Why Law Enforcement Organizations Fail

Why Law Enforcement Organizations Fail looks carefully at just that issue. Constant negative headlines call into question the ability of U.S. law enforcement to manage itself effectively in a democratic, diverse society. By analyzing a variety of cases, the author shows how crises occur regularly along common structural and cultural fault lines in police agencies at every level of government. The exploration of what handicaps the law enforcement agency goes far beyond "bureaucratic bungling" to examine deep-seated structural and cultural elements of organization. Symptoms such as institutional racism, sexual harassment, and racial profiling are seen as outgrowths of structural-cultural characteristics in law enforcement organizations whose power is often independent of larger social forces. Why Law Enforcement Organizations Fail provides tools for spotting malignant individuals, highlighting perverse incentives, isolating and neutralizing deviant cultures, recognizing policy inertia, and confronting bankrupt philosophies. By helping current and future law enforcement personnel better understand the "lay of the land," this book provides a pragmatic guide for dealing with crises, preventing their recurrence, and restoring the legitimacy of the police in the communities they serve. This book is an excellent addition to any class on police organization and management, criminal justice policy, or police-community relations. "Why Law Enforcement Organizations Fail is a must read for any law enforcement executive trying to understand the dynamics of organizational structures and systems. As any experienced police official will attest, when organizational structures collapse or systems fail the results can be devastating.... This text contains stories of some of the most egregious system failure within American law enforcement. From the Philadelphia Police Department''s assault on MOVE, to the New York Police Department''s Michael Dowd corruption scandal, to the massive failure of the FBI Lab, the book highlights how things go wrong. Aspiring law enforcement executives would do well to read this book and learn from the mistakes of others." -- Chief John F. Timoney, Miami Police Department "[O''Hara''s] book is a rare find. It addresses current and, no doubt, future issues and challenges faced by law enforcement in a very pragmatic, balanced, and impartial fashion. The author goes beyond simply finding a human culprit as the cause of organizational malfunctions and makes a strong case that the very nature of law enforcement organizations makes some problems inevitable. The treatment of organizational remedies for whatever ails law enforcement is equally insightful. The author avoids unnecessary details and his down to earth writing style allows the reader to focus on what matters most. This is one of the few books on the subject matter of law enforcement management and organizations that is bound to have an impact beyond the semester in which it is read." -- Harald Otto Schweizer, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Criminology, California State University-Fresno "This excellent book examines pathologies in law enforcement organizations using contemporary cases, as well as classic cases whose implications for police management remain fresh today. Whether writing about law enforcement/intelligence failures before and after 9/11, racial profiling, renegade officers who dishonor the badge or failed police operations where communications, oversight and supervision broke down, this book is full of sharp insights about how police agencies can work better. This book should be required reading so that present and future law enforcement managers can better understand and address organizational dysfunctions before they erupt into critical incidents." --Michael C. Walker, Police Director, City of Paterson (New Jersey) Police and Assistant Professor, Passaic County Community College "A must reading for anyone who wants a window into the multiple sources of law enforcement organizational failures. O''Hara''s volume is an insightful and important contribution to the field." -- Eli B. Silverman, Professor Emeritus, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Author of NYPD Battles Crime: Innovative Strategies in Policing "In each chapter, the defects in the law enforcement organizations begin to emerge with shocking clarity.... O''Hara uses these examples to provide law enforcement with the tools necessary to change the structural, behavioral and technical errors of the past. ...especially useful in any criminal justice course that discusses police and police behaviors. The book is meant for everyone, but those who are already in law enforcement or planning to be should keep this book in mind. It is filled with many situations from which one can learn valuable lessons, and it is replete with suggestions that should be taken to heart." -- ACJS Today "More than a dozen case studies from the 1980s to the present examine many topics, from 9/11-related law enforcement failures to racial profiling, rogue cops who dishonor the badge, and failures of the FBI Lab. These case studies capture the reader''s attention and help to clearly delineate the multiple sources of police agency organizational failures. O''Hara not only points out the problems and issues that confront law enforcement organizations, but suggests remedies as well. He writes in a clear, concise manner, and anyone involved in law enforcement management would be well advised to read this book. Undergraduate and graduate students and interested general readers should also find this book a worthwhile read. Summing Up: Highly recommended." -- CHOICE Magazine

Built on a foundation of nearly 1,200 references, Leadership and Management in Police Organizations is a highly readable text that shows how organizational theory and behavior can be applied to improve the operations, leadership, and management of law enforcement. Author Matthew J. Giblin emphasizes leadership and management as separate skills in successful police supervisors and executives, illustrating to students how the two skills combine to improve individual and organizational efficacy in policing. Readers will come away with a stronger understanding of why organizational decisions matter and the impact research can have on police departments.

​While the proximate cause of any accident is usually someone’s immediate action— or omission (failure to act)—there is often a trail of underlying latent conditions that facilitated their error: the person has, in effect, been unwittingly “set up” for failure by the organization. This Brief explores an accident in policing, as a framework for examining existing police practices. Learning from Error in Policing describes a case of wrongful arrest from the perspective of organizational accident theory, which suggests a single unsafe act—in this case a wrongful arrest—is facilitated by several underlying latent conditions that triggered the event and failed to stop the harm once in motion. The analysis demonstrates that the risk of errors committed by omission (failing to act) were significantly more likely to occur than errors committed by acts of commission. By examining this case, policy implications and directions for future research are discussed. The analysis of this case, and the underlying lessons learned from it will have important implications for researchers and practitioners in the policing field.​

This text examines police administration from multiple perspectives: a systems perspective (emphasizing the interrelatedness among units and organizations); a traditional, structural perspective (administrative principles, management functions, and the importance of written guidelines); a human behavioral perspective (the human element in organizations); and a strategic management perspective (communications and information systems, performance evaluation, strategies and tactics, and prevailing and promising approaches to increasing effectiveness of police agencies). Coverage of management functions and organizational principles is streamlined while providing a stronger emphasis on diversity principles and on developing police agencies as learning organizations. A concluding chapter covers contemporary issues, including community engagement, collaboration, globalization, racial profiling, mass media, cyber crime, terrorism and homeland security.

Avoid Major Investigative TrapsWhat causes competent and dedicated investigators to make avoidable mistakes, jeopardizing the successful resolution of their cases? Authored by a 21-year police veteran and university research professor, Criminal Investigative Failures comprehensively defines and discusses the causes and problems most common to faile

The police represent an essential law enforcement entity to some, while others see police officers as often corrupt, prone to unfair racial profiling, and quick to use unnecessary force. "Police and Law Enforcement" examines many aspects of policing in society, including their common duties, legal regulations on those duties, problematic policing practices, and alternatives to traditional policing.

This book offers researchers, police practitioners, and policymakers a platform for organizational reform and an understanding of how the police organization creates stress, which contributes to reduced officer performance. This book, based on an in-depth study exploring the relationship between perceived organizational stressors and police performance, indicates which features of the police organization generate the most stress affecting performance, and provides a model of organizational stress that applies to police agencies. While much stress research portrays the operation of policing as the greatest source of contention among officers, this research shows the ever-present rigid hierarchical design of the police agency to be contributing factor of stress that affects performance. Ideal for scholars, police personnel, and policymakers who are interested in how the police organization contributes to lower officer performance, this book has implications for policing agencies in the United States and worldwide.

Police officers are invested with awesome powers and may use physical force to take a citizen into custody. These powers help the police enforce laws and control suspects, but they also have the potential to be abused. The police must be responsive and accountable about crime and safety, but they must also be responsive and accountable to the law and the rights of citizens. Police abuse of power has a long and unfortunate history in the United States, often because of the failure to develop meaningful procedures to ensure police accountability. This book introduces the reader to a unit of the police department that has been secretive and lacking transparency, despite being an integral part of policing for a number of years. Noble and Alpert clearly explain the structure and function of internal affairs or professional compliance units and provide guidance for establishing an effective unit that will benefit both the police and the community. One recent trend is to make internal affairs more proactive than reactive. The authors provide comprehensive coverage of this trends objectives: implement procedures to identify and modify improper actions by police officers; change policies and procedures that negatively affect citizens quality of life; take appropriate action so that the misconduct of a few officers does not detract from the overall mission and reputation of the agency; and conduct fair, thorough, and accurate investigations to protect police employees against false accusations of misconduct.