567. Do the Police Have a Management Problem?

Freakonomics Radio

In policing, as in most vocations, the best employees are often promoted into leadership without much training. One economist thinks he can address this problem — and, with it, America’s gun violence.

• SOURCES
  • Kenneth Corey, director of outreach and engagement for the Policing Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago and retired chief of department for the New York Police Department.
  • Stephanie Drescher, operations captain in the City of Madison Police Department.
  • Max Kapustin, assistant professor of economics and public policy at Cornell University.
  • Jens Ludwig, economist and director of the Crime Lab at the University of Chicago.
  • Sandy Jo MacArthur, curriculum design director for the Policing Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago.
  • Sean Malinowski, D.O.J. strategic site liaison for the Philadelphia Police Department and retired chief of detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department.
  • Sindyanna Paul-Noel, lieutenant with the City of Miami Police Department.
  • Michael Wolley, deputy chief of operations with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Policing Leadership Academy (PLA) Graduation of Inaugural Cohort," by the University of Chicago Crime Lab (2023).
  • "Policing and Management," by Max Kapustin, Terrence Neumann, and Jens Ludwig (NBER Working Paper, 2022).
  • "Getting More Out of Policing in the U.S.," by Jens Ludwig, Terrence Neumann, and Max Kapustin (VoxEU, 2022).
  • "University of Chicago Crime Lab Launches National Policing and Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academies," by the University of Chicago Crime Lab (2022).
  • "What Drives Differences in Management?" by Nicholas Bloom, Erik Brynjolfsson, Lucia Foster, Ron S. Jarmin, Megha Patnaik, Itay Saporta-Eksten, and John Van Reenen (NBER Working Paper, 2017).
  • "Management as a Technology?" by Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun, and John Van Reenen (NBER Working Paper, 2017).
  • "Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries," by Nick Bloom and John Van Reenen (NBER Working Paper, 2006).
  • "Crime, Urban Flight, and the Consequences for Cities," by Julie Berry Cullen and Steven D. Levitt (SSRN, 1997).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Are There So Many Bad Bosses?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
  • "What Are the Police for, Anyway?" by Freakonomics Radio (2021).