NCJ Number
87527
Date Published
1983
Length
150 pages
Annotation
A 2-year field investigation of two New York City police precincts in the South Bronx and Manhattan illustrates how competition between street cops and 'bosses' forms the crux of the organizational dilemma facing modern urban policing.
Abstract
Oriented toward the 'good old days' of policing, the street cop culture is working class in origin and temperament. Members are cynical about their work and the people they serve; they distrust management. The management cop culture is more middle class; its members' education and mobility make them eligible for jobs outside of policing, thus less dependent on and less loyal to the street cop culture. Management cops have decided that the old management style is finished (for reasons such as social pressures, urban economic realities, minority demands, etc.) and that they are 'going to get in on the ground floor of something new.' They do not, in contrast to the street cops, regard community relations as 'Mickey Mouse' but as something that must be done out of political expediency if for no other reason. Street cops are confused by changes in the rules and fight back through absenteeism, footdragging, and other defensive techniques. This behavior is inherent in any large-scale bureaucracy when management schemes developed in isolation from the operational level are imposed on an existing social organization. It holds regardless of the community's income level and crime problem (Manhattan officers encounter far less crime and poverty than South Bronx police). These findings underscore the importance of understanding the police environment's social and behavioral characteristics. Data were gathered from interviews and observations of police patrol and office work. An index, research methods, and about 80 references are supplied.