The community policing program depends on community and employee involvement in the decisionmaking process and represents an effort to break down bureaucratic restrictions and increase the effectiveness of police services by using a humanistic approach to organizational design. In response to deficiencies of the bureaucratic organizational model, the community policing program focuses on shared responsibility between the police and the community to identify problems of mutual concern. To accommodate the program, the department has flattened its organizational structure to emphasize operational functions. Specialized positions have been eliminated and police officers have become generalists, thus offering greater flexibility in department services. Greater discretion and more responsibility have been delegated to patrol officers in order to increase employee participation. Supervisory roles have slowly changed from an authoritarian leadership style to an information facilitator style. A problem-oriented approach to policing has been adopted that relies on the expertise of department generalists, and proactive training has been implemented. 18 references