Structural change in large police agencies during the 1990s
Abstract
According to community policing advocates, police agencies should implement a variety of important organizational changes. These changes are supposed to occur in a number of different substantive domains, including the culture, behavior, and structure of police organizations. This paper examines the evidence for change in just one of these domains: formal organizational structure. Based on concepts derived from organization theory, and using data from six different data sets, the paper explores whether the structures of US police organizations changed during the 1990s. Overall, it finds mixed evidence. Some changes have occurred in the direction encouraged by community policing reformers, some changes have occurred in the opposite direction, and some changes have not occurred at all.
Keywords
Citation
Maguire, E.R., Shin, Y., “Solomon” Zhao, J. and Hassell, K.D. (2003), "Structural change in large police agencies during the 1990s", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 251-275. https://doi.org/10.1108/13639510310475750
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 2003, MCB UP Limited