Assignment: What Change Occurs Organizationally?

In response to citizens' pressure to gain accessibility and increase involvement within the community, a police agency is moving from a traditional and professional model of policing to community-based policing. The leadership decides to train all the personnel in this new philosophy and problem-solving tools. The leadership determines that as part of the implementation of the new philosophy, the departments will start the following programs:

• A downtown foot patrol program.

• A community liaison officer (CLO) in each police precinct. Job duties of the CLO will include attending community meetings and listening to community concerns in order to determine an appropriate response.

• A neighborhood response team (NRT) consisting of eight officers and one sergeant. The NRT will be responsible for responding to specific issues in the neighborhood. However, the NRT will not be required to respond to normal police radio-dispatched traffic, freeing the team members to work directly on neighborhood complaints.

Submission Details:

• In a minimum of 250 words, post to the Discussion Area your answers to the following:

o Why is it critical that organizational changes occur when an agency adopts a new philosophy such as community policing?

o What are the consequences for an agency if only a small group of its officers or employees are responsible for adopting the community policing philosophy?

• Use examples of what happens when any type of agency or business adopts a new philosophy but does not fully engage its employees.

• Be sure to provide citations for all the references in APA format.