Abstract

Police are expected to be creative, but also systematic. This paper asks the question whether police strategies help promote creative policing. Estonia is the case study in this analysis; a country which has a police force that never systematically employed any model of policing, and where the sphere of police is under-researched. Using a content analysis of legal documents, the models and strategies of policing were analyzed, and five general coordination mechanisms of the police (military, bureaucracy, professionalism, community orientation, and public-private orientation) hovering above strategies were recognized. These mechanisms were analyzed in light of the developments of strategic thinking with the aim to identify opportunities for a creative and innovative way of policing. The findings illustrate that the mechanisms have various potentials in supporting to find “blue oceans.” The article makes suggestions for further research on promoting creative policing.