Under Elrod v. Burns (1976) and Branti v. Finkel (1980), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that governmental employee dismissals for political affiliation per se must be limited to 'policymaking' employees in a position to thwart the incumbent party's policies. In applying these rulings to police policies, an otherwise competent employee should not be discharged solely because of political affiliation. Employees can, however, be discharged for past political activity that demonstrates disloyalty likely to undermine effective departmental likely to undermine effective departmental functioning. Overall, police executives should base adverse personnel actions on performance-based criteria except in those cases where partisan affiliation is clearly a condition for employment. Some police departments have sought to limit employees' associations with organizations, notably unions, and with certain types of persons, notably persons convicted of felonies and misdemeanors. In view of the courts' inconsistent rulings in relevant cases, all personnel decisions involving organizational and personal associations of officers should be tied to demonstrably legitimate law enforcement interests. 67 references.