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Future of Police Consolidation

NCJ Number
104448
Journal
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1987) Pages: 6-16
Author(s)
R L LaGrange
Date Published
1987
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Since total city-county law enforcement consolidation does not guarantee improved services and community resistance to such consolidation is likely to continue, communities should undertake less drastic methods of centralizing and coordinating law enforcement services among agencies.
Abstract
Spearheaded by the 1967 President's Commission on Law Enforcement, numerous expert panels and study groups have recommended the consolidation of smaller police agencies to improve service coordination, eliminate service duplications, and reduce per capita expense. With a few notable exceptions, however, consolidation proposals have been soundly defeated at the polls, as communities are unwilling to relinquish local autonomy and control. Theoretical support for and against police consolidation has thrived throughout this century, but there is no empirical evidence that consolidation necessarily improves police efficiency and services nor that small, autonomous agencies are inevitably inefficient and short on service. Given the political and practical difficulties of implementing total police consolidation, some communities have opted for the consolidation of some small rural departments and the use of interlocal agreements that combine some services of local agencies without merging entire departments. 3 notes and 36 references.