NCJ Number
200789
Journal
Journal of Gang Research Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Dated: Spring 2003 Pages: 13-23
Date Published
2003
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article focuses on the importance of strategic planning in effecting long-term change concerning urban street gangs.
Abstract
Community policing is well served by shifting from a reactive to a pro-active mode, and it is important for law enforcement officials to use strategic planning in order to manage the problems created by urban street gangs. Strategic planning is a method for charting a course of action for an organization over a period of years, where issues and opportunities need to be well defined and key stakeholders need to be identified in order to effect change. Managers need to understand current situations, create preferred futures, agree on measurable outcomes, and monitor progress in order to develop effective strategic plans. After presenting pictorial representations of strategic management models, the author discusses what is involved in the planning process, highlighting planning to plan, environmental monitoring, application consideration, values scan, mission formulation, strategic business modeling, performance audit, gap analysis, integrating action plans, contingency planning, and implementation. Following a discussion of Mintzberg’s core design school model of strategy formation, the author contends that law enforcement agencies can effect great changes through the use of strategic planning. Bibliography