Police organizations have a quasi-military structure with uniforms, ranks and a command hierarchy. This style has been criticized for cultivating an "us vs. them" attitude and being too rigid. Police departments function as complex bureaucracies with specialized tasks divided among different bureaus. While this structure provides order, it can also lead to inflexibility and poor communication. Community policing aims to decentralize decision making to address these issues. New approaches like COMPSTAT and unions have also influenced police organization and accountability.

1. Police in America
Chapter Four
Police Organizations
McGraw-Hill
© 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved.

2. Quasi-Military Style of Police
Organizations
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Officers wear uniforms
Military-style rank designations
Hierarchical command structure
Authoritarian organizational style
Legal authority to use deadly force and carry weapons
 Criticisms
 Cultivates an “us versus them” attitude
 Encourages the idea of a “war on crime”
 Authoritarian style contrary to democratic principles and
produces low morale
 Rigid structure leaves room for job dissatisfaction
4-2

3. Police Departments as
Organizations
Dominant style is as a complex
bureaucracy
 Characterized by
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Complex organizations
Tasks assigned to “bureaus”
Hierarchy and clear division of labor
Responsibility for specific tasks delegated to lower-ranking
employees
Clear chain of command
Clear unity of command
Written rules and regulations
Flow of information according to chain of command
Clear career paths
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4. Pros and Cons of Bureaucracy
in Policing
 The Problems
Rigid, inflexible, and unable to adapt to external changes
Communication within the organization often breaks down
Tend to be inward looking, self-serving, and isolated from the people
they serve
Are accused of not using the talents of their employees and even
stifling creativity
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 The Positives
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Criticisms:
Cultivates an “us versus them” attitude
Encourages the idea of a “war on crime”
Authoritarian style contrary to democratic principles and produces low morale
Rigid structure leaves room for job dissatisfaction
Informal Aspects
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Horizontal and vertical cliques
4-4

5. Bureaucracy and Police
Professionalism
 Professionalism challenged by the
bureaucratic nature of policing
 Professional departments adopted a
“by
the book” approach to policing
 The bureaucracy imposes formal controls
over the behavior of police officers
4-5

6. Changing Police Organizations
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Community Policing
 Decentralizes decision making (territorial and administrative)
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Task Forces
 Officers from different ranks based on talents
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7. Community Policing
 Community policing attempts to modify the
police organization through debureaucratization.
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decentralize
deformalize
despecialize
delayerize
4-7

8. COMPSTAT: Computer
Comparison Statistics
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Clarifies the department’s mission, goals, and values
Holds managers accountable
Organizational power and authority transferred to
commanders who are responsible for geographic
areas
Resources are transferred to commanders.
Data used to identify problems and to evaluate
success and failure.
Middle managers expected to use innovative problemsolving tactics
4-8

9. Civil Service
 Formal and legally binding procedures
governing personnel decisions
 Nearly universal
 Purpose: to ensure personnel make
decisions objectively
 Reinforces the hierarchy of police depts.
Rewards hierarchy
Seniority hierarchy
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Status hierarchy
Rank hierarchy
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10. Police Unions
 Majority of police officers
represented by unions
 Three major police unions:
1. Fraternal Order of Police
2. International Union of Police
Associations
3. Teamsters Law
Enforcement League
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11. Police Unions Continued
 Collective Bargaining
 “The method of determining conditions of
employment through bilateral negotiations”
 Grievance Procedures
 Provides due process to employees
 Unions and Shared Governance
 Impasse Settlement and Strikes
 Impact of Police Unions
 Improvements in salaries and benefits
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12. Police Organizations and Their
Environment
 Contingency Theory
 Organizations are structured to achieve specific
goals (crime control)
 Institutional Theory
 Organizations operate in relation to their
external social and political environment
 Resource Dependency Theory
 Organizations must obtain resources to survive
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