Throughout this course, the organization for my research has been with the Memphis Police Department. This law enforcement agency is grounded in the fundamentals of creating and maintaining a complete environment of public safety. The Memphis Police Department’s vision is dedicated to zero tolerance for crime and compassion for the needs, liberties, and expectations of all citizens. The pursuit of peace and tranquility rest on the shoulders of the nineteen hundred commissioned officer, sworn to protect the citizens of Memphis (Memphis Police Department, 2018). The number of officers has been the debate for some time as the amount of officers is steadily declining. The department is struggling to get to two thousand officers to patrol the streets …show more content…
A researcher identifying this problem will initiate the focus on the particular issue, by executing a system and structure analysis which provides a complete understanding of the company (Nassar, 2007). The leadership of the city is well aware of the current shortage in the workforce. The police union made the administration aware of the multitude of resignations that they were receiving from officers who were concerned about the stability of their job and concerns regarding the support of their family in the event of an unfortunate incident while they are at work (Jones, …show more content…
The Memphis Police Department initiated the Best in Blue campaign that is designed to widen recruiting to twenty-three hundred officers in the next few years (Pignolet, 2017). The 2017-2018 budget allotted a two percent pay increase for all officers. Our city government recognizes a possible lack of public safety that was due to a shortage of civil servants (Poe, 2016). The problem began with the decrease in benefits and salary, which caused qualified candidates to seek employment that pays more and is less dangerous. In an attempt to attract new candidates benefits must be restored, wages should be increased, along with a package of lucrative incentives that would persuade a college student to pursue a career in law enforcement, in one of the more polarizing cities in the country. This task is enormous, and it will require city leaders to recognize what is best for the citizens of Memphis and it starts with public
The Baltimore City police have faced a myriad of problems in the last year. The riots following the Freddie Gray arrest were reported around the country and created a situation where the Governor was forced to call in the National Guard to protect the city. Community leaders report that African American’s are stopped, searched and arrested at a far greater number than Caucasian’s. The Baltimore city police are at an impasse with the community at this time, it is up to the city leaders and the police officials to come up with some real solutions to the issues that can no longer be ignored.
Once chief Robin Richardson was in command she made the decision to change the organizational structure within the police department. MPD chief Richardson made the decision the change the police department 's centralized organization structure to a more decentralized structure that relies on employees to communicate information to make decisions and recommend changes” ( Textbook, Chapter 10). MPD chief Richardson decisions to change the “organizational structure was to accommodate the dramatic shift in performance culture”( Textbook Chapter). MPD chief Richardson felt that the traditional functional organization structure under the vertical hierarchy has lost sight of MPD organization mission. Chief Richardson wanted to create an organizational structure that provides certain levels of autonomy, that allows employees to make decisions based on their individuals discretions. MPD chief Robin Richardson considered a “divisional organization a design structure that groups processes and jobs based on clearly defined market segments or geography”( Textbook Chapter 10). Chief Richardson considered “divisional organization structure that allows decision making to take place at the divisional level by managers, and differences of opinion would be resolved without depending on the chief. Chief Richardson felt that this design was leaning more toward what she visualized for the MPD: a centralized, horizontal organization” (Textbook chapter 10). According to the text, chief Robin Richardson “finally decision was to create a matrix organization, a design structure that facilitates horizontal integration and collaboration. A matrix model combines elements of both the functional and the divisional organizations, has dual lines of authority, and is designed to encourage the sharing of information. Robin felt that by using this model, the reporting line would shift
Policing is a very difficult, complex and dynamic field of endeavor that is always evolves as hard lessons teach us what we need to know about what works and what don’t work. There are three different Era’s in America’s policing: The Political Era, The Reform Era, and The Community Problem Solving Era. A lot has changed in the way that policing works over the years in the United States.
The author focuses on the U.S. Task Force on 21st Century Policing and Police Data Initiative or PDI to determine if it helps to restore trust and the broken relationship between and communities and police officers. The Task Force made by Barack Obama recommended the analysis of department policies, incidents of misconduct, recent stops and arrests, and demographics of the officers. The PDI has tasked 21 cities to comprehend the police behavior and find out what to do to change it. Also PDI was said to have data and information on vehicle stops and shootings by police officers. The use of statistics has a purpose to help rebuild trust and the relationship between and communities and police officers.
& Forst, L.S. (2016). An Introduction to Policing (8th Edition). Boston, MA USA: Cengage Learning. p.243 (245). Retrieved June 6, 2017, from https://www.betheluniversityonline.net
American policing originated from early English law and is profoundly influenced by its history. Early law enforcement in England took on two forms of policing, one of which heavily influenced modern policing and it is known as the watch (Potter, 2013). The watch consisted, at first, of volunteers which had to patrol the streets for any kind of disorder including crime and fire. After men attempted to get out of volunteering by paying others, it became a paid professional position (Walker & Katz, 2012). The three eras of policing in America are shaped by these early ideas and practices of law enforcement. Throughout time, sufficient improvements and advancements have been made from the political era to the professional era and finally the community era which attempts to eliminate corruption, hire qualified officers and create an overall effective law enforcement system.
This era is where the shift from a centralized task force has gravitated to a decentralized task force, causing some friction from both the community and the officers that serve it. Police are told that they are needed to listen to the concerns for the community; however, law enforcement is still the primary goal. Police forces now have to defend the values for which the forces were built upon. The idea of problem solving has come into question with police discretion towards certain run-ins with the law. Williams and Murphy argue it is due to the lack of sensitivity from minorities and the concern on crime itself than the community. Kelling and Moore contradict Williams and Murphy, with Kelling/Moore suggesting the era is more about listening to concerns of the community and improving the citizen satisfaction. But both the article came to the conclusion of the silent underlying problems that are becoming more of a “quiet riot” with the police and the
Replacing the police chief was a hard process for Will Spanning, city manager of Dover. Spanning was well respected by his professional peer and those in the community. He recreated the city’s financial struggle to a “healthy surplus”. The city of Dover was doing great under his management skills. His accomplishments were recognized along with the police department. They were one of the most professional force in Dover. Spanning worked alongside newly hired Police Chief Charles Johnson after the previous two police chief’s resigned. As the two highest ranking executives, they understood each other’s perspective and supported each other 100%. Johnson was young, educated and well trained. Years later, he made a decision to study for his MPA fulltime, so Spanning was left to hire a new Police Chief.
Our society has become one that is very diverse. Law enforcement agencies (local, state, and federal) for our changing society need to include an increase representation of women and minorities, definite improvement in leadership skills, and to strengthen community policing. These are all issues of great importance, which are no longer going to be pushed aside.
The economy, in most countries, is the number one priority. A country’s prosperity is judged on its economic value and the amount of capital that it acquires. Bringing more funds into the police force will give the economy a boost in many different ways. First, funding the force will create many new jobs. “In San Juan and Carolina, Puerto Rico, the federal government provided money for the police force which created over 118,000 new jobs that involve law enforcement” (Walsh). The majority of people agree that creating jobs leads to a much greater economy and can help to get money into the hands of the poor who can not find work. Karen Dillon, a former police chief, stat...
Recruiting officers is a vital job for any city, state, federal department. The people that are recruited could be the next leaders of the department. Most departments try to pull in the most diverse and qualified applicants that are looking to make law enforcement a career. They also look for applicants that have a commitment in severing their community. The recruiters have a bigger pull of people with the unemployment rate going up. There are more people going back to school to study criminal law and are looking for a career in law enforcement. The recruiters look for people that hold knowledge in law, communication skills, self- discipline, and attention to detail. The new recruit should want to stay learning new things by furthering their education in law enforcement. The recruiters must hold a high standard for hiring police officers because of what the community expects from their law enforcement. Most recruiters have to go by the department’s code of ethics that each department has set for their officers. This has made recruiters come up with new ways of trying to recruit officers. Some recruiters have started going after top students out of universities and other schools. Many Departments have come up with hiring incentives for new r...
Community oriented policing has been around for over 30 years, and promotes and supports organizational strategies to address the causes, and reduce the fear of crime and social disorder through problem solving tactics. The way community policing works is it requires the police and citizens to work together to increase safety for the public. Each community policing program is different depending on the needs of the community. There have been five consistent key elements of an effective community oriented policing program: Adopting community service as the overarching philosophy of the organization, making an institutional commitment to community policing that is internalized throughout the command structure, emphasizing geographically decentralized models of policing that stress services tailored to the needs of individual communities rather than a one-size-fits-all approach for the entire jurisdiction, empowering citizens to act in partnership with the police on issues of crime and more broadly defined social problems, for example, quality-of-life issues, and using problem-oriented or problem-solving approaches involving police personnel working with community members. Community oriented policing has improved the public’s perception of the police in a huge way. Community policing builds more relationships with the
Diminishing sources of recruitment, increasing causes of attrition, and broadening police responsibilities all shape questions of workforce supply and demand. In these days and times recruitment and retention for Law Enforcement Officers is at an all-time low. When you were a child growing up the teacher would ask what you want to be when you grow up. Some children would stay firefighter, policeman, doctor, nurse, and a teacher, but now when the teacher ask that question students answer to rapper, gangster and drug dealer because they are much more popular than the working class people. It’s cool to have a criminal record now, but when it’s time to enter the working class world the back ground history sets the tone whether you get hired for
♦ Make a strong commitment to community-oriented policing. Everyone in the police department should be involved, not just a few units or off...
...at exactly is the process known as police recruitment and just how different it was in the 1960s from today’s day and age. In the 1960s police departments were worried about not having enough minorities and now police departments worry about not having enough qualified officers in general. If police departments can better advertise how great it is to be a police officer and how bright the future could be for a hardworking officer I think that the retention issue among police departments will decrease dramatically and the amount of qualified applicants will sky rocket. All in all police recruitment is a huge part of law enforcement agencies and if it wasn’t for recruitment and the work that goes in to getting officers field ready who knows what kind of chaos could have come from having unfit officers patrolling the streets and keeping citizens safe on a daily basis.