Police organizational structure and components

Police Components

Organized management is an essential component in any workforce environment and leads to an organizations success. Police managers are an important part of the department, they provide guidance, planning and help control personnel resources. In order for an individual to provide proper management honesty and integrity are an important aspect in running a department.

A police manager is there to provide guidance to other officers who look for that sense of knowledge and this must be done in an ethical way. Ethical mentoring is an important part of this field, essentially putting others before oneself in time of need. A police manager can help guide his or her employees to a goal they desire and help them accomplish an important step in their career. On the other hand if a police manager is not willing to provide the proper guidance, this can be detrimental to the department. Essentially it is leaving officers on their own to make tough decisions they may not feel fully ready and equipped to make without proper guidance from their superiors. In effect it can hinder an officer's services to the community, putting their well-being in tough spot.

Planning and Organization are also important parts to a successfully run team. Taking steps to make sure everything is secure and put into action can make the difference between a mistake filled work day and a perfectly organized day. Police management can provide this for their officers, by giving them knowledge about what activities will be conducted for the day. Having a specific management makes the process run smoother for an officer, who knows who they must report to for their day's tasks. If management is nonexistent it can cause officers and even the whole department to be in disarray. There would simply be no form of structure within the force, which can hinder the officer's performance by causing confusion.

Strong personnel resources are important because it keeps a fully filled and equipped working environment, with people ready to work. It also helps "some departments who waste precious resources (time, money and manpower) without accomplishing necessary goals and objectives (like achieving accreditation). Others ignore internal administrative or operations concerns (like the lack of a current and complete policy manual)" (Policemanagement.com). A lack or shortage of personnel resources could make it harder for officers to do their jobs. Too little personnel and other officers could become overworked which could then hinder their work performance, and become detrimental to providing their services to the community.