An Examination of How Police Agencies in the United States Implement and Sustain Organizational Change

Authors

  • Dr. Garth den Heyer

Keywords:

police reform, change management, police change

Abstract

In recent years, the police have implemented various changes to improve their relationship with the community and to improve the effectiveness of their service delivery. A limited number of studies have been undertaken to examine change in the police, with some researchers claiming that the police are impervious to change or are slow to change, and that most of the changes that have been made have usually been top down and incremental. Literature has highlighted that there are several factors that are key to realizing successful organizational change. An electronic survey was undertaken to examine how police agencies in the US implement and sustain change to improve or maintain their relationship with the community and to improve their service delivery effectiveness. Those responding to the survey indicated that police leaders understood the change management process and reported that their agency used a structured approach to planning for and implementing change, that change was undertaken for a reason, that it needed to be undertaken to solve a problem and needed to be sustained.

Author Biography

  • Dr. Garth den Heyer

    Dr Garth den Heyer is a leading researcher in policing and counter terrorism and is an instructor with the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. He is highly regarded internationally with senior fellowships and appointments in the United Kingdom and the US.

    Dr den Heyer’s research interests and publications include work on police service delivery effectiveness and strategic development, assaults on police officers, operational leadership, the police response to riots, the police role in countering terrorism, and organized crime, policing in transitioning and post-conflict nations. He currently serves on the editorial boards of a number of policing and terrorism journals.

    In terms of applied practice and knowledge, Dr den Heyer was a police officer for more than 38 years. He was an Inspector at retirement, and his last position was as the Principal Advisor: Strategic Development and Planning within the National Response and Operations Group at National Headquarters. He was responsible for the development and management of the strategic planning process, project assessment and development of new opportunities. Prior to taking up this position he was the Manager: National Security for more than 12 years and was responsible for the research, development and application of national, organisational and border security, counterterrorism, emergency management, and search and rescue and disaster victim identification, policies, procedures, plans and responses. He also undertook short-term research and was responsible for the national co-ordination of protective operations, the delivery of national counter-terrorism exercises, and operational and technical security measures. He was also responsible for the police response to natural disasters and events at the national level.

    Dr den Heyer also served for more than 20 months as the Coordinator: Strategic Direction and Development with Regional Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

    Finally, Dr den Heyer has served as Principal Investigator on a number of research grants, including from the National Institute of Justice, Claude McCarthy Fellowship and the Scottish Institute of Policing Research.

References

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Published

2026-07-25

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2026): Salus Journal - Law Enforcement, National Security and Emergency Management

Section

Research Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Dr. Garth den Heyer

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors retain copyright in their articles and grant SALUS the right of first publication. The work is simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as appropriate credit is given to the author(s) and the journal, a link to the license is provided, and any changes made are indicated.

How to Cite

An Examination of How Police Agencies in the United States Implement and Sustain Organizational Change. (2026). Salus Journal, 14(1), 89-123. https://view.salusjournal.com/index.php/salusjournal/article/view/262