NCJ Number
142309
Journal
Policing and Society Volume: 3 Issue: 2 Dated: (1993) Pages: 91-119
Date Published
1993
Length
29 pages
Annotation
Primary source materials, including newspapers, oral histories, census data, municipal records, and crime statistics were used to explore the introduction of civil service rules to the Eugene (Oregon) police department in the 1930's.
Abstract
In the early 20th Century, a rationalized, salaried, and uniformed police department emerged in Eugene out of the remnants of the old marshal-nightwatch system. The force was managed by the city council, and individual police officers were nominated by city councillors in a type of patronage system common to American police agencies of the era. However, in 1936, a vice scandal broke, in which the local media revealed that the department had allowed gambling and prostitution to continue contrary to law. As a result of the scandal, a civil service system, in which recruits were supposedly hired based on their merits, replaced patronage appointments. In order to determine whether the introduction of civil service rules was a largely progressive or rational development in local policing practices, the author discusses, from a cultural Marxist perspective, interpretations of the reform movement in policing, local Eugene history, the interface between politics and local policing, the details of the 1936 vice scandal, and the emergence and immediate aftermath of civil service reforms. 6 notes and 30 references