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Same bed, but different dreams? Comparing retired and incumbent police officers’ perceptions of lost knowledge and transfer mechanisms

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Abstract

Police forces are undoubtedly knowledge workers in the public sector. However, policing knowledge is getting lost as the baby-boom generation is approaching retirement age and officers failed to capture and retain the retirees’ knowledge before they leave. Given the lack of empirical studies which examine the knowledge transfer between different generations of police officers, this study attempts to contribute a holistic perspective which involves both the retiree (the knowledge transferor) and the incumbent (the transferee) in a knowledge transfer. Through four rounds of Delphi survey, this study found that both groups recognized that knowledge is being lost as the retiree leaves. Yet, the panels demonstrated divergent perceptions about what kind of knowledge is being lost. The difference between the panels’ perceptions was significantly increased regarding the extent to which the knowledge is being lost. This study also found that people-based approaches were commonly preferred by both panels as the best methods. However, the difference between the groups occurred as the incumbent expressed a higher willingness to use IT-based approaches than did the retiree.

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Notes

  1. The vertical knowledge transfer refers to the transmission of knowledge occurring between different generations of employees [7].

  2. The Delphi survey was conducted from August 4, 2004 to November 4, 2004.

  3. The list of 10 lost knowledge includes: navigating organizational bureaucracy to obtain expeditious results, knowing how state fiscal policy works and impacts the Division, intimate knowledge of special services/technical aspects and support functions provided by specialized groups and units, knowledge of the details of the process procedure and policies of handling of special assignments that only the retiree was responsible for, skills in establishing a climate of trust within the department or unit, skills in making sound operational decisions in complex investigations, knowing how to plan for future initiatives, understanding external environment and its impact on the Division, special cultures, customs, or traditions in the agency, and institutional knowledge of organized crime and narcotics groups.

  4. The list of the lost knowledge for the retiree panel includes: knowledge of the details of the process procedure and policies of handling of special assignments that only the retiree was responsible for, management skills, leadership skills, understanding external environment and its impact on the Division, intimate knowledge of special services/ technical aspects and support functions provided by specialized groups and units, knowing how to plan for future initiatives, skills in making sound operational decisions in complex investigations, navigating organizational bureaucracy to obtain expeditious results, the ability to recognize talented junior members that can be mentored to assume leadership roles, and knowing how state fiscal policy works and impacts the Division.

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  1. Department of Public Policy and Management, Shih Hsin University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Lung-Teng Hu

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Hu, LT. Same bed, but different dreams? Comparing retired and incumbent police officers’ perceptions of lost knowledge and transfer mechanisms. Crime Law Soc Change 53, 413–435 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-009-9228-7

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