NCJ Number
35673
Date Published
1971
Length
137 pages
Annotation
BASED ON A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS WITH TACTICAL TEAM POLICING IN SYRACUSE (NY), THIS TEXT ANALYZES THE RATIONALE FOR THE CRIME CONTROL TEAM AND DESCRIBES THE METHODS OF IMPLEMENTING AND EVALUATING THE POLICE TEAM.
Abstract
GOALS, STRATEGY AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF PRESENT DAY MUNICIPAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS ARE CRITICALLY EXAMINED IN THE FIRST PORTION OF THE BOOK. THE AUTHORS POINT OUT THE DEFENSIVE, REACTIVE NATURE OF TRADITIONAL POLICING; ITS OVERRELIANCE ON A SINGLE MAJOR TECHNIQUE INVESTIGATION; AND THE LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CRIME CONTROL INHERENT IN THE TRADITIONAL POLICE STRUCTURE. THE CRIME CONTROL TEAM IS PRESENTED AS AN OFFENSIVE CRIME CONTROL STRATEGY USING A FORMAL ORGANIZATION WHICH ELIMINATES CONFLICTING RESPONSIBILITY AND PROVIDES FOR UNITY OF COMMAND. AN EXPOSITION IS GIVEN OF THE THEORY OF RANDOM PATROL, ONE OF THE MAJOR TACTICS AVAILABLE TO IMPLEMENT SUCH A STRATEGY. THE INTEGRATION OF THE RANDOM PATROL, PREVENTIVE PATROL AND INVESTIGATION TACTICS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE OFFENSIVE STRATEGY IS EXAMINED. A FORMAL ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE IS PROPOSED WHICH IS IN LINE WITH PRESENTLY ACCEPTED ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY AND MANAGERIAL PRACTICES, AND PERMITS THE DEPARTMENT TO ADOPT AN OFFENSIVE STRATEGY. DETAILS OF HOW THE CRIME CONTROL TEAM EXPERIMENT CAN BE IMPLEMENTED ARE PROVIDED. THIS CAN SERVE AS AN OUTLINE FOR DUPLICATION OF THE EXPERIMENT BY OTHERS, OR FOR OTHER EXPERIMENTS IN POLICE OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES OF A SIMILAR MAGNITUDE. SUCH FACTORS AS PLANNING, LEADER AND TEAM SELECTION, TRAINING, PUBLIC AND PRESS RELATIONS, AND DEPLOYMENT ARE CONSIDERED. TYPES OF MEASURES AND METHODS OF DATA ANALYSIS USED FOR AN OBJECTIVE EVALUATION OF THE CRIME CONTROL TEAM EXPERIMENT, AND OTHER TECHNIQUES THAT MAY BE USED IN FUTURE POLICE EXPERIMENTS ARE CONSIDERED AS WELL. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)