Developing Police Policy: An Evaluation of the Control Principle (From Public Policy, Crime, and Criminal Justice, Second Edition, P 173-186, 2000, Barry W. Hancock and Paul M. Sharp, eds. -- See NCJ-183970)

• NCJ Number: 183959
• Author(s): Geoffrey P. Alpert; William C. Smith
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: Prentice-Hall, Inc
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Collected Work
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Law enforcement is a paradigm of operational control in that virtually every aspect of policing is subject to some combination of law, policy, guideline, directive, rule, or general order.

Abstract

The conventional wisdom is that police agencies must exercise strict control over their police officers. As policing has become more complex, however, there has been a tendency to over-regulate police officer actions. Creating complex policies, procedures, and rules has become the customary method of controlling the discretion of police officers. The authors believe that authorizing some discretion is better than strictly controlling police officer behavior. They discuss this belief in relation to legal parameters of policy development and differences among policies, procedures, and rules and in relation to areas that need strong policies versus broad guidance. The authors conclude creating meaningful mechanisms of control, including the development of police policies, is a process of integrating varied interests. To be effective, police policies must address legitimate public concerns and comply with laws. Determining the type of policy to be employed in any given police function must be based on the police administrator's understanding of law enforcement as a public service. 37 references and 2 tables