Management and Supervision in Law Enforcement
All Police departments are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that law and order is maintained (Miller & Frank, 1999). The Chief of Police for the South Podunk Municipal Police Department is no exception. The major task among other issues is to take a number of progressive steps about addressing the security needs of the residents within Podunk Municipality. While the chief and the department are empowered with the authority to ensure maximum security and order within their limits, they are also expected to maintain and uphold high ethical and professional standards free of corruption and other vices of workmanship.
Mission statement
The mission of the police department under new management will be:
Provision of an effective and efficient security system that facilitates the Police Department as well as other state and local security agencies in responding efficiently to the security problems within the metropolitan area and the suburbs of South Podunk Municipality through the most ethically acceptable manner possible
Immediate Goals
The main goals of the police department include:
- Rejuvenation of the organs of the South Podunk Municipal Police Department to ensure that all criminals face prosecution accordingly and restore a state of law and order
Immediate objectives
The immediate objectives include
- Restoration of the integrity of the department. Considering that, the police department has faced major ethical challenges over the course of time in the recent past it is crucial to restoring its image in public.
Organization principles
The department will conduct itself as a collective unit and serve all clients, employees, suppliers and the public based on the following principles:
- Treatment of all concerned with Fairness
- Integrity in conducting all activities on behalf of the department
- Honesty in all matters
- Diligence at work
- Hard work at all times
Organization structure
The new police department will have a simple team-based organizational structure. One important feature of this structure is to allow the department to have the capability to conduct itself along functional lines and also allow the provision of necessary information lines on cases (Durbach and Stewart, 2008). The structure will also ensure that there is cooperation among all the individuals. Considering that police work is based on working programs for investigation, team work cannot be guaranteed without an effective organization structure tailored to bring all the members to a common platform working toward the same objective.
Organization chart
Chief of Police department (Director)
Captain (Deputy Director)
Lieutenant in Charge (Patrol) (Investigations) (Professional standards) (Support services)
Sergeant in charge (Patrol) (Investigations) (Professional standards) (Support services)
Assistant Sergeant (Patrol) (Investigations) (Professional standards) (Support services)
Officer in charge (Patrol team) (Investigations team) (standards team) (Support team)
In view of the changes within the police department, a new staff plan is aimed at developing effective teams of workers who will aid in the execution of tasks and activities in the most responsible manner. The plan will guide the department in the present period until when changes will be deemed necessary upon which it will be revised in accordance with the needs. The department will incorporate the regulations of the Federal government with regard to the legislative requirements. Contractual agreements with all other external partners will be developed along these regulations. Two new members will be recruited in the capacity of captain to fill the vacant positions in the department. All staff members will be provided with resources available to the department for educating and development purposes. A working administrative team within the department will be assigned with the responsibility of assigning roles to teams. The staff assignment will be as follows:
- Each of the 4 lieutenants will be assigned to the four functional areas: Patrol, Investigations, Professional standards and Support services
- Two sergeants will be assigned to each functional area as the immediate focal persons while the remaining two will be in charge of the headquarters.
- 25 sworn officers will be assigned to Patrol, Investigations and Professional standards each while the remaining 3 officers will be in charge of the headquarters
- All 28 non-sworn civilians’ staff will be assigned to the support services within the department.
Supervision and management
Supportive supervision will be the basis of monitoring in the department. Each team leader will report to the higher authority and a well-documented statement of accountability will accompany every report. Considering that, each of police cases has unique needs depending on the nature of the crimes the problems will be addressed through the reporting and feedback system upon which action will be taken after decision-making. Evidence for action will be prioritized before any decisions can be made. Throughout the process of decision-making, information is a critical tool for success (Jacoby & Joan, 1996). Each case will be considered in terms of the clarity of information to ensure that there is a platform for bringing the case to the board in an effective way.
Being in a situation of scarce resource and a demanding environment the police department, as any other organizational department will strive to deliver its services through a policy of allocation of resources that ensure parity and equilibrium for optimum benefits and efficiency of investments. In the grand scheme of things, the police department will ensure that the implementation of activities is consistent with the entire environment as a system. At a time when strategic management is the norm in modern organizations, South Podunk Municipal Police Department will embrace supervision and management is the source of light in an array of interests that will enable it to re-ignite its operations under new terms that embrace professional work ethics (Durbach and Stewart, 2008). Above all, mutual relationships will be developed among partners and clients to agree on the right ways of achieving the goals of the police department. Realizing a crime-free society can no longer be left to law enforcers alone. Rather, it is the responsibility of all stakeholders in both public and private sector. Collaboration of such stakeholders must be embraced in dealing with crime at all levels in the society.
References
I. Durbach and T.J. Stewart (2008). Integrating scenario planning and goal programming. Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis.
Jacoby, Joan. (1996). The Prosecutor’s Charging Decision: A Policy Perspective. Washington, D.C. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice.
Miller, Frank. (1999). Prosecution: The decision to charge a suspect with a crime. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.
