You have been appointed the new commissioner of the Anycity Police Department. Anycity is a suburban city 60 miles from a major U.S. city; it has a population of 30,000 people and a police department of 100 officers. The major police problems in Anycity are disorderly teens making unnecessary noise at night, parking and traffic problems in the commercial district during business hours, and daytime residential burglaries.
The former commissioner%u2019s assistant tells you that the department has no organizational chart, no written rules and procedures, and %u201Chas always done a great job in the past.%u201D Anycity%u2019s city manager, however, tells you that the former commissioner was incompetent and that the department is totally disorganized and ineffective.
You review the department%u2019s personnel records and find that of the 100 officers in the department, 30 percent are patrol officers, 30 percent are detectives, and 40 percent are supervisors. In view of what you learned in this chapter, would you reorganize the department? Why or why not? If you would reorganize how would you do it?