We Will Always Be Better Than a Spreadsheet. Intelligence Logic and Crime Prevention in Practice.

Abstract

Previous studies point to an increasingly entrenched risk-based logic of performance management in policing, where crime fighting is central. This article analyses how police crime preventers respond to these shifts and develop their practice. We explore empirically how intelligence-led policing is employed in police crime prevention efforts in a vulnerable area and the dilemmas that arise. Drawing on institutional logic theory we examine the rejigging of the pressures and complexities of institutional logic in question. We particularly highlight how a risk-based logic affects the practices of the police crime preventers: the type of data that is seen as important and how it is used. Crime prevention and intelligence-led policing both are future-oriented, although they have different time frames and requirements for what is defined as valid knowledge. To conclude, our findings indicate there have been shifts in relations and the power balance within the police organization, owing to the demands of data-driven police practice.