Police Functions

Literature Review on Military and Police Functions

In the Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy, [1] Donald J. Campbell and Kathleen Campbell provide the following summary about the topic of Military and Police Functions: As society's two main institutions focused on security and safety, military and police organizations share a number of common facets, but in spite of surface similarities, the two professions are significantly different, in terms of the cognitive processes they require, the types of judgments they demand, and the worker attitudes and orientations they need. Additionally, especially in America, political, legal, and functional restraints have sharply and deliberately demarcated the boundaries between the military and the police in the past. Presently, evidence indicates that the separation between the two occupations is weakening and blurring. Such blurring, by potentially concentrating and centralizing state authority, has important societal, political, and legal ramifications, and by redefining the focus of their organizational missions, the blurring raises fundamental occupational issues for the institutions. The following analysis has three objectives: first, it outlines the evidence indicating that a blurring of functions is occurring, and identifies the major forces that appear to be driving the convergence. Second, it examines the significance of the convergence, from the perspective of institutional mission accomplishment, and from the perspective of democratic norms and values. Finally, it considers an organizational alternative to the convergence, and concludes with implications for the future.

Resources

Notes and References

1. Entry about Military and Police Functions in the Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy (2015, Routledge, Oxford, United Kingdom)

See Also

Further Reading

• Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance (2018, Springer International Publishing, Germany)