Time, constancy, and change in American municipal police organizations

Abstract

The present study investigates the relationship between organizational age and the structure of 334 police departments in the United States. Unfortunately, though the relationship between age and various aspects of organizations has been studied, these findings and theories have not been applied to police departments. The present study rectifies this oversight. The concept of organizational age is defined and two theories of organizational age are explained These two theories are tested with 334 municipal American police departments using survey data and the 1990 LEMAS data. The analyses indicate that the effect of organizational age on police departments is slight; however, support is found for two theories of organizational age. First, it appears that most municipal police agencies were formed during the same era. Second, use of civilian employees is negatively related to departmental age. The implications of these findings for police agencies and police historians are discussed. © 2000 Sage Publications, Inc.