Criminology

The police organizations and agencies have been considered as disorganized and inefficient systems by many citizens. This paper explores the ways of enhancing and improving the performance of these agencies to the satisfaction of the citizens.

The behavior of the officers is greatly influenced by a number of factors such as working environment and the characteristics of the agencies or organizations involved in the hiring, supervising and training of the officers. The main point of concern is the police organizations and their influences on the overall performance of the police officers. There is a need to improve on the competitiveness and efficiency of the police organizations in the United States. This can be achieved through a number of ways.

Firstly, improvement can be enhanced by sharing leadership. This involves the participation of all members in the police organizations during decision making process. It also embraces the concept of empowering the police officers and involving them in every decision that the organization wishes to make. This will make the police officers to feel part of the organizations hence leading to efficiency and dedication when carrying out their duties. The end result of this is the improvement in the overall performance of the organizations. Total quality management (TQM) is also a component of shared leadership. It involves the sharing of power in the organization despite the differences that may arise as a result of positions that someone holds in office (Wuestewald, 2010).

The officers in these organizations should be involved in the program that enhances proper working conditions for the officers and an all inclusive decision making process. There is a direct benefit of involving everyone in the process of decision making in these organizations. Some of these include commitment to work, job satisfaction which enhances an officers commitment to his or her duties. The end result is the overall improvement of the performance of the police organizations. There is also need to instill discipline in the police force to reduce the levels of corruption in the organizations. In the past, most leaders in the organizations used authoritarian hierarchy to achieve this. Most of the principles applied helped to enhance professionalism in the law enforcement agencies. Therefore, a control-oriented supervision approach will improve the level of professionalism of the officers and the overall performance of the organizations (Wuestewald, 2010).

Performance will also be enhanced by controlling the level of discretion in the organizations and the police force. Several scandals and inequalities have continued to soar within the police organizations. The discretions are mostly carried out by the junior officers such as patrol officers. These discretions, however, take place away from the scrutiny of the management and are barriers to effective performance. In order to enhance accountability of the officers, the management needs to use techniques that will motivate the officers and improve on their behavior. The police organizations should also have a well defined structure (Wuestewald, 2010).

Decentralization in the police organizations will enhance performance of the different departments of the police force. This will make the officers to feel supported by their organizations hence they will carry out their duties with dedication and commitment (Wuestewald, 2010).

Performances will also be improved by continuous training and education of the law enforcers. New forms of crime have come up that require the police officers to be well equipped and knowledgeable in order to effectively counter this. Managers of police organization should therefore ensure a continued training of the officers in order to improve the performance of these organizations and service delivery (Wuestewald, 2010).

Organizations should also embrace the concept of employee participation. This has proved to be beneficial in the overall performance of the agencies. For example, the Broke Arrow, Oklahoma, Police Department (BAPD) adopted this model. According to Wuestewald (2010), Since 2003, the agency has had participative management in the form of a cross-functional steering committee called the Leadership Team. This incorporated every of its personnel in every decision that the agency made. The composition of the team was representative of the junior employees in the department. Democracy was allowed to prevail since every member had a say in the decisions. In the end, there was a marked improvement in performance of this agencies and efficiency in service delivery. As Wuestewald (2010) asserts

Participative police administration can help make employees feel more valued and supported by their organization, more committed to its objectives, can cultivate better labor-management relations, and may even promote greater productivity. It also suggests that inclusion promotes communication at all levels and helps bridge the traditional schism between management and line officers.

The organizations should also strive to improve on the working conditions of the police officers and offer a good package. This will lead to an improved service delivery by the officers and the overall success of the organizations. They need to be provided with equipments and safety so that the performance is enhanced. The police departments within the organizations need to be consolidated. This will enhance the availability of the resources in these departments. A large organization offers opportunity for growth to the officers professionally. The result of this is improved performance of the officers which translates to an improved performance of the organization. The larger organization will have a higher chance of better performance than a smaller one (Tully, 1998).

Conclusion
A More effective police organization translates to an improvement in service delivery and reduction in the levels of crime. It is important to enhance the performance of the police units in the country so that every citizen will feel fully protected by the law enforcers. It will also ensure that trust is maintained between the citizens and the police organization systems.