The police organisation has been subject to constant pressure to change during the past two decades. In the UK this has come from successive governments determined to reform the police into an effective and efficient public service. The model to be followed in this reforming campaign was that of management practice in business corporations. And, fed by political interests and intense media attention, a focal element in this near frenetic thrust has been crime reduction. In effect, there has been a ‘maelstrom of reform’, unrelenting pressure, a battery of shifting demands, constant reorganisations, management training with fresh skills and a new conceptual vocabulary, and the political promise of yet more change to come. Some proposals speak of centralisation, regionalisation, amalgamations, lateral entry and increasing workplace diversity. Ian Blair, then Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police (or ‘Met’), left people in no doubt that the British police service was ‘reinventing’ itself and that its leaders were up and ready for radical change:

The landscape of policing in the UK (with some variations in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) and elsewhere is, then, being realigned and there is an emphasis on constant innovation, new policy initiatives and fresh concepts. One of these was, and is, ‘zero tolerance’. Here I shall examine this notion, which promised a new style of policing, and how it attracted a great deal of attention. In particular, I trace the New York model's crossing of the Atlantic and its ‘transfer’ to the UK and the Netherlands.