The book The Turnaround depicts experience of William Bratton, the police officer, and policies aimed to improve police system and reduce crime rates in Boston and New York. The authors underline that psychologically as well as organizationally, this part of police work makes it possible to accept the suggestion that crime is worsening. It follows that one harboring a negative view of human nature would expect community life to degenerate. Many of the daily experiences of police work exacerbate this attitude: having to inform a murder victim’s family of the tragedy; investigating the brutal rape of a child; arresting some people over and over, just to see them freed. Police officers are not immune to the effects of incivility either (Knobler and Bratton 1998).
This important and value of this book is that it depicts real experience of a cop and policies which could help other police department to fight crimes. The book does not involve theoretical explanations and hypotheses but provides readers with well-thought practical policies and actions developed by William Bratton. This is not to suggest that criminal-justice personnel are devoid of human compassion or motivated solely by self-interest. Police officers risk their lives to arrest violent offenders, public defenders work overtime to represent their clients, jurors deliberate in stuffy rooms for days to arrive at proper verdicts, and probation officers loan clients their own money to help them through troubled times. The goal of self-preservation is evidenced by activities that promote organizational survival and expansion. Continuation of the agency to ensure jobs, positions, and continued service delivery is the objective of survival activities. Growth takes us back to Hobbes’ observation that self-protection necessitates constant and perpetual search for “power after power.” Expansion protects agencies from external threats from larger public bureaucracies that have more political power. This tendency toward growth is evident in the yearly budget requests of criminaljustice agencies. Seldom is an equivalent budget requested; instead, funds for additional personnel and supplies and new programs and projects are included in each year’s proposal. This approach to public finance produces growth: the agency becomes larger, its functions are broadened, and greater public dependence is slowly fostered. Over time, these trends firmly establish the organizational function as a public priority, ensuring the power of its officials and the survival of the organization. Within criminal-justice agencies, goal displacement takes the form of a less aggressive approach to responsibilities in order to maintain organizational strength (Knobler and Bratton 1998).
In contrast to other books I read, this book is vital for every police officer as it illustrates effective policies which help to fight crimes and control criminal activity in a small region. The book describes contemporary American policing and its problems, new technologies applied by William Bratton in police field. Such tools as “quality of life enforcement” and computer mapping techniques can be successfully implemented by other police departments in order to reduce work overload and improve police functions in a certain state. To avoid public resentment, police departments refrain from full enforcement of laws. Laws affecting the poor criminal are more often vigorously enforced than those directed toward wealthy embezzlers, polluters, fraudulent investors, and other white-collar criminals. Losing sight of original objectives because of preoccupation with administration issues is not unique to criminal-justice agencies; in fact, it appears to be a common organizational response. The authors underline that criminal-justice agencies also function within uncertain and often politically precarious environments.
I would recommend this book to everyone interested in police work and studying criminal justice system. This book is written from a personal point of view of the author, thus it underlines that crime is a solvable problem for which some action or change can be taken to reduce or preclude criminal acts. Collective interests within organizations are important, but individuals are also motivated by self-interests.
References
Knobler, P., Bratton, W. (1998). The Turnaround: How America’s Top Cop Reversed the
Crime Epidemic. Random House Publishing Group.