Bureaucratic Structure Of Police Organizations

Police organizations are just one of the large bureaucratic structures in modern America and exist because like all others, it is an impersonal, quick and efficient way to run a large institution. Along with the few benefits of police agencies having a top down structure with rigid rules, there are also many costs including poor communication and poor community relations. The problems of the bureaucratic structure are not the only difficulties agencies have faced throughout history, many of these historical complications such as the quality of officers and corruption have been addressed and dealt with numerous times and in many police commissions. Though historical issues are very relevant, the most important issue facing large, modern police bureaucracies is leadership and supervision and can be addressed in a number of ways. In order to improve police morale, job satisfaction, and a better public image leadership and supervision is in need of some serious refinements. The

Some modern problems police departments face include things like organizational structure, recruitment, education and training and police culture. All of these issues deserve to be better looked into and do require some sort of change. I believe that the most important issue in modern police agencies is leadership and supervision. According to Shane (2010), when there seems to be a lack of leadership, suspiciousness tends to be higher among patrol officers. This can then lead to a decrease in performance. Also, as I stated before communication between supervisors and the officers they oversee is communication and how open the supervisor to questions and criticism. Depending on the way the leader leads, his agency will then follow suit. This too can negatively impact morale, performance and job satisfaction (Cowper,