Police and Human Relations in Management

Abstract

Police administration is changing. The complexity of urban life with its increasing populations, increases in crime, increasing traffic problems, and increased demands on the tax dollar limiting the amount available for police services has caused chiefs of police to seek means of providing more effective and efficient service with limited personnel. In addition, police departments are no longer strictly law enforcement agencies but by evolution have become service agencies supplying a multitude of services to the people. New techniques in police work are being developed and applied; better public relation programs are in evidence, and better personnel is being sought by improved recruitment and selection methods and a greater emphasis on training. Less concern, however, has been evidenced in bettering the management practices employed within departments. Experience in industry and in public agencies, particularly in the military, other than the police, indicate that agency efficiency and effectiveness may be increased by introduction of a human relations approach to management within an agency.