Knowledge Workers or “Knowledge” Workers?Jean-Paul Brodeur and Benoit Dupont are both researchers at the International Centre for Comparative Criminology.

This paper focuses on the role of knowledge in policing and questions the application of the notion of network to describe police organizations in themselves or in relationship with each other. First, the concepts of knowledge and of network are critically assessed for their own. Second, their applicability to policing is examined in respect to criminal investigation, the handling of police informants, high (or political) policing, and counterterrorism. This examination is conducted with a particular emphasis on information reliability and overload. It is concluded that while it is premature to argue that focusing on knowledge and networks has generated a paradigm shift in respect to policing, both concepts may have the potential to generate a new paradigm.