Police Organization and Administration

• Police Legitimacy


  The extent to which people trust and have confidence that officers will see people fairly, with respect
• Police Officer


  A specially designated citizen whose functions include order maintenance, provision of services, and law enforcement 
• Law Enforcement Officer


  A specially designated citizen who focuses on enforcing laws through detection and apprehension
• Police


  Derived from the Greek words polis and politeuein, which refer to being a citizen who participates in the affairs of a city or state 
• Department of Homeland Security


  Federal agency responsible for a unified national effort to secure the country and preserve freedom
• Professionalism


  An end state that is largely based on ethical practice and other related characteristics such as good personal character, personal and or organizational accountability, a commitment to higher education and continuous training, and intolerance for misconduct
• Night Watch System


  Early policing system that required able-bodied males to donate their time to help protect cities
• Sir Robert Peel


  Founder of modern territorial policing in 1829 in London
• Patrick Colquhoun


  Superintending magistrate of the Thames River Police, a forerunner of the Metropolitan Police and author of works of metropolitan policing 
• Pendleton Act (1883)


  Required that government jobs be awarded on the basis of merit rather than on the basis of friendship or political favor 
• Sheriff


  Typically, an elected official responsible for county law enforcement and, in many instances, the county jail
• Reform Era


  Involved radical reorganization of police agencies, including strong centralized administrative bureaucracy, hiring and promotion based on merit, highly specialized units, and application of science to crime through improved recordkeeping, fingerprinting, serology, and criminal investigation
• Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA)


  During the 1960s and 70s, provided a billion dollars each year to improve and strengthen criminal justice agencies
• President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (1967)


  Represented a major effort to better understand styles of policing, police-community relations, and police selection and training
• National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1967)


  A major effort to better understand styles of policing, police-community relations, and police selection and training
• Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA)


  Established in 1979 (operational in 1983), the commission conducts evaluations based on specific standards for law enforcement agencies and accredits agencies meeting the criteria
• Community Relations Programs


  Programs sponsored by police agencies that attempt to improve police-community relations
• Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE)


  Educational programs presented by police officers in cooperation with school authorities in an attempt to prevent abuse of drugs by youth
• Community Policing


  A model of policing based on establishing partnerships among police and other citizens in an attempt to improve quality of life through crime prevention, information sharing, and mutual understanding 
• Problem Oriented Policing


  Encourages officers to take a holistic approach, working with other citizens and other agency representatives to find long-term solutions to a variety of recurrent problems 
• Intelligence Based Policing


  A policing model that originated in Britain and focuses on risk assessment and risk management. Involves identifying risks or patterns associated with groups, individuals, and locations to predict when and where crime is likely to occur 
• Terrorism Oriented Policing


  Adds new duties to those already assumed by the police in an attempt to detect and prevent terrorist acts
• Organization


  A rational, efficient form of grouping people
• Hierarchies


  Organizational structures that take the shape of a pyramid, with many employees at the bottom and a few management personnel at the top
• Line Personnel


  Individuals who perform actual police work and include patrol officers and investigators
• Unity of Command


  Each member of the organization has an immediate supervisor
• Rank Structure


  Chain of command that identifies who communicates with whom and identifies lines of authority
• Span of Control


  Ratio of supervisors to subordinates
• Incident Command System (ICS)


  Coordinates police personnel, allocates resources, and allows emergency responders to adopt and integrate organization structure; attempts to achieve effective coordination of police personnel while ensuring appropriate allocation of resources and providing emergency responders an integrated organizational structure unhindered by jurisdictional boundaries
• Matrix Structure


  Involves multiple support systems and authority relationships often found in a drug task force
• Chain of Custody


  The chronological documentation that shows the seizure, custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of physical or electronic evidence
• Functional Organizational Design


  Creation of positions and departments in an organization based on specialized activities
• Place Design


  Geographical establishment of primary units in an organization, including assignment of personnel to beats, zones, districts, and areas 
• Time Design


  An organizational design that involves assignment of personnel based on watches, tours, or shifts
• Job Actions


  Occurs when negotiations fail to lead to an agreement and can include "blue flu," work slowdowns, and work speedups
• Profession


  Occupation often requiring some form of accreditation, certification, or licensing and usually including a code of ethics 
• Code of Ethics


  A set of principles that guides decision-making and behavior for police officers, both on and off duty; the code defines the standards for professionalism, which is key to the integrity of police officers and their credibility with the public
• Accreditation


  Development of standards containing a clear statement of professional objectives
• Technoliteracy


  The highly refined level of understanding and skill in manipulating the technologies present in today's workplace 
• 1st Amendment


  Freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition