Imposing Duties

Police forces, environmental regulators and tax authorities share more common ground than many of their staff realise. For decades, each has leaned on a hard-edged enforcement model that assumed aggressive investigation and punishment would push people to obey the rules. That model is now strained. Violations keep multiplying, the body of law keeps growing, and budgets rarely keep pace. The author contends that these fields, and many other bodies responsible for compliance, are struggling with the same pressures.

Rather than relying on reactive, case-by-case action after a breach has occurred, the book traces how these agencies are building new abilities. They are learning to detect recurring patterns of non-compliance, rank risks by their importance, and design targeted responses drawn from a far wider toolkit. The author distills the core of these changes, examines what they mean for how information is gathered and managed, and identifies the unresolved questions that must be settled before these emerging strategies can fully mature.

The book is aimed at anyone involved in the theory or practice of government compliance work.