Therories of Police Work

There are three organizational theories that explain the organizational structures and operational plan of policing. The first theory is the contingency theory, the second one is the institutional theory, and lastly there is the resource dependency theory. The contingency theories is based on the premise that organizations are created and built in order to reach certain goals, such as crime prevention or crime control, depending on what areas of crime prevention need the most attention. The institutional theory says that police organizations are social institutions that operate in connection to their outside social and political environments, they have to be open minded and look beyond what is just in front of them, and that perhaps they might need help from an outside source. And then there is the resource dependency theory that sees that organizations must have money and other resources in order to survive and trive, since they operate on what available resources they have. When they need to have more resource they must be willing to engage in certain exchanges with other similar organizations in their environment.

The theory that I feel best serves police organization the best is the contingency theory, although our justice system is not perfect, it is the best we have, and how good or bad it is depends on the community's circumstances, the police will react to what is going on around them. If there is an incident of speeding in a specific area of town, then the police will patrol that area more often; install speed humps and signs cautioning drivers to slow down.