Police Management in the 1980s: From Decrementalism to Strategic Thinking
本文探讨1980年代美国警察部门在财政紧缩下如何从递减主义转向战略管理，基于对92个城市的调查，提出应对资源需求差距的模型和策略。
If the early 1980s was not an easy time for local governments, it was an especially sobering time for their police and sheriff departments. After a decade or more of unprecedented federal aid and budgetary growth, funding growth came to a halt and in many places actually declined. In the mid-1980s, the growing gap between rising demand for service and scarce resources has forced many top police managers to rethink their role and the role of their departments in local affairs. This article is intended to address many of the problems that fiscal stress has posed for police managers and their departments. It presents models for understanding the typical choices most police departments have made to cope with the resource-demand gap, that is, by decrementalism, the consequences of these choices, and what some departments are doing, and more could do, to overcome the most negative impacts. In doing so, it argues that problems stemming from fiscal stress require creative and innovative solutions and advocates a strategic management approach to organizational revitalization. Such strategic responses require: (1) a multiyear time frame, usually three to five years; (2) a significant reallocation and reconfiguration of resources; (3) substantial changes in organizational structure and work force activity; and (4) a comprehensive as opposed to an ad hoc re-examination of the organization's problems, mission, and structure. Changes of this scope suggest that strategic management involves political as well as financial and technical considerations. To partially substantiate this argument, several data sources will be used, including the results of a national mail survey to which 92 cities with populations over 50,000 responded. In addition, several of the cities were examined in greater depth through field interviews.'