Structural change in large police agencies during the 1990s

Abstract

According to community policing advocates, police agencies should implement a variety of important organizational changes. These changes are supposed to occur in a number of different substantive domains, including the culture, behavior, and structure of police organizations. This paper examines the evidence for change in just one of these domains: formal organizational structure. Based on concepts derived from organization theory, and using data from six different data sets, the paper explores whether the structures of US police organizations changed during the 1990s. Overall, it finds mixed evidence. Some changes have occurred in the direction encouraged by community policing reformers, some changes have occurred in the opposite direction, and some changes have not occurred at all. T h e E m era ld R es ea rc h R e g ister fo r th is jo u rn a l is a v a ila b le a t http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister T h e c u rren t is su e a n d fu ll tex t a rc h iv e o f th is jo u rn a l is a v a ila b le a t http://www.emeraldinsight.com/1363-951X .htm Portions of this research were supported by grant # 98-IJ-CX-0003 from the National Institute of Justice. Opinions or points of view expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the US Department of Justice. The authors are grateful to Jeremy Wilson and an anonymous reviewer for their comments on an earlier draft. Community policing and organizational structure The community policing movement is complex, woven together over time from a number of separate reform strands both within and outside of policing (Maguire and Mastrofski, 2000). Community policing reformers urge changes in many different substantive areas, from problem-solving and crime prevention efforts to new methods of supervision, management, and administration. Changes in the formal structure of police organizations constitute only one part of the community policing movement. For some commentators, structural changes are the most important part of community policing, while for others such changes represent mere tinkering (Gianakis and Davis, 1998; Maguire, 1997; Mastrofski, 1998; Redlinger, 1994). Regardless of one's stance on the relative importance of structural changes, most reformers view them as one part of an overall shift to community policing. People often use the term``organizational structure'' to refer to an expansive or nonspecific list of organizational characteristics. Among organization theorists, however, the term has a more specific meaning. We begin this section by defining organizational structure. We then outline seven structural features that are prominent in organizational theory and research, all of which play a role, whether explicit or implicit, in the reform agendas of community policing advocates. According to Maguire (2002): Organizational structure is the formal apparatus through which organizations accomplish two core activities: the division of labor and the coordination of work.

Implementing Intelligence-Led Policing: An Application of Loose-Coupling Theory

“…Agencies that specifically have an intelligence policy (2.51), as well as larger agencies (3.96), also have a greater likelihood of producing analytic products. This latter finding is likely a function of variance in personnel and task scope commonly found within larger agencies (Maguire et al, 2003). Surprisingly, it appears that agencies that believed they had sufficient staff for their intelligence function was not indicative of creating intelligence products.…”

“…This issue pertains to the use of intelligence-related explanatory variables to draw inferences regarding ILP dependent variables. As the majority of police organizational change literature has utilized traditional measures of structure and complexity to explain the adoption of change (see Maguire, 1997;Maguire et al, 2003;Morabito, 2010), ILP requires a more nuanced set of variables to target specific practices. As mentioned previously, ILP is viewed as a strategic modification to existing policing practices.…”

Assessing law enforcement preparedness to address Internet fraud

“…For example, the confusion over new roles and the fear of the unknown were experienced by some New York City police officers during the transition toward a community policing philosophy over a decade ago (Pisani, 1992; see also Lewis, Rosenberg, & Sigler, 1999). Police reluctance to change was evidenced in research suggesting that some large police agencies failed to restructure their organizational design, and others changed in the opposite direction of the restructuring suggestions offered by community policing reformers (Maguire, Shin, Zhao, & Hassell, 2003). Law enforcement agencies might be reluctant to restructure their organization to confront electronic crimes, and might also encounter experienced personnel who would plausibly resist being reassigned to the Internet fraud division due to the new roles and extensive training necessary to perform the duty.…”

Toward a better understanding of the hierarchical nature of police organizations: Conception and measurement

“…The rank structure of U.S. police agencies was quantified by three relatively recent studies (Langworthy, Hughes, & Sanders, 1995;Maguire, 2003;Maguire, Shin, Zhao, & Hassell, 2003). Langworthy et al (1995) asked agencies to report the number of command ranks in their structure.…”