NCJ Number
91558
Date Published
1979
Length
62 pages
Annotation
A project to improve the management of criminal investigations in Montgomery County, Md., produced many desirable internal effects in the police department without producing any perceptible changes in the rates of case clearance or arrest.
Abstract
During the course of the program, the county police department decentralized several investigative functions to the Silver Spring District and established procedures for involving patrol officers more extensively in both preliminary and followup investigations. In the same district, the department also established case screening and case management procedures that changed traditional ways of managing investigations. Cooperation between patrol officers and detectives has replaced rivalry and aloofness. However, relationships between the police and the prosecutors have changed little. The new forms and procedures to improve relations with the prosecutor were developed but never fully used. The lack of changes in case clearances and arrests may have resulted from the characteristics of the cases themselves. The program is operating currently in essentially the same way it did during the LEAA grant period of December 1, 1976, to August 31, 1978. Figures and data tables are provided.