Welcome to Criminal Justice 485: Police Management, a senior-level, three-credit course that introduces selected issues and practices that are associated with mid-level police management. The course emphasizes the changing Canadian police environment and the shift that has been occurring in police organizational structures since the mid-1990s.

Early units of the course examine the broad political and economic stimulus for organizational change, and compare the managerial theories used before and during Policing’s organizational metamorphosis. Police service reform, like public service reform, has reflected a critique of existing services from a perspective that imports ideas associated with management in the private sector. This shift has numerous implications for the organizational structure, culture, and management of a police service that has traditionally been governed by a paramilitary organizational model.

The remaining course units outline the various managerial tasks and techniques that have assisted police services in making the transition in managerial strategies and organizational philosophies. Criminal Justice 485 draws on selected literature, case studies, and managerial theories to examine the successful outcomes of managerial reform in policing. You will become familiar with issues of ethics, leadership, and change-management as they relate to the current operational and organizational police environment.