Exam 1 Review of Chapter 4 in Police Systems & Practices

Bureaucracy

The typical police department has a hierarchical structure and authoritarian management style.

Community Policing

Represents an alternative to the traditional form of police organization. Traditional police organizations are extremely bureaucratic structures, which are said to necessarily limit the effectiveness and efficiency of the police

Task Forces

Consists of officers from different ranks within the same agency. For example, a task force of drug enforcement might include a captain, a lieutenant, two sergeants, and three police officers.

Civil Service

Represents a set of formal and legally binding procedures governing personnel decisions. The purpose is to ensure that personnel decisions are based on objective criteria and not on favoritism, bias, or political influence

Police Union

An organization legally authorized to represent police officers in collective bargaining with the employer. Are extremely powerful and are an important feature of police organizations. Under American labor law, employers are required to recognize and negotiate with dramatically chosen unions.

Collective Bargaining

Defined as “the method of determining conditions of employment through bilateral negotiations.

What are the basic principles of collective bargaining?

1. Employees have a legal right to form unions of their own choosing, 2. Employers must recognize employee unions, 3. Employees have a right to participate in negotiations over working conditions, and 4. Employers are required to negotiate with the union’s designated representatives.

Grievance Procedure

Providing due process for employees, requires that an officer be notified about a disciplinary action and that the officer has the right to a hearing, the right to an attorney, and the right to appeal any disciplinary action

Contingency Theory

Emerged as the dominant theoretical framework for understanding the structures and practices of police organizations. Belief that organizations are created and structured to achieve specific goals, such as crime control

Institutional Theory

Holds that police organizations are social institutions that operate in relation to their external social and political environment. Belief that the organization and activities of the police must be understood in the context of their institutional environment

Resource Dependency Theory

Organizations must obtain resources to survive and to obtain these resources they must engage in exchanges with other organizations in their environment