Directions for Change in Police Organizations

Abstract

Three situations serve to hamper police effectiveness under traditional police organizational arrangements First, police operations are based on an assumption that police are primarily in the "criminal apprehension" business. This concept of the police role serves to constrain many police activities that offer potential for satisfying client needs and contributing to crime prevention. Second, police managers rely almost exclusively on the tenets of Bureaucratic Theory, as promulgated by Max Weber (1947), for arranging and managing police organizations. This reliance contributes to problems in the police and community relationship, coordination and direction of police operations, and (3) motivation of police employees. Third, police agencies are basically organized as self-contained operations which are automous from other units of government. This independence reduces the potential for optimum utilization of police services. This paper elaborates on these three situations and their implications, and makes proposals about the directions that the author believes police organizational changes should take.