Shafter, Albert J.

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Journal of Criminal Law and CriminologyVolume 52Issue 3 September-October Article 12Fall 1961Numerical Strength of Small Police DepartmentsAlbert J. ShafterFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclcPart of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and CriminalJustice CommonsThis Criminology is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons.Recommended CitationAlbert J. Shafter, Numerical Strength of Small Police Departments, 52 J. Crim. L. Criminology & Police Sci. 344 (1961)NUMERICAL STRENGTH OF SMALL POLICE DEPARTMENTSALBERT J. SHAFTERAlbert J. Shafter is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Assistant Director of the Rehabilita-tion Institute, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. For five years he was Director of SocialService, Woodward State Hospital, Woodward, Iowa, and during this same period of time servedas a Deputy Sheriff in Boone County, Iowa. He is an instructor at Southern Illinois University'sPolice School and assisted in the University's workshop for police chiefs on the Police and Alcohol-ism. Professor Shafter has also worked closely with a number of Iowa Police Departments on programsfor mentally defective delinquents.-EDrroR.A persistent area of concern regarding policedepartments has been size or numerical strength.In general, this concern is reflected in discussionsof either striking power' or patrol shifts andassignments.2 Yet, as Leonard points out, "Thequestion has raised a corresponding solicitude onthe part of municipal management in general aswell as the average taxpayer ... " Apparentlyno satisfactory ratio between number of policeand population has been established. Noting thetraditional rule of thumb of one policeman foreach 1,000 population, the International CityManager's Association has listed variables to beconsidered in determining the size of the policeforce. Smith reviewed relationships between thesize of cities and the police force and found widedeviations.5 He noted that as size of the cityincreased, so too did the proportion of police tothe population although for cities of less than25,000, this did not hold true.Originally, in this study it had been assumedthat a direct relationship existed between the sizeof small cities and the size of the police department.In other words, as population increased, so toodid the size of the police force. Initially, sixteentowns and cities, varying from 7,000 to 16,000population were selected for investigation. Abrief survey, however, revealed wide differences inthe size of the police force and the city. Thus,Smith's findings were upheld. Since this did raiseI LEONARD, POLICE ORGANIZATION AND MANAGE-mENT 14-19 (Brooklyn: The Foundation Press Inc.,1951).2 WILSON, Pouce ADMINISTRATION 107-110, 473-512 (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1950).3LEONARD, Op. CIT., 14.'INTERNATIONAL CITY MANAGER'S ASSOCIATION,MuNIcIPAL POLIcE ADMINIsTRATION 223-232 (Chicago:International City Managers Association, 3rd Ed.,1950).5 Smarr, POUcE ADMINISTRATION 122-126 (NewYork: Harper and Brother, 1949).a question as to why, it was decided to select twocities of approximately equal size, from the samesubcultural area, with variations in the size of thepolice force and then, through a series of interviewsand search of records and newspapers, attempt toaccount for variations in the size of the policedepartments.From Table 1 it may be seen that Delta isolder, but by 1930, Carbon had a larger popula-tion. 6 The situation reversed itself in 1940, andDelta has remained larger although the populationof both cities has decreased rather significantlybetween 1950 and 1960.TABLE 1SIZE Op POLICE DEPARTMENT AND POPULATION FORTowNs "DELTA" AND "CARBON": 1910-1960Delta CarbonYearNumber of Number ofPolice Population Police Population1910 16 14,548 2 2,1111920 10 15,203 3 8,4781930 11 13,532 6 14,6831940 20 14,407 5 12,3831950 8 12,123 5 11,3841960 18 9,348 5 9,004These fluctuations in population, however, donot alter the basic fact that Delta has always hada relatively large police department while Carbonhas always had a comparatively small department.This takes on added significance when it is realizedthat the community leaders and the police ofboth cities have somewhat similar attitudestoward the adequacy of the size of the force,i.e., they could use a few more men.6 For obvious reasons, Carbon and Delta are ficti-tious names.SMALL POLICE DEPARTMENTSHow can these discrepancies be explained? Itappears as though four factor-complexes haveinfluenced the size of the police department intwo cities of roughly equal size. These are (1)ecological- patterns and topographical features,(2) demographic conditions other than size, (3)traditions and attitudes, and (4) fortuitousevents. It should be emphasized that thesefactors are interrelated and interdependent. Anyvariation in one may produce variations in anyor all of the others. An understanding of therelative influence of these factors may be obtainedby describing each of them.ECOLOGICAL PATTERNS A ToPoGRAmcALFATuREsDelta is located at the confluence of two rivers.Each river serves as a boundary between anotherstate and the state where Delta is located. Origi-nally a refueling point for steam boats, the citystill attracts some river boats plus a great manyinterstate auto travelers. The town has become atraditional stopping point for traveling salesmeneither entering or leaving the state. Each fall,literally thousands of hunters from metropolitanareas hunt geese and ducks in the near vicinity.The city serves as a base for the hunters and as themajor source of entertainment during the evenings.Economically, the city's chief source of income hasbeen from trade with residents of the surroundingarea and the traveler.Carbon is physically isolated. Although one statehighway does pass through the city, there is not amajor restaurant or motel on the highway. Withthe exception of the farmer or occasional traveler,the stranger is seldom found in the city. Indeed,the stranger is conspicuous by his presence whichis unusual in a city of this size. In the past, thechief source of income was from the coal mineswhich surrounded the area. As mining has de-dined, trade and services for residents of the areahave become more important.DEMOGRAPHIC CoNDiTroNs (OTHER THAN SIZE)Delta was originally settled by native-bornwhites in the late 1840's. Foreign-born immigrantswere of predominately Irish or German extraction.From 1870 to the present, approximately one-thirdof the population has been Negro. Significantly,however, the white population has consistentlyoverestimated the Negro population to be Y2 to Y3of the total population. Although Negroes do notreside in any one area of the city, there is completesocial, educational, and religious segregation.Carbon was originally settled by native bornwhites in the early 1900's. Population incwere due equally to migrants from the south cen-tral states and foreign-born immigrants fromSouthern Europe. A policy of Negro exdusion hgsbeen practiced, and Negroes do not reside in ornear the city. Due to conflicts between the mineowners and the union, assimilation of the variousnationality groupings occurred rapidly and withoutincident. Anthropologically, it may be said assnii-lation is complete and amalgamation of the variousgroups is in the final stages.TRADIoNs mm A n=FsDelta has had the so-called traditional moralityof the river town. Drinking, gambling, and prosti-tuion have always been a part of the community.In 1910,58 taverns were licensed at an annual rateof $1,000 each. While the number has decreasedsomewhat, there are still many taverns in and nearthe city. Until ten years ago, a segregated districtfor houses of prostitution existed. As evidencedby the sale of Federal, Stamps, gambling is still amajor industry. The Negro, so long as he remanin his own districts, has equal opportunities forrecreation. The city has retained the same atti-tude it held when the river was king-the hunter,the salesman, the visitor, has come to be enter-tained. Neither prohibition, state police, nor localreformers (the last and only local option electionwas held in 1934) have changed this philosophy.Carbon, on the other hand, has displayed whatmight be called rural values regarding vice of anysort. The male who wished to engage in gamblingor pursue women has greater opportunities else-where. As a result, gambling is on a small scaleand is limited to fraternal organizations and neigh-borhood taverns, patronized almost exclusivelyby men. Prostitution is non-existent. The attitudeof the city toward recreation of any sort was bestdescribed by a clergyman some thirty years agowhen he spoke, successfully, against a proposedcity park, "It is more work and less play that thelaboring men want."FoRTmUTouS EvENTsThis factor has been established to account forunplanned events or happenings which accentuateor modify situations. A case in point is the factthat Delta is partially surrounded by "dry"counties. As a result, the person who wishes to19611ALBERT J. SHAFTERdrink is drawn either to the city or to the nightdubs adjacent to the city. This does illustrate thefact that frequently factors outside and inde-pendent of the city do have an influence on thepolice department. Perhaps this point is betterillustrated by the substantial (and temporary) de-crease in the size of the department in 1950. Thisdecrease was due to two factors, intensified statepolice raids and a change in municipal administra-tion. City finanzes for several years had beenbased on a system of quasi-licensing of gamblingdevices through fines. Each month, operators werefined in accordance with a set fee schedule for eachslot machine, card game, and crap table theypossessed. When gambling was driven under-ground, revenue was lost and the number of cityemployees, includig police, was reduced accord-ingly. Allegedly and ironically, the elimination ofan extra-legal method of control resulted in thedevelopment of graft and pay offs.On the other hand, an analysis of the recrea-tional patterns of Carbon's population revealsthree areas of prostitution and gambling withintwenty miles of the city. In a city dominated byrural morality, those who wish to drink or gamblein anonymity can drive to any one of three smallvillages which catered almost exclusively to theseactivities. Thus, the people of Carbon who wishto drink and gamble leave and do not present aproblem to the city's police.DISCUSSION AND SUMMARYIt is often assumed that communities of equalsize have police departments of similar size. Anexamination of such cities, however, reveals widedifferences in the size of the force. A detailedanalysis reveals that variations in size exist be-cause the functions of the police department varyby community. Aside from routine police duties,the basic factor which accounts for the variationsin Delta and Carbon is that the role of the policein the two cities is fundamentally different. InCarbon, the Department has acted to suppress anyovert manifestation of vice. Delta's police, on theother hand, have had the responsibility for regu-lating and controlling vice. It follows that moremen are required to regulate than to suppress ac-tivities of this nature. Moreover, Delta's Depart-ment has also served a secondary function of main-taining the status quo in Negro-white relations.Finally, the problem is accentuated by the factthat one city attracts disorganizing and unlawfulelements while the other does not.It must be assumed that every Police Depart-ment has certain routine duties such as traffic con-trol, patrolling, and the like. The ultimate de-termination as to the functions and thus the size ofthe department result from a community defini-tion. It is the thesis of this paper that such a defini-tion results from four factors: ecological patternsand topographical features; demography; tradi-tions and attitudes; and, fortuitous events.7 Ofutmost importance is the fact that many times,conditions outside of the community also havegreat influence on the size of the Police De-partment.On the basis of this study, it would not be realis-tic to propose a certain number of police for citiesof less then 25,000 population. Instead, each citymust assess- the relative importance of the factor-complexes noted above and from this determinethe proper number of police officers needed to do anadequate job of protecting the city.These factors are dynamic and subject to change.For example, ecologically, land usage may changefrom residential to industrial; racial or ethnicallyhomogeneous neighborhoods may become hetero-geneous in composition. The implications of suchchanges to Police Departments are apparent.[Vol. 52

Numerical Strength of Small Police Departments

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Numerical Strength of Small Police Departments

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