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Learning Objectives

3-1:  Explain the importance of organizational structures in police departments

3-2:  List the duties typically associated with the operations division

3-3:  Describe the influence of Organizational Substructures, such as geography and scheduling, on the operations of police departments

3-4:  Explain a few strategies police organizations can use to handle change favourably

3-5:  Evaluate the extent to which police departments have become “militarized” and the implications of this

3-6:  Identify the pros and cons of collective bargaining in police organizations

3-7:  Describe the purported advantages of accreditation in the field of policing

Article 1
Chappell, Allison T., Lonn Lanza-Kaduce (2010). Police Academy Socialization: Understanding Lessons Learned in a Paramilitary-Bureaucratic Organization. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 39(2) 187-214. doi: 10.1177/0891241609342230

Even as community policing has emerged as the dominant paradigm, research indicates that police agencies continue to be highly militaristic and bureaucratic in structure and culture. This article reports findings from an observational study of recruit training at a police academy that had introduced a new curriculum emphasizing community policing and problem solving. The article explores the socialization that takes place there to see how the tension between traditional and community policing is resolved. The authors found that despite the philosophical emphasis on community policing and its themes of decentralization and flexibility, the most salient lessons learned in police training were those that reinforced the paramilitary structure and culture.

1. Why do paramilitary structures and cultures persist in police departments despite efforts to create more flexible structures and community-based enforcement?
2. With this article’s findings in mind, how can police departments create more community-based regimes?
3. How does this article demonstrate the importance of research in policing?

Article 2
Hughes, Adam G., Manuel P. Teodoro (2012). Assessing Professionalism: Street-Level Attitudes and Agency Accreditation. State and Local Government Review, 45(1) 36-45. doi: 10.1177/0160323X12466417

Professional organizations now accredit state and local agencies across several fields. This article investigates the attitudes of street-level bureaucrats toward their agencies and the tasks required of them in accredited and nonaccredited agencies. If accreditation changes bureaucratic attitudes in ways that build a sense of mission or shape functional preferences, it could lead to more effective public service delivery. The empirical subjects of this study are American municipal police departments and the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEAs). Analysis of quasi-experimental data from a survey of officers suggests that accreditation helps build a sense of mission at the street level but finds little evidence of an effect on functional preferences.

1. How does accreditation affect officers’ and bureaucrats’ attitudes?
2. What do these findings reveal about accreditation for police officers and departments?