Abolishing the District of Columbia motorcycle squad

Abstract

The paper reviews the evidence concerning the abolition of the motorcycle squad of the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C. and, from it, attempts to draw inferences about the process of terminating governmental units and activities. It discusses the resistance which a small part of the police force was able to put up against the change, the compensatory and other mechanisms by which that resistance could be lessened and overcome, and the supportive, although hardly determinative, role of analysis in the process of change.