Intelligence-led policing

What is intelligence-led policing? Who came up with the idea? Where did it come from? How does it relate to other policing paradigms? What distinguishes an intelligence-led approach to crime reduction? How is it designed to have an impact on crime? Does it prevent crime? What is crime disruption? Is intelligence-led policing just for the police? These are questions asked by many police professionals, including senior officers, analysts and operational staff. Similar questions are also posed by students of policing who have witnessed the rapid emergence of intelligence-led policing from its British origins to a worldwide movement. These questions are also relevant to crime prevention practitioners and policymakers seeking long-term crime benefits. The answers to these questions are the subject of this book.

This book brings the concepts, processes and practice of intelligence-led policing into focus, so that students, practitioners and scholars of policing, criminal intelligence and crime analysis can better understand the evolving theoretical and empirical dynamics of this rapidly growing paradigm. The first book of its kind, enhanced by viewpoint contributions from intelligence experts and case studies of police operations, provides a much-needed and timely in-depth synopsis of this emerging movement in a practical and accessible style.

Jerry Ratcliffe is Professor at the Department of Criminal Justice, Temple University, Philadelphia.