Deborah Osborne

Out of Bounds Deborah Osborne

Deborah Osborne's "Out of Bounds: Innovation and Change in Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysis" addresses the changing nature and role of analysis in policing. Osborne's examination, though, focuses not only on the analytical process, but on the analysts-critical actors who function with relative anonymity. Osborne employs a provocative method of study: appreciative inquiry. In essence, analysts tell their stories: what motivates them, what successes they have enjoyed, what processes have worked well for them, how they see the future. A picture emerges of women and men who have great passion for their work, and who make tremendous contributions to solving crimes, interrupting crime patterns, apprehending criminals, and even preventing crime. By studying what works, the appreciative inquiry process draws out the themes that characterize these successes: innovative thinking; creative problem solving; intra-agency teamwork; collaboration and information sharing among agencies. One of the more significant traits uncovered among state and local agency crime and intelligence analysts is an overwhelming agility. These people are quick on their intellectual feet. They constantly adapt, try multiple approaches, quickly adopt technologies or methodologies they find helpful, cultivate allies and complementary partners across organizational boundaries, and find ways to overcome impediments. They can describe specific results achieved with great clarity, and can define their own contribution to the successes. This stands in bold contrast to the fuzzy goals and bureaucratic doublespeak that seem to characterize federal intelligence agencies. The locals appear not only to have their act together, but to be quite adept at leveraging information, technology, and people to achieve results. Of particular note, local analysts who function in a patchwork of jurisdictional overlaps and adjacencies, with divergent governing bodies and widely varying information systems, have found remarkably effective ways of bridging these potential divides and collaborating effectively. The Feds could learn a lot from the locals in this regard. The description of the appreciative inquiry process itself is an intriguing aspect of the book. Although appreciative inquiry has rarely if ever been applied to the criminal justice process, Osborne carefully explains its purpose and demonstrates its value in this area. The strength of this approach becomes evident in the book as the themes unfold in the words of a diverse group of analysts working in vastly different circumstances. One can easily see appreciative inquiry's potential for other applications in law enforcement and beyond.