In contemporary criminology, the work of Herman Goldstein has profoundly changed the role of police. Beginning in the late 1970s, the Wisconsin law professor introduced challenging ideas about the nature and value of traditional policing. Observing that police departments narrowly focused and measured their efforts, Goldstein proposed a broader, more creative use of their resources. Calling his ideas "problem-oriented policing," he led a shift in emphasis away from mere arrests and toward leveraging the experience and insights of police officers for providing long-term solutions to crime. His analytical method captured the attention of scholars, officers, and policymakers alike.

In the early 1950s, Goldstein abandoned city management to study policing. In 1954, the American Bar Foundation hired him to research and write portions of its Survey of the Administration of Criminal Justice. The endeavor required him to spend two years closely observing police work in Wisconsin and Michigan. Later he...