The technological game: How information technology is transforming police practice

Abstract

This article draws on an Australian case study to examine the impact of information technology on police practice. It argues that technological change has altered important aspects of the 'field' of policing-technology has redefined the value of communicative and technical resources, institutionalized accountability through built-in formats and procedures of reporting, and restructured the daily routines of operational policing. Although the cultural dominance of law-enforcement policing style and resentment towards the demands of management and external agencies remains, there is evidence that information technology is gradually changing the deeply embedded assumptions of police practice.