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TEAM POLICING IMPROVES TEAMWORK

NCJ Number
35219
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 43 Issue: 7 Dated: (JULY 1976) Pages: 54-57
Author(s)
J MACIEJEWSKI
Date Published
1976
Length
4 pages
Annotation
DESCRIPTION OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A POLICE MANPOWER DEPLOYMENT SYSTEM WHICH ALLOWS FOR THE PROVISION OF SPECIALIZED SERVICES WITHOUT DIMINISHING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF REGULAR PATROL OR ADDING PERSONNEL.
Abstract
SPECIALIZED JUVENILE, POLICE-COMMUNITY RELATIONS, AND CRIME PREVENTION UNITS WERE FORMED BY GROUPING THE THREE FUNCTIONS INTO ONE SECTION AND CROSS-TRAINING THE PERSONNEL IN ALL OF THE TASKS INVOLVED. ALL REGULAR UNIFORM PATROLMEN WERE THEN GRADED ACCORDING TO EXPERIENCE, TRAINING, SPECIAL SKILLS, AND PRODUCTIVITY, GROUPED INTO FOUR CLOSELY MATCHED UNITS OR TEAMS EACH HEADED BY A PATROL SERGEANT, AND ALLOCATED TO TWENTY OF THE 21 EIGHT-HOUR SHIFTS. A FIFTH UNIT COMPRISED OF SPECIALISTS, DETECTIVES, AND ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL WAS FORMED TO COVER THE REMAINING SHIFT. THIS SYSTEM IS EVALUATED ACCORDING TO ITS EFFECT ON SPECIALIZATION, LINES OF SUPERVISION AND COMMAND, TRAINING, AND MORALE. IT IS CONCLUDED THAT INTRODUCTION OF THIS SYSTEM HAS INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY, IMPROVED THE LINES OF COMMUNICATION AND MORALE, AND GIVEN THE DEPARTMENT A GOOD COMMUNITY IMAGE SINCE, BECAUSE OF CROSS-TRAINING, THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEONE AVAILABLE FOR COMMUNITY RELATIONS, JUVENILES, OR CRIME PREVENTION WORK.