Why Law Enforcement Organizations Fail : Mapping the Organizational Fault Lines in Policing

by O'Hara, Patrick

• ISBN13: 9781594600845
• ISBN10: 1594600848
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-08-30
• Publisher: Carolina Academic Pr

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Patrick O'Hara is Associate Professor of Public Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and an Academic Director of the NYPD Certificate Program, which delivers college-based management and community relations curricula to NYPD personnel. He has been President of the New York State Political Science Association, Coordinator of the Conference on Criminal Justice Education, and has written extensively about both public and private-sector management.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Prologue Ordinary Disorder	3	(6)
Endnotes	9	(2)
Chapter One Diagnosing Organizational Dysfunction in Policing	11	(14)
Discerning Management Failure	11	(4)
Defining Failure	15	(1)
The Analysis of Failure: Searching for Suspects	16	(2)
Categories of Failure	18	(3)
Applying the Categories	21	(1)
Going Forward	22	(1)
Endnotes	22	(3)
Chapter Two Normal Accidents in Law Enforcement: Making Sense of Things Gone Wrong	25	(22)
Normal Accidents	26	(2)
Congenital Error in Organization	28	(1)
The "At Risk" Law Enforcement Organization	29	(13)
Runaway Police Van at the Holiday Parade	30	(2)
The Obscure Origins of Normal Accidents	31	(1)
The Tragedy of Eleanor Bumpurs	32	(7)
Criminal and Organizational Post-Mortems	35	(1)
Identifying Normal Accident Characteristics	36	(3)
Pursuit to the Death in Minnesota	39	(12)
High Speed Pursuit of the Normal Accident	40	(2)
"Normal Accident" as Residual Explanation for Failure	42	(2)
Endnotes	44	(3)
Chapter Three Structural Failure in Law Enforcement: Design Defects in Organization	47	(42)
Basic Structures of Organization	47	(1)
The Haphazard Design of Organization	48	(2)
Viewing Organizations Realistically	50	(1)
Cases of Structural Failure	51	(32)
Battling Bureaucracies in Boulder	52	(15)
Challenging Case; Challenged Agencies	57	(1)
Resource Limitations of Smaller Departments	58	(2)
Dealing with Hierarchical Dysfunction	60	(4)
Understanding Inter-organizational Fracture	64	(3)
Terrorist Welcome Wagon at the INS	67	(5)
Managing Chronic Task Overload	67	(1)
The Burden of Conflicting Mandates	68	(1)
The Subordination of Law Enforcement	69	(3)
The Philadelphia Police Assault on MOVE	72	(17)
Miscommunication and Crisis	77	(3)
The Impact of "Shadow Structure" on Organizations	80	(3)
Leading the Structurally Challenged Agency	83	(2)
Endnotes	85	(4)
Chapter Four Oversight Failure in Law Enforcement: Marginalizing the Guardians	89	(26)
The Challenge to Internal Control	89	(22)
The Watcher: Internal Affairs and the Case of Michael Dowd	91	(8)
When the Structure of Oversight Fails	94	(2)
The "Independence" of Internal Affairs	96	(3)
The Secret World of David Brame	99	(9)
Identification with the Offender	102	(2)
Addressing Domestic Abuse by Law Enforcement Officers	104	(2)
Zero Tolerance and Measured Administrative Response	106	(2)
In Residence at Philadelphia Internal Affairs	108	(9)
Role Modeling in Internal Affairs	109	(2)
Finding the Correct Vectors for Oversight	111	(1)
Endnotes	111	(4)
Chapter Five Cultural Deviation in Law Enforcement: Closed Worlds That Damage Agencies	115	(32)
The Power of Culture in Policing	115	(2)
The Concept of Cultural Deviation	117	(27)
LAPD Blues: The Case of Rampart CRASH	118	(7)
Unit Transformations from Supportive to Subversive	121	(2)
The Dangers of Cultural Autonomy	123	(2)
The Buddy Boys: Brooklyn's Bandits in Blue	125	(12)
Concentrating Problem Employees	130	(2)
The Power of Obstructionist Cultural Networks	132	(2)
Institutional Racism as Management Policy	134	(2)
Antidotes: Transparency and Performing with Integrity	136	(1)
Sexual Predators in the Pennsylvania State Police	137	(11)
Peer Privilege and Cultural Immunity	139	(3)
Dealing with Deviant Employees and Supportive Cultures	142	(2)
Summary: Leading Means Managing Culture	144	(1)
Endnotes	144	(3)
Chapter Six Institutionalization in Law Enforcement: Running Agencies for Those Within	147	(34)
Introspective, Insulated and Institutionalized	148	(27)
The FBI Lab Implodes	152	(9)
Mismanaging the Interface of Image and Reality	155	(1)
Self-Protection at the Institutionalized Agency	156	(3)
The Historical Roots of Institutionalization	159	(2)
Profiling on the New Jersey Turnpike	161	(8)
Institutionalizing Problematic Practice	164	(2)
Agency-Environment Disconnects and Institutionalization	166	(3)
Separated at Birth? The CIA and FBI Spies	169	(14)
Sheltering Marginal Employees in Institutionalized Organizations	174	(1)
Curing Institutionalization	175	(3)
Endnotes	178	(3)
Chapter Seven Resource Diversion in Law Enforcement: Exploiting Organizational Systems	181	(26)
Creative Expropriations and Compromised Agencies	181	(2)
Organizational Commonalities and Legal Nuance	183	(20)
Winning the "Disability Lottery"	184	(6)
Profiling and Reinforcing Vulnerable Systems	187	(3)
Getting a Good Deal on Home Improvements	190	(7)
The Expansive Definition of "Mine" in the Executive Suite	191	(2)
The Demoralizing Impact of Executive Resource Diversion	193	(1)
Justice for Resource Diverting Executives	194	(2)
Profiling Risk in the Rising Executive	196	(1)
The Iron Men and Women of Labor, Law Enforcement Style	197	(12)
The Negation of Management by Systems Abuse	199	(2)
Organization as Territory	201	(1)
Scanning for Systems Anomaly and Abuse	202	(1)
The Bottom Line on Resource Diversion	203	(1)
Endnotes	204	(3)
Epilogue Managing Imperfection	207	(10)
When Organizational Failures Have Multiple Causes	209	(4)
The Needless Sacrifices of 9/11	211	(2)
Saving Tomorrow's Heroes: Why Agencies Must Get Better Faster	213	(2)
Endnotes	215	(2)
Bibliography	217	(6)
Index	223