Criminal Justice

Police Policy Effectiveness

Police policy effectiveness and organizational effectiveness are tied together. Often, departments implement polices that are meant to control and prevent crime, but also ensure the continued survival of the organization, including the administration and support elements of the organization. This organizational behavior is not always a detriment to the department and policing goals, but it can be. The department must always evaluate the organizational goals, and make sure they support the transitive goals, or environmental impact of a situation or policy. For example, if a directed patrol system increases crime prevention and utilizes officers more effectively, it is a positive system both transitively and reflexively. However, many systems actually support the organization rather than the environment they are hoping to support. Thus, a policy can be effective, but an organization can be ineffective, or vice versa.

In the Langworthy article, the auto theft sting was not an effective police strategy, because it did not support the transitive goals of the organization, and it was costly as well. There were actually more cars stolen during the sting operation than in the same time frame the previous year. While much stolen property was discovered, the public's perception of the police department and their ethics may have been damaged by the sting operation, and as the study notes, it can also actually lead to more organized crime groups, retaliatory violence, and even overzealous policing (Langworthy, 1989, pg. 43). Thus, this may forward the organizational goals of the department to solve more crimes and recover more stolen cars, but in this case, the sting operation really backfired. It cost more to complete than in the vehicles recovered, and the police department got a bad public perception because of the sting. The organization did not weigh the disadvantages of the policy, and so, it was a bad policy decision that cost the organization in the end, in both perception and function.

References

Langworthy, R.H. (1989). Do stings control crime? An evaluation of a police fencing operation. Justice Quarterly, Vol. 6 No. 1, 27-45.