Commentary on “Collaborative Partnerships and Crime in Disorganized Communities”

• Author: John R. Firman
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2011.02555.x
• Published date: 01 March 2012
• Date: 01 March 2012

Collaborative Partnerships and Crime in Disorganized Communities 239

of these models has produced positive results, indicat-

ing that the models work generally. What the authors

of‌f er is a ref‌i nement of outcome measurement focusing

exclusively on disorganized communities.  eir f‌i nding

that collaborative partnerships in these communities

have a stronger comparative impact is critical to law

enforcement practitioners for several reasons.

Police leaders in the United States are facing a

signif‌i cant challenge as we enter 2012, with increased

demands on police resources amid a downturn in the

economy that is reducing police operating capacity.

While police are being asked to increase their support

for new initiatives—for example, terrorism and intel-

ligence activities—they also must maintain a strong

Cheon Geun Choi and Sang Ok Choi have

selected a research topic that resonates with

every one of the 18,000 state, county, and

local law enforcement agencies in the United States.

In fact, the key words and phrases in the title of the

research are at the top of the list of concerns for law

enforcement leaders: (1) reducing crime, (2) achieving

that reduction through ef‌f ective community partner-

ships, and (3) focusing crime reduction ef‌f orts on

disorganized neighborhoods.

 ese issues are not new to law enforcement, given the

advent of community-oriented or problem-oriented

policing models, now almost three decades old. Histor-

ically, research conducted to evaluate the broad impact

Commentary on “Collaborative Partnerships and Crime

in Disorganized Communities”

John R. Firman

International Association of Chiefs of Police

John R. Firman is director of the

Research Division of the International

Association of Chiefs of Police in Alexandria,

Virginia. His duties include development

and implementation of a national and

international law enforcement policy

research and evaluation program for the

association. He helped create and currently

manages the National Law Enforcement

Policy Summit Series. Previously, he was

associate director of the Illinois Criminal

Justice Authority.

E-mail: f‌i rmanj@theiacp.org

Commentary

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 72, Iss. 2, pp. 239–240. © 2012 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.111/j.1540-6210.2011.02555.x.