The Technological Game:

Abstract

This article draws on an Australian case study to examine the impact of information technology on police practice. It argues that technological change has altered important aspects of the `field' of policing—technology has redefined the value of communicative and technical resources, institutionalized accountability through built-in formats and procedures of reporting, and restructured the daily routines of operational policing. Although the cultural dominance of law-enforcement policing style and resentment towards the demands of management and external agencies remains, there is evidence that information technology is gradually changing the deeply embedded assumptions of police practice.