Chapter 2: The Environment of Administration

TRUE/FALSE

	1.	Police organizations are quite insulated from environmental pressures.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1

	2.	As cultural diversity increases, the task of law enforcement becomes more complex.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1

	3.	The open system model takes the view that organizations exist in a complex environment that they cannot shut out.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1

	4.	In a closed system, status among employees is directly related to positions and ranks.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1

	5.	An open-systems-oriented police department attempts to tailor its operations and services to community conditions and needs.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1

	6.	Separation of powers refers to the division of political power among the federal, state, and local levels.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1

	7.	The city commission form of government is usually found in smaller cities.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1

	8.	Most police managers are able to work cooperatively with their municipal executives.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1

	9.	Police chiefs do not get involved in politics.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1

	10.	The community decides police goals via the political process.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1

	11.	Police authority must be applied assertively within the context of the department’s values and goals.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1

	12.	The police do not need to measure up to citizen expectations.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1

	13.	A pretextual traffic stop occurs when an officer uses the pretext of a minor traffic violation to stop and possibly search a vehicle.

ANS:	T	PTS:	1

	14.	Community policing, as it is known today, has been around since the birth of policing.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1

	15.	Community policing and the professional model are synonymous.

ANS:	F	PTS:	1

MULTIPLE CHOICE

	16.	Which of the following is NOT a part of the police environment?
a.	social conditions	
b.	cultural conditions	
c.	physical conditions	
d.	labor conditions	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1

	17.	Environmental conditions that affect the structure and nature of government include:
a.	technological	
b.	political	
c.	economic	
d.	all of these choices	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1

	18.	Demographic conditions that influence law enforcement include:
a.	changes in the proportion of young people	
b.	recessions and economic downturns	
c.	political disagreements	
d.	none of these choices	

ANS:	A	PTS:	1

	19.	Ecological conditions in the environment of government include:
a.	geographic location	
b.	natural resources	
c.	climate	
d.	all of these choices	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1

	20.	Which of the following is an example of cultural conditions that influence the environment of police organizations?
a.	a contentious election	
b.	lack of tolerance for certain behaviors such as panhandlingt	
c.	The chief’s time on the job	
d.	the percentage of whites in the population	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1

	21.	“Uncertainty” in an organization refers to:
a.	natural selection	
b.	contradictions in citizen preferences for crime control	
c.	a lack of information about the environment	
d.	the absence of a policy manual	

ANS:	C	PTS:	1

	22.	Which of the following conceives of organizations as being insulated and closed off from their environments?
a.	closed system model	
b.	natural selection model	
c.	open system model	
d.	normal accident model	

ANS:	A	PTS:	1

	23.	Characteristics of an open model of police organization include:
a.	decentralized decision making	
b.	accountability through superiors and peers	
c.	all employees and the public contribute to resolving problems and changing the organization	
d.	all of these choices	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1

	24.	Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a closed system?
a.	centralized decision making	
b.	authority based on position and knowledge rather than rank	
c.	organizational members isolated from society	
d.	hierarchical structure of organization shaped like a pyramid	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1

	25.	A good example of the open systems model in action is:
a.	CompStat	
b.	community policing	
c.	fusion centers	
d.	hot spots policing	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1

	26.	The council-manager form of government:
a.	consists of elected council members who make policies that are carried out by administrators	
b.	gives the mayor primary control over hiring and firing department heads	
c.	has each member of the city council serving as the head of one or more of the city’s departments	
d.	is characterized by a weak mayor	

ANS:	A	PTS:	1

	27.	Threats to police-community relationships include:
a.	excessive force	
b.	rudeness	
c.	authoritarianism	
d.	all of these choices	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1

	28.	Nowadays, perhaps the most significant threat to police-community relationships is:
a.	rudeness	
b.	racial profiling	
c.	politics	
d.	authoritarianism	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1

	29.	Which two strategies spawned a rethinking of American police?
a.	random patrol and problem solving	
b.	broken windows policing and problem solving	
c.	hot spots policing and CompStat	
d.	racial profiling and proactive community building	

ANS:	B	PTS:	1

	30.	Who makes up the so-called “fourth branch of government?”
a.	citizens	
b.	lobbying groups	
c.	the private security apparatus	
d.	the media	

ANS:	D	PTS:	1

COMPLETION

	31.	The __________ of government consists of technical, legal, political, economic, demographic, ecological, and cultural conditions.	

ANS:	environment

PTS:	1

	32.	The __________ is rooted in biology and basically states that organizations react to their environment, some more efficiently than others.	

ANS:	theory of natural selection

PTS:	1

	33.	The __________ takes the view that organizations exist in a complex environment that they cannot shut out.		

ANS:	open system model

PTS:	1

	34.	Open systems attempt to maintain a/an __________ with the environment.		

ANS:	equilibrium

PTS:	1

	35.	__________ refers to the fact that in our form of government the act of governing is divided into three constitutionally defined branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.

ANS:	Separation of powers

PTS:	1

	36.	In the __________ form of city government, the mayor is the primary administrator exercising control over departments, including hiring and firing department heads and administering policies.

ANS:	mayor-council

PTS:	1

	37.	__________ is defined as the politics, decision making, and other processes that determine community direction.

ANS:	Community power

PTS:	1

	38.	__________ involves taking more than one idea, concept, principle, or element into account.

ANS:	Pluralism

PTS:	1

	39.	__________ is any police-initiated action that relies on race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than the behavior of an individual.

ANS:	Racial profiling

PTS:	1

	40.	The __________ model of policing was very similar to the military or bureaucratic model of management.

ANS:	professional

PTS:	1

	41.	The __________ theory views community disorder as a precursor to crime.

ANS:	broken windows

PTS:	1

	42.	The __________ is the police department’s window to the world.

ANS:	media

PTS:	1

	43.	Many police departments use a __________ to deal with the media.

ANS:	public information officer

PTS:	1

	44.	__________ refers to the number and population of various cultural and ethnic groups which reside in a community.

ANS:	Cultural diversity

PTS:	1

	45.	For the past 200 years, the United States has been the great __________, with immigrants from every other country in the world.

ANS:	melting pot

PTS:	1

ESSAY

	46.	Explain the concept of an organizational environment.

ANS:	
The organizational environment is a group of social, cultural, and physical conditions that surround and affect the nature of the police agency. The pressures produced by the environment dictate most of the activities performed by the police organization, and as police officers carry out their police responsibilities, they themselves affect the environment.

PTS:	1

	47.	Distinguish between the open and closed system models of organizations.

ANS:	
The closed system model conceives of organizations as being insulated and closed off from their environments. The open system model takes the view that organizations exist in a complex environment that they cannot shut out.

PTS:	1

	48.	Explain the main threats to police-community relationships.

ANS:	
There are several activities that police departments sometimes engage in that contribute to police problems in the community. These include excessive force, corruption, rudeness, authoritarianism, politics, and racial profiling, among others. Police administrators must recognize these issues and make efforts to ensure that they are absent from the department.

PTS:	1

	49.	What three main themes distinguish community policing from other more traditional strategies?

ANS:	
According to community policing, the police should be accountable to the community. They should also be connected and integrated into the community on a personal level. Finally, they should be oriented to solving general problems instead of focusing on incidents.

PTS:	1

	50.	What are some complaints often voiced by the police with respect to the media?

ANS:	
The media interfere with ongoing investigations. The media refuse to respect victims’ privacy rights. The media refuse to recognize that their reporting has a number of negative effects on the police. The media practice sensationalism with little regard for accuracy.

PTS:	1