Chapter 4 SG Flashcards
What is a bureaucracy?
Is an organizational model with a hierarchical structure and an authoritian style
What are the advantages of a bureaucracy ?
- recruitment, training and selection emphasized
- emphasizes rules and accountability
- Supervision, performance standards
- Led to supervision
What are the limits to a bureaucracy?
- rigid and inflexible- resistant to change
- communication break down up the chain of command
- creativity is quashed
- rules, rules, rules
- numbers driven
What are the current trends in police organizations the three C’s?
- Civilization
- Contracting
- Consolidation
What is civilization ?
- cost
- frees up sworn officers to focus on critical police work
- specialized experts (computer analysis)
What is consolidation?
Merging two or more departments
- Pd’s are expensive - share of cost
- impact of turnover and attrition
What is contracting ?
Buying sheriffs from other departments
- it is buying police services from someone else
What is quasi style military ?
That is, they resemble the military in some but not all respects. This style of organization originated with Robert Peel’s plan for the London Metropolitan Police in 1829 and was adopted by American police departments.
The police resemble the military in the following respects.
First, police offi- cers wear uniforms.
Second, police departments use military-style rank designations such as sergeant, lieutenant, and captain.
Third, the command structure is hier- archical, with commands flowing from the top.
Fourth, the organizational style is authoritarian, with penalties for failing to obey orders.
Fifth, police officers carry weapons and have the legal authority to use deadly force, physical force, and to de- prive people of their liberty through arrest.
Why is quasi style military opposed ?
They argue that, first, the military ethos cultivates an “us versus them” attitude that is used to justify mistreatment of citizens.
Second, it encourages the idea of a “war on crime” that is inappropriate for serving a citizen population.
Third, the authori- tarian command style is contrary to democratic principles of participation.
Fourth,the authoritarian style produces low morale, and the rigid rank structure fails to pro- vide sufficient job satisfaction for police officers.The authoritarian style produces low morale, and the rigid rank structure fails to pro- vide sufficient job satisfaction for police officers.
What is compstat?
technology was used as an organi- zational tool to achieve crime control through accountability.
Under COMPSTAT, the police department continuously collects arrest, calls for service, and complaint data from each precinct or beat within the agency and analyzes those data for reporting purposes at that level. This organizational model of man- agement in New York City places the responsibility for crime control on precinct commanders.
Who developed compstat?
In 19994 NYCPD comissioner William Britton implemented compstat
What are the three theories of contingency ?
Instutional
Contingency
Resource dependency
Contingency
the belief that organizations are created and structured to achieve specific goals, such as crime control.
orga- nizations are rational entities, adopting organizational structures and operational ac- tivities that are most effective and efficient in achieving specific goals.
Institutional
holds that police organizations are social institutions that operate in relation to their external social and political environment
Resource dependency
Resource dependency theory suggests that organizations must obtain resources to survive and that to obtain these resources they must engage in exchanges with other organizations in their environment.
