Intelligence-led policing and the problems of turning rhetoric into practice

Policing strategies, and the terminology that accompanies them, can now be rapidly disseminated around the world. New tactics that are seen to apparently work elsewhere are often demanded of local police before any real evaluation has taken place. This paper looks at 'intelligence-led policing' - currently seen as one of the more positive contributions that policing can make to crime prevention and reduction. In the context of policing in Australia this paper suggests that local factors and recent history may hinder the adoption of some strategies and that arrogation of rhetoric may be easier than adopting the practices.