Process Planning Chart

To assist police administrators in their role as "change agents", RCPI staff have identified a series of organizational processes (decision points) that should be considered in any attempt to adopt a community policing philosophy. These processes or points are highlighted on the Process Planning Chart. While this planning process is not necessarily all encompassing, it provides an administrator with the majority of the processes that should be considered to facilitate a transformation to a community policing philosophy. This type of process allows stakeholders to see the various elements of the change efforts and how they relate to each other and their potential sequencing. It should be pointed out, however, that although the processes are sequenced, the actual process may not be linear. Decision-makers may need to revisit issues from time to time rather than saying, "step one is completed, lets go to step two". A continuous improvement/learning orientation is, in reality, more non-linear. Another important factor to consider when reviewing the Chart is that two or more of the processes may require concurrent activity to properly sequence them in the planning process.

Reality-based organizational change is somewhere between superficially implementing a single faceted "add-on" program and the "impossibility" of changing American policing. Realistically looking at what needs to happen within a variety of policing processes, and planning accordingly, will significantly aid the "change agent" in his or her endeavors. The Process Planning Chart , which continues to be a work in progress, is only one facet of an organizational change model that can assist administrators in their efforts to implement and sustain a philosophy of community policing within their departments.
FOR MORE INFORMATION on organizational change to community policing and the Process Planning Chart, contact:

Jerome G. Boles -or- Jane P. White
Michigan Regional Community Policing Institute,
Michigan State University,
School of Criminal Justice, 1407 S. Harrison, Nisbet Bldg., Rm. 324
East Lansing, MI 48823
Phone: (517) 355-9648 or 1-800-892-9051;
Fax: (517) 432-0727
E-Mail: jeromebII@aol.com -or- Jane.White@ssc.msu.edu