An Exploratory Study of Changes Accompanying the Implementation of a Community-Based, Participatory Team Police Organizational Model

Abstract

This exploratory research examines the attitudes of citizens, police clientele, and police in an area where a decentralized, participatory (collegial) team police operation has been implemented, and compares these attitudes with those in a similar neighborhood policed by a classical organizational structure and traditional procedures. The Team Police Model of this study consisted basically of 15 generalist police officers who, with the participation of local citizens, were responsible for defining police goals, priorities and procedures and providing all police services in a precisely defined, low-economic, minority, residential area of Holyoke, Massachusetts for a test period of approximately nine months. The Team used collegial methods for decisionmaking and task forces for performing management functions. The Team followed a "service", rather than "law enforcement" operational philosophy. The control neighborhood was policed by an organization arrangement which was in general consistent with Classical tenets as stated by Max Weber. A traditional "law enforcement" philosophy was used in the Classical neighborhood. The basic assumption underlying this study was police effectiveness in crime prevention and order maintenance is dependent on a supportive public. The primary problem researched was whether public and clientele attitudes toward the police were more supportive in the Team Police than a Classical Police area. Of secondary concern was the impact of the Team Police experiment on police officers attitudes. Perhaps the most important conclusion to be derived from this study is that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the collegial Team Police Model as implemented in this project did not have a negative impact on any variable investigated. The positive impact of the project on most variables supports the value of further research with a community-based, collegial team organizational structure for police services.