Intelligence Led Policing will be the subject of many posts in this blog. Depending on your view of the elephant, ILP means different things to different people. From my perspective as a futurist, an obstacle to the development of ILP, which also impedes the growth crime and intelligence analysis as a profession, seldom discussed but very real is the cultural fear of Big Brother in the United States and elsewhere.
Memes are powerful and George Orwell's meme "Big Brother" has wielded power ever since the book became popular - watch the movie "Enemy of the State" and you will see how this meme informs culture. We fear government knowing things, because "Big Brother" may be watching - the role of the crime and intelligence analyst in policing is in direct opposition to this mental model!
If analysts in policing are knowledge workers, as I believe they are, and people fear government, particularly police, knowing things, we are in for a long, difficult evolution as a field. Someone has to create a new meme that doesn't replace Big Brother, but gives us an alternative archetype, a vision of the possibility of making the world better and safer through the collective use of knowledge. There is a free software (shareware) called Big Sister - I propose we try to make up some sort of image of a being able to use information wisely for the greater good, rather than the Big Brother image of command, control, and conquer - our version of Big Sister. Big Sister helps you and nurtures you - she doesn't beat you up in the playground. Not in this myth....
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