For the past two years, I have taught a course in criminal procedure at the University of Chicago Law School. A key component of that course dealt with police behavior leading up to an arrest.

In the class, I pointed out that relations between the police and the public have improved from the bad old days and that much of the credit should go to the increased professionalization of police departments in controlling police abuse.

The reason for this change is that it is never possible to effectively control the operation of thousands of individual police officers by ex-post interventions through the criminal justice system. What was needed was a strong police management team that sought out hot spots before they erupted, in order to create a culture in which police self-discipline would eliminate many of these problems before they occurred.

In retrospect, my explanation seems hopelessly naive.

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