A Pilot Study: The Adoption of New Professionalism in Small Police Agencies in Pennsylvania
Open Access
- Author:
- Finkenbinder, Karen Jonita
- Graduate Program:
- Public Administration
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 14, 2015
- Committee Members:
- Jeremy Plant, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Jeremy Plant, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Steven Ames Peterson, Committee Member
Shaun L Gabbidon, Committee Member
John Henry Kramer, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Police
New Professionalism
Policing Models - Abstract:
- Policing in the United States seems to be at a crossroads. Though communities have always had to balance community development and security, recent times seem to have emphasized security over community development concerns. The purpose of this study is to examine New Professionalism, a conceptual framework of policing that balances security needs and public service values that are promoted in public administration (Travis and Stone, 2011)and that are necessary in the current threat environment found within the United States (Bratton, Morgan and Malinowski, 2009). As a pilot study, it explores a small sample of small police departments in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to look at four factors: accountability, legitimacy, innovation, and national coherence, in order to pretest hypotheses, refine the research methods and determine the feasibility of larger study. The main objectives of this study are to improve hypotheses, test survey instruments, enhance interview protocols and have a better understanding of the potential implementation of a conceptual framework, New Professionalism (NP). The research attempts to meet these purposes by describing institutional and contingency theories of change and how they impact public administration and policing as well as the models and frameworks that have been adopted by police organizations in recent history.