Topic > Organizational Determinants of Police Behavior

Intra-organizational determinants include the division or work, the nature of supervision, and the strategies or work of the police. “Team policing,” an example discussed by Sherman, gave officers complete responsibility for carrying out all policing duties in a geographic area. The implementation of team policing has changed the supervision and patrolling strategy for each police organization. Although he found that team policing as a strategy increased calls for police service, his findings were mixed regarding the effect the strategy had on arrest and clearance rates. Sherman also looked at Kansas City's preventative patrol initiative and found no measurable difference in crime rates either. Although police enforcement strategies appeared to influence the level of violence, no difference was found in arrest and release rates. The implementation of new innovations or strategies to improve performance, such as that of Team Policing, represents major changes in police departments, and police behavior depends on the reception of these innovations and the changes they bring to each department. Other innovations include CompStat, or literally computerized crime mapping statistics, problem-oriented policing or solving problems before they become a bigger problem, hot spot policing or heavy policing in places known for crime, and community policing or that of build a better relationship