Deck 3: The Characteristics and Structure of Police Organizations

Question 1

Which of these is not one of the major operating units in Police Departments?

A) Patrol
B) investigations
C) Sex Offender Unit
D) Internal Affairs

Answer 1

Sex Offender Unit

Question 2

The sociologist whose principles of bureaucracy heavily influenced the structure and management of police departments in the United States was ______.

A) Auguste Compte
B) Karl Marx
C) John Locke
D) Max Weber

Answer 2

Max Weber

Question 3

The principle that no one person or office is responsible for all of the work of an organization is called ______.

A) impersonal relationships
B) hierarchy of authority
C) division of labor
D) competence

Answer 3

division of labor

Question 4

______ allows for the development of expertise and efficiency.

A) Specialization
B) Marginalization
C) Unity of command
D) Span of control

Question 5

This principle holds that every person in an organization has a supervisor, and supervisors have more authority than subordinates.

A) hierarchy of authority
B) division of labor
C) top-down management
D) strategic management

Question 6

______ refers to the idea that each subordinate within an organization should have only one supervisor.

A) Span of control
B) Unity of command
C) Command authority
D) Ordinal leadership

Question 7

______ refers to the number of people a supervisor is responsible for supervising.

A) Span of control
B) Unity of command
C) Ordinal leadership
D) Breadth of responsibility

Question 8

The ______ principle states that decisions must be made objectively and without emotion.

A) hierarchy of authority
B) continuity
C) unity of command
D) impersonality of relationships

Question 9

When selection and promotion are based on ______, it helps ensure that qualified individuals will carry out the work of the organization.

A) subjective criteria
B) objective criteria
C) situational observation
D) group norms

Question 10

A company, or provider of services, that does not have competitors is called a(n) ______.

A) consortium
B) corporation
C) monopoly
D) oligarchy

Question 11

The ______ has the authority to investigate the practices and policies of police departments and legally mandate changes to existing practices or policies when necessary.

A) Central Intelligence Agency
B) United States Department of Justice
C) International Association of Chiefs of Police
D) Police Executive Research Forum

Question 12

Which of these is true about Crime Analysis units?

A) Their work involves working with crime data.
B) They focus on identifying patterns and trends in crime.
C) They are associated with trying to predict trends in crime.
D) all of these

Question 13

Some communities have added a 3-1-1 telephone number for ______ calls.

A) emergency medical
B) domestic violence
C) nonemergency
D) terrorism-related

Question 14

Focusing on, or substituting, means over goals, is referred to as ______.

A) inverse outcome syndrome
B) ends over means syndrome
C) means over ends syndrome
D) negative enforcement

Question 15

Larger police departments tend to have ______ smaller departments.

A) more specialization than
B) less specialization than
C) the same amount of specialization as
D) nothing in common with

Question 16

______ refers to the number of distinct units within an organization as well as the number of supervisory levels in the organization.

A) Multiplicity
B) Diversity
C) Functionality
D) Specialization

Question 17

Virtually all but the smallest police departments have a ______ unit.

A) traffic
B) patrol
C) special victims
D) crime analysis

Question 18

A specialized unit used to handle high-risk situations is called a(n) ______.

A) tactical enforcement
B) crime analysis
C) patrol
D) internal affairs

Question 19

The ______ unit is tasked with investigating citizen complaints against officers as well as departmentally generated complaints.

A) crime analysis
B) internal affairs
C) tactical enforcement
D) vice unit

Question 20

This unit is usually staffed by civilians with advanced education and training and tries to identify trends and patterns in criminal incidents.

A) tactical enforcement
B) internal affairs
C) crime analysis
D) communications

Question 21

Which of the following is an example of a special jurisdiction law enforcement agency?

A) Pennsylvania State Police
B) University of Pennsylvania Police Department
C) Philadelphia Police Department
D) Central Intelligence Agency

Question 22

Which of the following is an example of state level law enforcement agency?

A) Department of Homeland Security
B) Texas Highway Patrol
C) Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
D) New Mexico

Question 23

Which of the following is an example of a local law enforcement agency?

A) Scranton Police Department
B) U.S. Marshals Service
C) Georgia Bureau of Investigation
D) California Highway Patrol

Question 24

The ______ requires institutions of higher learning that participate in federal financial aid programs to keep and disclose information about crime on and near their campus.

A) Act
B) Patriot Act
C) Clery Act
D) McGovern Act

Question 25

The majority of full-time sworn officers are employed by ______.

A) local police departments with fewer than 10 full-time officers
B) local police departments with more than 100 full-time officers
C) special jurisdiction law enforcement agencies
D) county sheriffs' departments

Question 26

These law enforcement agencies have the largest representation of civilian employees.

A) local police departments
B) county sheriffs'
C) state police
D) state highway patrol

Question 27

States that have a highway patrol agency ______.

A) also have a Department of Public Safety or the equivalent
B) share state-level law enforcement duties with county sheriff's departments
C) are located exclusively in the Southern United States
D) share state level law enforcement duties with the Department of Homeland Security

Question 28

The primary federal law enforcement agencies are located in the Department of Homeland Security and the ______.

A) Department of the Treasury
B) Department of Labor
C) Department of Justice
D) Bureau of Indian Affairs

Question 29

This type of law enforcement agency is responsible for enforcing laws on county land, and in towns and villages that do not have their own police departments.

A) Sheriff's Department
B) State Highway Patrol
C) State Police
D) Department of Homeland Security

Question 30

State highway patrol agencies jurisdiction is limited to ______.

A) county roads
B) railroad tracks and the surrounding areas
C) state and interstate roads and highways
D) airport access roads

Question 31

The first police departments were modeled after the military.

Question 32

Sociologist Max Weber viewed bureaucracies as the solution to many managerial problems.

Question 33

The amount of specialization within a police department is largely a function of the age of the organization.

Question 34

Unity of command means that each subordinate should only have one supervisor.

Question 35

Delegation of Authority means that all organizations must have one central administrator who is ultimately in control of everything.

Question 36

Police departments have written policies and procedures that cover most aspects of their operation.

Question 37

Decisions made by organizational supervisors should be strictly based on accomplishing the goals of the organization.

Question 38

Selection and promotion decisions should be based on subjective criteria.

Question 39

One potential drawback to using civil service examination results for the selection process is that it may hinder the ability of police department leaders to diversify their departments.

Question 40

Some scholars argue that since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the police have become more military like and the military have become more police like.

Question 41

Police departments operate as a monopoly, as citizens have only one option, to use the services of the agency, or not.

Question 42

Because police departments operate as monopolies, they are able to operate without regard for citizen satisfaction.

Question 43

The police are unique in that they are the only public agency that operates as a street-level bureaucracy.

Question 44

Due to written policies and intensive supervision, there is very little opportunity for police discretion to be misused or abused.

Question 45

"Street cops" and "management cops" do not necessarily have the same goals or priorities.

Question 46

As policing is such an important public service, departmental budgets are sufficient to provide the required personnel, equipment and training.

Question 47

The goals of police organizations are difficult to specify and even more difficult to achieve.

Question 48

For the most part, police departments of similar size are structured similarly.

Question 49

A Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit is an example of a specialized police unit.

Question 50

Smaller police departments tend to be more racially diverse than larger ones.

Question 51

On average, about 70% of officers in police departments are assigned to the patrol unit.

Question 52

The traffic unit is responsible for receiving calls for service and dispatching officers to these calls.

Question 53

The Drug Enforcement Agency is an example of a federal law enforcement agency.

Question 54

The Boston Police Department is an example of state law enforcement agency.

Question 55

The Temple University Police Department is an example of a special jurisdiction law enforcement agency.

Question 56

Discuss in detail why police department resources constitute a challenge for the management of them?

Question 57

List the five principles of bureaucracy identified by Max Weber which are used to structure and manage police departments.

Question 58

Explain what Max Weber meant by "division of labor" and explain how it is applicable to the organization of police departments.

Question 59

Explain "chain of command" and its impact on supervision and formal communication within police departments.

Question 60

What is the impersonality of relationships principle and how does it apply to policing?

Question 61

Discuss the pros and cons of using civil service examinations for police officer selection and promotion.

Question 62

Discuss the list the four negative aspects of bureaucracy.

Question 63

Discuss why police departments are often described as quasi-military organizations.

Question 64

Explain why it is often said that police departments are monopolies.

Question 65

Explain why police departments are often described as "street level" bureaucracies.

Question 66

Explain why there is often conflict between "street cops" and "management cops."

Question 67

Explain what is meant by "specialization" and how it may differ from agency to agency.

Question 68

Discuss the relationship between department size and diversity.

Question 69

Identify four major operating units within police departments and explain their function.

Question 70

Identify the four levels of law enforcement agencies in the United States and provide examples of each.