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Getting Rid of the Prima Donnas: The Bureaucratization of a Police Department

NCJ Number
106398
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1987) Pages: 138-155
Author(s)
J Rosecrance
Date Published
1987
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The accommodations of criminal justice personnel to changes in organizational structure is an unresearched phenomenon.
Abstract
Drawing upon qualitative data, a historical accounting is presented of how probation officers responded to the bureaucratization of their department. Patterns of accommodation resembled those described by Presthus as (1) upwardly mobile, (2) indifferent, and (3) ambivalent. An analysis of these patterns helps provide an understanding of organizational dynamics prevailing in contemporary agencies. Those officers most suited to a bureaucratic setting dominate today's probation practice. (Publisher abstract)