Introduction
An organization is classified as a group of individuals or people brought together by a specified role. As noted by Maguire (2003), an organization is also understood to be a social arrangement of individuals geared towards the dispensation of specific tasks in order to achieve a specified goal. An organization is governed by a specified managerial structure which defines the relationship existing between positions, functions and units; and also delegate responsibilities and roles. Since organizations exist in specified environments, they are often affected by the forces of these environments. This paper examines how the conceptualization of what is an organization in a specific police department may influence the deliverables of the department. The paper examines the inputs of an organization to personnel behaviour such as willingness to change among other issues related to worker’s behaviour. The paper revolves on the issue of community policing and how it can be used to improve the deliverables of the police departments.
The Traditional Thinking Officers
Community policing involves forging partnership between the community and the police force in combating crimes in the community. Due to the increased population in the area and limited number of police officers, it becomes difficult for the police force to discharge their duties effectively. However, there are problems that are involved in the implementation process of community policing. One of such problems lies with the community which thinks that the responsibilities of ensuring that security and order is maintained are bequeathed to the police officers. The community thinks that the police officers are paid from the public coffers to ensure that they are safe. Another problem of the community policing is lack of cooperation on the side of the community (Wilson, 2006). Communities view the police officers as enemies and thus shying away from any opportunity that would see them working together with the police force. This is mostly caused by history of cruelty to the communities propagated by the police officers. In some countries, police officers are known to be brutal and thus, people fear working closely with them. The association between the police and the community, therefore, is not welcomed as members of the community fear being segregated from the community as officers are. It is widely known that people who engage in community policing become the target of criminals in the community as a cover up strategy to hide their criminal activities thus inflicting fear to those who engage in community policing (Wilson, 2006).
In as much as the community poses the greatest problems to community policing, police officers also pose a threat to the implementation of policies relating to community policing. The traditional-thinking police officers in particular, pose the greatest threat to the community policing. The traditional-thinking police officers are resistant to change and fight bitterly for the status quo to be maintained within the police force. As the mode and the strategies of policing change, it is expected that the officers in the police force change in order to accommodate the new development in their organization. The police officers, however, are trapped in the organizational straitjacket. The officers are mostly concerned with their ranks as opposed to offering quality services to the citizen. This defeats the reason as to why the police force is there in the first place. The issue of ranks should be a way of motivating police officers to render service to the citizens and not a source of barrier in dispensing their services. Professionalism should be the guiding principles on which the police officers offer their services to citizens (Brogden & Nijhar, 2005).
In this era of sophisticated criminals and growing population, police officers should be innovating in ways that they render their services to the community. They should be ready to change to the better in rendering their services to the people. The police officers should not be the stumbling blocks in ensuring that improvement in their organizations are realized. In the year 1997, for instance, when the idea of the community policing was rolled out in the United States, several officers who could not stomach the changes resigned. According to the recommendations of the research carried out on community policing, police officers were of the view that non-commissioned members of the police force should be given the lowest ranks within the police force. This was meant to avoid embarrassment to the police force incase a mistake is committed by the member of the community.
It is assumed that that the rank which one holds is directly proportional to the skills possessed by that person. Therefore, dismantling ranks within the police force would pose a great threat to the working structure of the force. The community policing would not mean that the police force is rendered useless or their roles in the society is subordinated, but it is meant to forge partnership between the community and the police force and hence complement each other. Both the community and the police force are in partnership in ensuring that law and order in the society is maintained for the well-being of all in the society. This is what the traditional-thinking police officers may not get right. They thought that partnership would mean that their role in the society would be declared obsolete and thus rendered irrelevant (Brogden & Nijhar, 2005).
Agency Re-organization and Adoption of COPPS
For any organization to run its operation smoothly there is a need for cooperation within the system and also cooperation from other quarters that affect the functionality of the said organization. This corporation is crucial especially when it comes to the police. From the seven elements of police organizational structure, it is crucial to establish a functioning community-oriented policing and problem solving police force so as to make policing efficient and community friendly.
To be better placed it is critical to first understand seven elements of police organizational structure which mainly deals with police as an organization. So what is an organization? An organization can be said to be a social network of divisions which allocates functions for collective goal (Maguire, 2003). Thus, the police department is an organization, but more complex in that it is divided into various divisions that work under different agencies, but still have the same objective, these divisions bring about division of labor and specialization in the areas of administration, traffic, response, regular police who maintain law and order, detective, and forensic specialist.
The police as an organization is mandated to provide exceptional services to all citizens and like any other organization, it is supposed to engage the community to help in boosting its services and offer protection (Hess, Orthman and Cho, 2010). To enhance what we may refer to community policing, then it is important for the police organization to form a department and adopt the community-oriented policing and problem solving approach. The implementation of the COPPS will enable the realization of police organization especially in areas where the community does not hold the police in high esteem or have a negative attitude towards them. It would also be commendable that although COPPS should have skilled employees, especially in the field of police training and other relevant fields it should also include members of the community, who basically have a better understanding of the community (Dantzker, 2009). This method of policing would allow for division of labor making each facet of COPPS to be better equipped in handling matters in their field of specialty and also offer effective and efficient service since the adoption of COPPS translate to an already massive police organization becoming bigger.
Although division of labor may cause delays due to its complicated communication, it enhances need for coordination. Finally, although division of labor is crucial to any organization and more so in adoption and implementation of COOPS, it should be noted by the police administration that over long durations of time, division of labor may lead to lack of effectiveness as those personnel may find the task monotonous and to a larger extent boring, thus the need for rotation of these personnel to other department within the organization (Wilson, 2008).
For police administration to set up COPPS and for COOPS to realize its goals then there is the need for placement of responsibility. Meaning that each specific responsibility lies squarely on a particular division or unit, for instance, if it is a matter of investigating accidents, then the charged unit responsible should take the responsibility in accordance with its vision and mission which are geared towards the common police goals (Dantzker, 2009). For COPPS, then its mandate should be clearly stated together with its vision and mission to enable placement of responsibility.
Finally, COPPS should be able to adopt group ‘esprit de corps’, these is the strategy where by personnel share and depend upon each other’s success for the whole success of the division. Esprit de corps’ is a call for team work between groups of specially trained persons.
COPPS Strategy and Officer’s Work Load
It is critical to understand that by adopting and implementing COPPS as a strategy will allow for better and improved community policing which will be community oriented to allow for better police and community cooperation to combat crime within the localities. Some people have suggested that the biggest impediment to the full realization of an effective COPPS is the quasi-military model which may lack a sense of openness and service orientation, which are aspects that are not likely to be developed in a militaristic managerial model (Dempsey and Forst, 2011).
The question that arises then is the COPPS strategy going to ease the workload of the officers or increase it. The workload may not necessarily increase because the COPPS program will have a specialized personnel thus enhancing division of labor. In addition to this, COPPS will be a facet within the larger police organization. This allows for individual attention of cases based on which genre or jurisdiction they fall. COPPS comes in as a better placed program in its mandate and personnel because it incorporates both the community and the police force. COPPS as a strategy has also enabled the force to detect crime and respond in time to prevent it hence facilitating for better time management in dealing with recurrent problems that generally affect the community and clog the day to day operations of the force. In a tremendous way COPPS reduces the workload in form of time. It is also important to mention that through the establishment of COPPS, the force has been able to lead to community engagement or what we may refer to as partnership through a system known as S.A.R.A. This equips the force adequately.
S.A.R.A is a framework that contains several aspects of policing such as scanning, analysis, response, and assessment which allows for in-depth investigation and problem solving by taking a step by step process. For example, scanning allows for observation and preliminary inquiries to establish whether there is a need for further analysis and also for establishing whether a problem exists. Analysis on the other hand comes in to give long-term solution for the problem. This makes it the heart of problem solving and also the most difficult step in the S.A.R.A process. For complete and thorough analysis to take place, then an officer is required to have identified the seriousness of the matter, all the persons affected and established the underlying cause of the problem.
Response comes in as a means toward the long-term solution. For COPPS, it means coming up with immediate solutions to serious situations like gang wars. Therefore, response means to first define a problem then finding the most appropriate solution and applying it. It is also important to mention that for effective long-term response, the program it must include both the beneficiaries of COPPS who represent the officers, residents and other relevant agencies. Lastly, the other important factor is assessment. COPPS as a strategy needs to be evaluated to determine its effectiveness; success and impact so as to improve where need be and also offer knowledge on how to tackle future problems that may arise (Eterno, 2003).
The above information adds to the point that COPPS as a strategy doesn’t add the workload of the officer rather it reduces it significantly by a having an efficient system that can run with or without a particular personnel.
Community Progress Evaluation
There are various types of information used to evaluate the progress of community policing initiative in the society. The aim of introducing community policing in the organization was to combat the growing number of crimes and ensure that the neighborhoods are safer than they were before. Thus, the information that would lead to that effect would show a progress in community policing. One of the most important indicators that show progress in the community policing is the reduction in crimes in major cities in the United States. According to the findings of the research that was carried out on community policing since its inception, crime rates have reduced significantly. It is reported that cities are now safer than they were before the introduction of community policing in the police department. The police were able to get the information on crimes from the community and measures to control those crimes put in place. The members of the community feel that it is their responsibility to ensure that the information on crimes is channeled to the police on time to ensure that actions are taken to address instances of crimes in the community. It is the responsibility of every member of the community to prevent crime by reporting it to the authority for actions to be taken unlike in yesteryears where the work of detecting and preventing crimes was solely done by police officers (Wilson, 2006).
The community members are motivated to address crimes since they are funded by Federal government to do so. The communities are also empowered to carry out activities related to community policing since they offered with necessary skills through training offered by the Federal governments. Information that shows progress in the community policing is the new found partnership between businesses, community and the police force. Unlike what was the case when the community policing was introduced, there is a strong partnership between the community and the police in ensuring that crimes are detected and prevented. The lack of trust that was experienced by both the police force and the community has since been overtaken by events and both parties are now comfortable working together in ensuring safer neighborhoods. The change of attitude on community policing is an important indicator that shows progress achieved so far in community policing. Both the community involved and the police officers have embraced the idea of community policing that was faced by resistance during its inception. This is the result of awareness campaigns organized to sensitize the community on the importance of community policing in making their neighborhoods safe (Brogden & Nijhar, 2005).
Conclusion
In conclusion it is important to note that effective re-organization of the Malfunction Junction police unit can have a positive impact towards the effective delivery of police services to the community. Although traditional thinking styles from officers would definitely cause a challenge in the quest to have a transformed police force, it is important to note that this difficulty can be handled through effective strategies that would eventually ensure that the officers deliver the desired services in accordance with the new job expectation. Where need arises, the agency will need to be reorganized so that the new COPPS approach is implemented in the police force. This strategy will ensure that the workload of the officers reduces tremendously. However, to ensure that the community policing initiative is successful, various evaluation strategies will be used to ensure that the progress of the initiative is established.
References
Brogden, M. & Nijhar, P., 2005.Community policing: national and international models and approaches. London: Willan Publishing.
Dantzker, M. (2009). Police organization and management: yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Chicago: Elsevier.
Dempsey, J and Forst, L. (2011). An Introduction to Policing. New York: Cengage Learning.
Eterno, J. (2003). Policing within the law: a case study of the New York City Police Department. New York: ABC-CLIO.
Hess, K., Orthman, C. and Cho, H. (2010). Police Operations: Theory and Practice. New York: Cengage Learning.
Maguire, E. (2003). Organizational structure in American police agencies: context, complexity, and control. New York: SUNY Press.
Wilson, J. (2008). Bureaucracy: what government agencies do and why they do it. New York: Basic Books.
Wilson, M., 2006. Community policing in America. New York: Routledge.