The Integration of Crime Analysis Into Law Enforcement Agencies

The purpose of this article is exploratory and it seeks to depict how crime analysts perceive patrol officers' and other sworn police officers' attitudes about the crime analysis function and its “organizational fit” as well as their own attitudes about sworn personnel. These issues were explored with data collected through an online survey of crime/intelligence analysts. The main findings are that most analysts felt that management was fairly supportive of their work, but that their perceptions of what patrol officers thought of them was middle of the road, at best. This is contrary to the much more positive attitudes they expressed about patrol officers. The results raise concerns about whether analysts are being accepted within the police culture and whether patrol officers understand what analysts do, which in turn leads to additional concerns about whether the skills and training of analysts are being used to their fullest capacities.