NCJ Number
138800
Date Published
1992
Length
27 pages
Annotation
An attempt is made to characterize the major ways in which policing changed during the 20th century, yet maintained continuity with the past structures and forms.
Abstract
There has been an evolution in police organization in the 20th century in response to changes in technology, social organization, and political governance at all levels of society. Major developments in police organization have occurred in several areas: command organization and mobilization of patrol officers, the organization and work of patrol officers, and the access and use of information systems by all levels of personnel. Police organizations continue their resistance to efforts to consolidate law enforcement. The bureaucratization of the police has been accompanied by numerous changes within departments and has been influenced strongly by changing conditions from outside. Community-based and problem-oriented policing now reshape the way some police organizations conduct their business. Community policing emerges as a reaction against the centralization of command and control in a police bureaucracy and problem-oriented policing as a reaction against what are considered to be the preoccupations of a centralized command, i.e., management, internal procedures, and efficiency. However, many departments continue to direct their efforts to crime events and their control rather than transforming policing into a community and social problem-centered bureaucracy that is accountable to local groups. 78 references