Police Organizational Structure

Adapting Traditional Police Organizational Structure to Accommodate Community Oriented Policing The changing face of society is forcing many police organizations to make many changes in the way they run, organize and structure their departments. As public expectations of police change from crime fighters to public safety problem solvers, police administrators must modify their organizational structure in order to meet broader mission statements and carry out new tasks. This structural modification is not simply a matter of changes boxes on organizational charts.

To study police organization, it is necessary to first study the way in which law enforcement agencies are organized. An organizational pattern must be looked upon as a structure of
Organizations that follow Fayol?s principles of administrative theory have a specialized division of labor, emphasize discipline, have a centralized command, and gives everyone a sense of order. Bennis and Hage go on to say that this type of highly centralized and stratified bureaucracy has low adaptiveness and job satisfaction. The communication and innovative ideas are thwarted or distorted due to hierarchical divisions ( ). Police work has been called the most unprofessional profession, because traditional departments often seem to expend more energy in defining the limits of the job than in supporting autonomy and innovation (Carter, 1995). Many police officers find themselves trapped in a system where they receive little support from superiors and for taking initiative (Trojanowicz & Bucqueroux,
Community policing is not only a renewed emphasis on community and neighborhood, but also demands a change in police organization and leadership. When a law enforcement agency embraces community policing, all department members are expected to become oriented to provide customer service and work toward a community-wide effort to prevent crime. Community policing requires both a philosophical shift in the way that police departments think about their mission, as well as a commitment to the structural changes this new form of policing demands. The community policing philosophy embodies a new organizational strategy that allows police departments to decentralize police service, with a new breed of police officer as the department?s direct link to the average citizen (Trojanowicz & Bucqueroux, 1990). Problem solving and exercising leadership in intergovernmental cooperation are critical elements of the community policing strategy. Community policing involve new strategies that call for individual judgement and skills in problems that are both criminal and noncriminal in nature. These community officers must be given both the responsibility and the authority to identify local priorities and to explore and institute creative, short and long term solutions (Trojanowicz, 1996). The community officers should also be