Police Departments of different cities are undergoing a transition. Police department and their operations, hierarchy design, and strategies are becoming increasingly similar to that of other commercial organizations. Police Departments today operate with a sense of direction, a mission that is broken down into objectives and achievable goals that must be met in order to rank the mission of the department as a success. Therefore, it will not be incorrect to compare police departments to business organizations functioning within the society
About San Diego Police Department
The police department of San Diego is one of the most efficient police departments from across the country. The department is also amongst the pioneers in implementing strategies that have won the country the edge in the fight against crime. These strategies include implementation of an Information Technology infrastructure and programs such as ‘Community Oriented Policing’.
The San Diego Police Department has a strength of over two-thousand-six-hundred personnel. This strength consists of officers that are sworn, as well as other that are civilians. These personnel function conjointly towards accomplishing the mission of the police department. These personnel are further divided into eight divisions: Field Operations, Special Operations, Neighborhood Policing, Training and Development, Office of Administration, Personnel Services, Professional Responsibility, and Support Services. All these departments function under the assistant chief, except for the Personnel Services which functions under a civilian personnel director. (Decker, Cordner, Ward, 1999)
The department has been a leader in trying new strategies for implementing effective criminal justice routines. The department works closely with the community and encourages the society to participate and coordinate with the fight to make the city free of crime. The ‘Community Oriented Policing’
References: 1. The City of San Diego Web Site. (2003) “About SDPD”. [Online] http://www.sannet.gov/police/about/ 2. Decker, S., Cordner, G., Ward, S. (1999). Case Study: San Diego, California Police Department - Information Systems Technology Enhancement Project. http://www.abtassoc.com/reports/ISTEP_C3.pdf 3. Tos, D. (2000). A Fortune 500 Police Department. Cultural Diversity. Mid-City Division, San Diego Police Department. http://www.communitypolicing.org/publications/exchange/e30_00/e30tos.htm 4. Anderson, T. (2000). Every Officer is a Leader - Transforming Leadership in Police, Justice, and Public Safety. ISBN/ISSN: 1574441183 5. The Reason Foundation. (2002). Study: San Diego Is Most Efficient City Government in State, San Francisco Least Efficient. http://www.rppi.org/022302.html