From Polarization to Partnerships: Realigning the Investigation Function to Serve Neighborhood Needs Rather Than the Bureaucracy's Behest: The Change Experience of the Madison, Wisconsin Police Department (From Policing and Community Partnerships, P 137-162, 2000, Dennis J. Stevens, ed., -- See NCJ-

• NCJ Number: 194092
• Author(s): Michael F. Masterson
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 26 pages
• Sale Source: Prentice Hall Publishing
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter looks at the changing role of investigators to accommodate community policing initiatives; specifically the experience of the Madison (Wisconsin) Police Department is described.

Abstract

Community policing initiatives change the way typical police officers do business. These new initiatives are centered in a common philosophy that impacts a department-wide commitment to proactive strategies rather than incident driven strategies. Investigative units are slow to change because of the power of time honored policing traditions. One of the goals of community policing was to change the line of decision- making processes from top down to across the Detective Bureau. The first major hurdle to this was that each Section with the Detective Bureau was highly specialized. It was decided that a consensus should be reached by all individuals impacted by the change on how reorganization could be accomplished. Teamwork is especially evident in policing where the co-dependency of police officers and detectives working together, exchanging information and sharing skills and expertise influences the quality of investigations and problem solving. Breaking down barriers between organizational units would be a decisive victory toward integration of each section and the bureau. A decision was made to abandon the separate, divisive, and competing interests of patrol, traffic, and detectives by creating a new paradigm emphasizing partnerships, both inside and outside of the police organization. The model the Detective Bureau of the Madison Police Department selected was to decentralize most of the organization including detectives, to serve specific geographic areas. Detectives wanted to know if and how the change would increase workload, lessen their ability to perform their job in a quality manner, change the people they would work with and for, and create a new job just as challenging. The four critical issues essential for orderly and successfully guiding an entrenched culture toward a preferred future are the right reasons, the right methods, the right persons, and the right responses. 33 references