A Problem-oriented Approach to Police Reform

This article looks beyond the traditional compliance-based model of police oversight to discuss the emerging contributions of external oversight agencies to proactive police reform. Drawing on the approach of Problem Oriented Policing and the Scan, Analyze, Respond, Assess (SARA) problem-solving model, the article provides a framework to highlight a number of activities that identify and analyze problems in the police integrity domain, and design and implement solutions that impact positively on the police and communities. The article provides examples of agency activity for each stage of the SARA model and case studies to illustrate the whole model in practice.