Week 6: Police Organization & Roles
• Chapter deals with three questions about
police departments (which are related):
1. What are police supposed to do? (the
“Police Mandate”)
2. What do they actually do? (the “Police
Role” & Policing Styles)
3. How are police departments set up?
(Organizational structure)
1. Police Mandate: What are police
supposed to do & how can they do it?
• “Mandate” = Mission + Authority
• Police Mission contains multiple goals:
– Law enforcement
– Order Maintenance
– Public Service
– Problem solving
– Protection
• Note:
– Lack of agreement about goals
– Goals may be broad & mutually conflicting
1. the “Police Mandate” (cont.)
• Police also defined by what they are
authorized to do in fulfilling the mission
• We authorize police to:
– Use coercive methods
– Engage in search and seizure
– Use force and weapons
– Demand compliance from citizens
– Use other extraordinary methods
• If Mission is inconsistent, then the
police mandate becomes a “Mission
Impossible”
2. Police Role: What Police Do
• “The Functions and Activities by which
police seek to carry out their mission”
a) Patrol Function
b) Investigation Function
c) Support Function
d) Special Services & other functions
• “Policing Styles” – refer to distinctive
strategies by which police carry out their
mission
2. Police Role
• Note distinctive features of police work
that shape how police role is carried out
a) Need for quick decisions
b) Misinformation & incomplete information
c) Discretion and independence
d) “Dirty work” & moral ambiguity
e) Conflict & opposition
f) Danger & aggression
g) Importance of authority & obedience
2. Police Role & “Styles”
• Organizational Styles (J.Q. Wilson)
– Legalistic style – arrest-oriented
– Watchman style – problem-solving-oriented
– Service style – service-provision-oriented
• Individual Officer Styles
– “Enforcers”: emphasize order
– “Idealists”: emphasize due process
– “Pragmatists”: emphasize a balance of the
two
– “Realists”: emphasize neither
2. Police Role & “Styles”
• What determines the style of policing?
– Individuals who fill the role
• Selection
• Training
– Organizational context
• Structure
• Culture
– Community context
– Political/Legal context
– Technology
– Broader cultural setting and ideology
2. Police Role (cont.)
a) Patrol Function = most basic and universal
AKA: the “heart” of policing?
• Almost all officers enter policing as patrol officers
• Small depts: all officers are patrol
• Large depts: largest number of officers = patrol
• Different kinds of patrol activities?
–General patrol vs. Focused patrols:
• Focus on specific areas (hot spots) or specific activities
(drug trade; sexual deviance; gangs; special problems)
–Methods of Patrol
• Most common = In-vehicle
• Alternative methods: foot; bike; boat; horse
–Reactive vs. Proactive patrols = important diff
2. Police Role -- Patrol (cont.)
• Proactive vs. Reactive Patrol?
• Reactive = responding to reports of crime
– Most crimes identified through citizen calls
– Response time = critical factor?
• Proactive = efforts to prevent crime
– Deterrent patrols = being visible
– Aggressive patrols = making arrests & stops
– Problem-solving patrols = identifying troubles
– Outreach patrols = connecting to community
2. Police Role -- Patrol (cont.)
• Experiments on Patrol Strategies
– Kansas City Patrol study – deterrent patrol
• Illustrate the pros and cons of field experiments
– Other studies of aggressive and targeted
patrol sometimes show more success
– Notable experimental patrol programs:
• Data-driven/targeted patrols (COMSTAT)
• Aggressive Order Maintenance patrol (NYC)
(“zero-tolerance” patrolling)
• Programs in other cities?
2. Police Role -- Patrol (cont.)
• Evaluating Patrol Strategies
– Valid, objective evaluations are difficult
– Research is limited to single, selected cases
• Hard to generalize to other times & places
– Different studies show different results
– Avoid simple general conclusions about
patrol methods
• The results have been mixed and complex
• Can we draw strong conclusions from New York?
2. Police Role - Investigation
b) Investigative Function: collecting information
to solve cases
– To identify suspected offenders for apprehension
– To locate evidence and witnesses for prosecution
• General Investigation
– By patrol officers (first-responders)
– By detectives (follow-up investigatopms)
• Half of cases are dropped not investigated further
• Most investigations last only a few days or hours
• Most cases not solved by detective work or crime scene
analysis (robberies; burglaries; thefts; arsons)
– What about CSI? It combines & confuses 3 jobs
2. Police Role -- Investigation (cont.)
• Focused or targeted investigations
– By detectives in special units or tasks
– Limited to specific types of crimes or problems
– Drugs; vice; financial crimes; fraud; cybercrimes
• Proactive investigations – to generate info
– Undercover
– Stings
– Raise considerable legal questions of propriety
(e.g., entrapment)
– Also raise practical questions of value (e.g.,
effectiveness; corruption; misconduct)
2. Police Role -- Investigation (cont.)
• Summary of research on investigations:
– Most cases = unsolved
– Most investigations = very brief (a few hours)
– Intensive follow-up investigations = rare
– Initial investigations by patrol officers =
critical in clearing case
– Delay in calling police = greatly reduces
chances of solving case
– Technology is valuable in some cases but
over-rated in most
3. Organizational structure of Policing
• The Traditional Policing Model:
– Quasi-military framework
– Strong emphasis on law enforcement (over
service and order maintenance)
– Primary emphasis on reactive, coercive
actions
– Police officers defined as professional crime-
fighters
– Strong reliance on technology
Used to define “real policing”
2. Police Role (cont.)
• Criticisms of Traditional Model:
– Generates police agency as a “closed system”
(leading to an us-versus-them orientation)
– Encourages a “warfare” mindset
– Authoritarian structure produces cynicism, simplistic
thinking, and informal evasions & deviance
– Warfare framework often generates discrimination
(profiling), coercion (brutality), & community conflict
– Male-oriented and male-dominated
– Ineffective in “protecting and serving” community
2. Police Role (cont.)
• Making changes to the Traditional Model?
– Change police officers: selection; education
– Change policing styles: patrolling; uniforms;
coworking
– Change management styles: TQM
– Change police-community relations: DARE
– Change police-management relations: civil
service; unionization
– Change organizational structures: hierarchy,
centralization, communication, divisions
2. Police Role (cont.)
• Many tweaks & variations have been tried
– Very few have been permanent or large-scale
• Major alternative = “Community Oriented
Policing (C.O.P.)”
– Different model of social control & policing
– Implies a major shift in thinking about how
policing should be organized and done
• a different model of police operations
• a different model of police organization
• A redefinition of “good policing”
2. Police Role (cont.)
• Widely introduced with federal legistation
in 1994
– Set up the COPS office in U.S. Justice Dept.
• COP model has 3 components:
1)Community Partnerships
• Connection; communication; collaboration
2)Problem-Solving
• Proactive and preventive SARA strategy
3)Demilitarization
• Decentralization; flattening; labor relations; evaluation
2. Police Role (cont.)
• COP calls for radical overhaul in police
departments and police work
• Implementing COP
– Initial promotion and acceptance of COP
• Strong advocates and strong Cynics and Critics
• Federal money prompted widespread adoption
– Widespread adoption of elements of COP
– Full implementations of COP are very rare
– Very little meaningful research on COP
• Future of COP? At odds with Homeland
Security?
3. Organizational Structure:
• Note: agency size is a major factor
• Quasi-Military framework as dominant feature
– Hierarchical rank & command structure
– Closed system
– Impersonality & detachment from community
– Formalization
– Professionalization
– Military culture: group cohesion & use of force
• Bureaucratic organization as a key variable
– Division of labor, specialization, segmentation
– Emphasis on standardization & accountability
3. Organizational Structure:
• Use of Organizational Charts to describe
organizational structure
– Shows how tasks are divided and valued
– Shows how administration is organized
• but not how communication and authority are
actually patterned – e.g., chain of command,
span of control
• Also does not indicate anything about the
organization culture and routine practices
• Note the distinction between:
– Occupational structure and culture
– Organizational structure and culture
4. Evaluating Police Performance
• Competence in Police work
– Difficulty in defining “good police work”
– Difficulty in objectively assessing good police work
• Reliance on easy to measure criteria
• Reliance on “Law Enforcement” outcomes
• Misconduct in Police work:
– “Abuse of authority”
– “Corruption”
– How to police the police?
• Anternal Affairs & administrative discipline
• Police Review Boards
• Criminal & Civil Liability?
Chief of Police
Business Administrative
Manager Chief of Staff
Deputy Chief
Patrol Investigative Support Administrative
Division Division Division Division
Communication Professional
Shift 1 Standards
Detectives
Computer
Shift 2 Major Services
Crimes Community
Relations
Shift 3 Crime Lab &
Special Records
Operations Accounting
Traffic
Personnel
Licenses
C.O.P. & Permits
Training
Special Equipment
Units Maintenance
