENTS BENEATH THE “RISING TIDE” OF SCHOOL CHOICE: AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENT ENROLLMENT FLOWS IN THE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Existing research highlights that families face geographic, social, and psychological constraints that may limit the extent to which competition can take hold in school choice programs. In this paper, we address the implications of such findings by creating a network of student flows from 11 cohorts of eighth‐grade students in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). We applied a custom algorithm to group together schools with similar sending and receiving patterns, and calculated the difference in mean achievement between a student's attended and assigned high schools. For all identified school groupings, we found that the students were on average moving to higher achieving schools. We also found that the movement toward higher achieving schools of the top achievement quartile of students was over twice as large as that of the bottom quartile, but that the flows of both the highest and lowest achieving student quartiles were toward higher achieving destinations. Our results suggest that student movements in CPS between the years of 2001 to 2005 were consistent with creating market pressure for improvement as well as increasing segregation by achievement. However, further research into how schools responded to those movements is required to make inferences about the level or consequences of competition generated by choice‐related reforms during that time.