Proactive Policing: Standing on the Shoulders of Community‐Based Policing

This paper examines how Edmonton Police Service has built on the foundation of community‐based policing and problem solving in an effort to achieve greater levels of efficiency and effectiveness. These proposed operational strategies are closely aligned with the conceptual framework of proactive policing. Here, proactive policing, in its original formulation, ‘refers to the strategic deployment of resources in order to target criminally active individuals’ (Stockdale et al., 1999 Stockdale, J. E., Whitehead, C. and Gresham, P. 1999. Applying economic evaluation to policing activity, (Police Research Series Paper 103) London: Home Office. [Google Scholar], p. 5). The paper also examines the implications proactive policing has for police management and how Edmonton has responded to an organizational environment that requires management of demand.