Exam 3: The Characteristics and Structure of Police Organizations

When selection and promotion are based on ______, it helps ensure that qualified individuals will carry out the work of the organization.

Police departments operate as a monopoly, as citizens have only one option, to use the services of the agency, or not.

Explain why police departments are often described as "street level" bureaucracies.

Discuss the pros and cons of using civil service examinations for police officer selection and promotion.

Explain why there is often conflict between "street cops" and "management cops."

Explain what Max Weber meant by "division of labor" and explain how it is applicable to the organization of police departments.

Police departments have written policies and procedures that cover most aspects of their operation.

Focusing on, or substituting, means over goals, is referred to as ______.

Delegation of Authority means that all organizations must have one central administrator who is ultimately in control of everything.

The traffic unit is responsible for receiving calls for service and dispatching officers to these calls.

______ refers to the number of distinct units within an organization as well as the number of supervisory levels in the organization.

Discuss in detail why police department resources constitute a challenge for the management of them?

The first police departments were modeled after the military.

This unit is usually staffed by civilians with advanced education and training and tries to identify trends and patterns in criminal incidents.

Due to written policies and intensive supervision, there is very little opportunity for police discretion to be misused or abused.

______ refers to the idea that each subordinate within an organization should have only one supervisor.

Which of the following is an example of state level law enforcement agency?

A Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit is an example of a specialized police unit.

The sociologist whose principles of bureaucracy heavily influenced the structure and management of police departments in the United States was ______.

Discuss the relationship between department size and diversity.