NCJ Number
111338
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 55 Issue: 4 Dated: (April 1988) Pages: 68,70-71,76,78
Date Published
1988
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes the Excellence in Policing in America (EPA) project implemented by the Houston Police Department (Texas).
Abstract
The Houston Police Department's EPA project was designed to determine what the term 'excellence' means for police organizations. The EPA project had two phases: a visit to London Metropolitan Police Department (LMPD) (England) to observe its innovative approach to police service delivery and the decision-making process, and site visits to high-performing American corporations to observe their organizational structures and management techniques. The LMPD's jurisdiction, hierarchy, and policing is described. In Phase 1, the EPA group was able to study a set of management principles used by the LMPD. They are: (1) the planning process, which is the analyses of several alternatives before a major investment, change or action is adopted, (2) the decentralization process, which limits the rank structure in order to increase lower-level accountability and bureaucratic communication, (3) the management team process, which consists of building a management team of the highest level managers to allow free debate on all issues, and (4) community power-sharing strategy, which refers to neighborhood residents joining with police in order to set nonenforcement policing priorities. In Phase 2, during site visits to several major industrial and service corporations, assistant police chiefs will interview the chief executive officers on organizational issues and observe managers at work to review programs designed to enhance productivity, organizational control, and the motivation of personnel.