Quiet Devolution: Thinking About the Roles of Police Middle Managers in Support of Community Policing

• NCJ Number: 171625
• Author(s): W A Geller; G Swanger
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 175 pages
• Grant Number(s): 92-IJ-CX-K004
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: Harvard University
• Sale Source: Police Executive Research Forum (PERF)
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This document investigates how middle managers might advance community policing implementation efforts.

Abstract

The monograph examines the following areas: (1) the shifting strategic mission of police departments that middle managers are thought to resist and which they could help advance; (2) the traditional roles and functions of middle managers in most police departments and whether they should be fulfilling those roles and functions in light of the new mission; (3) changes in the contributions of middle managers, whether they are warranted, and why so many organizational analysts consider these employees to be reluctant participants in the modifications; (4) reasons to hope for and expect middle managers to be willing partners in the reform movement; and (5) ways that police departments, local government officials and other stakeholders might help position and motivate middle managers to play constructive roles in adopting and improving community policing. Notes, references, bibliography