Impediments to Information and Knowledge Sharing Within Policing

Information sharing is the lifeblood of policing, yetinformation/knowledge sharing within and across organizations remains problematic. Thisarticle elaborated on previous research on organizational information culture and itsimpact on information use outcomes in policing by examining perceived impediments toinformation sharing of 134 officers in three Canadian police organizations. Inductivequalitative analysis of an open-ended question revealed seven mutually exclusiveimpediment themes: processes/technology, individual unwillingness, organizationalunwillingness, workload/overload, location/structure, leadership, and risk management.When viewed from the knowledge management infrastructure perspective, organizationalstructure was the single most common impediment identified, followed closely byorganizational culture. Each organization had unique constellations of informationsharing impediments. Recommendations for policy and practice are discussed