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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical examination of the characteristics of Indian reservation police agencies at the start of the twenty-first century. Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses national data on tribal police agencies from the 2000 Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies and from the 2002 Census of Tribal Justice Agencies (both conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics). Findings - The analysis presented documents both common and distinctive trends in Indian Country policing, and compares tribal police agencies on reservations with non-Indian police organizations generally. Originality/value - The paper provides an empirical reference point for assessing future changes and developments in this mostly undocumented form of US policing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aside from a few groundbreaking studies, there has been little empirical exploration into the structure of American police organizations. Traditional organizational inquiries have suggested that structural characteristics can be differentiated between those that represent complexity or differentiation within the organization and those that represent control mechanisms to coordinate and manage the complexity. This research investigates whether these various structural elements are indicative of two latent constructs by developing and testing measurement models representing structural complexity and control. Organizational scholars have also argued that structural complexity increases the demand for structural control. Maguire investigated this issue in the context of police organizations and found little support for the hypothesis. The paper reexamines this relationship by extending and replicating Maguire's analysis to ascertain if a different specification and sample sustain his conclusion. Utilizing data from the 1997 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics survey and a survey conducted by Edward Maguire, the paper explores these issues using a sample of 401 large, municipal police organizations in the USA. The results indicate that structural control is unidimensional, while structural complexity is not. This study also provides modest evidence supporting an association between structural complexity and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For 30 years, critics have noted a number of ailments caused by police rank structure. This paper adds to this literature by exploring the command rank structure of American police organizations in four parts. First, police rank structure is defined. Second, the hypothesized problems and benefits of tall rank structures are culled from the prior literature and described. A review of these contentions finds little reason to believe that tall rank structures are either beneficial or detrimental. Third, a systematic review of empirical studies of a range of organizations reveals that the impact of rank structure on three classes of organizational attributes is not wholly clear. This article closes with suggestions for conducting research to better ascertain the impact of hierarchy on police agencies, and how police executives can apply this knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]