Organizational Behavior and Management in Law Enforcement

For courses in police administration or organizational behavior, and as a reference for police managers or officers preparing for promotional exams.

An accessible guide to real-world police management
Organizational Behavior and Management in Law Enforcement provides a clear, concise blueprint for successful police administration and management. Drawing on decades of experience as practitioners, trainers, and researchers, the authors focus on organizational behavior as a means of understanding both the complexity of the criminal justice system and interactions between officers and managers as they work to resolve community problems. With substantial content revisions and new learning objectives, the 4th edition integrates new research into an organizational behavioral approach to police management and demonstrates the relationship between research and its applications in the field.

About our authors

Gennaro F. Vito is a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Louisville. He also serves as a faculty member in the Administrative Officer’s Course at the Southern Police Institute. He holds a PhD in public administration from The Ohio State University. Active in professional organizations, he is a past president, fellow and recipient of the Bruce Smith Award (2012) of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. He served as the editor of The American Journal of Criminal Justice (1987 to 1991). The University of Louisville also awarded him the Dean’s Outstanding Performance Award for Research in the former College of Urban and Public Affairs (1990), the same award for the College of Arts and Sciences (2002), the President’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship (2002), and the Distinguished University Scholar Award (2008). He has published more than 100 professional refereed journal articles (in such journals as Criminology, The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Justice Quarterly, Police Quarterly and The Prison Journal), 18 book chapters, 8 book reviews and 43 technical research reports. He has published on such topics as capital sentencing, police consolidation, police leadership, police traffic stops, policing strategies for drug problems in public housing, attitudes toward capital punishment and the effectiveness of criminal justice programs, such as drug elimination programs, drug courts and drug testing of probationers and parolees. He is the coauthor of 11 textbooks in criminal justice and criminology, including Police Leadership and Administration: A 21st Century Strategic Approach (Elsevier, 2018).

John C. Reed is Associate Director of the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisville. He also serves as a faculty member in the Administrative Officer’s Course. He assists the director with operational and administrative oversight of the Institute and development of courses and instructs on issues related to organizational behavior, leadership and management and police performance measurement. Dr. Reed retired as the Chief of Police for the Henderson Police Department in 2014, a position he served in for seven years. Prior to that, he worked for the Louisville Metro Police Department, where he served the community in a law enforcement capacity for 28 years. While at LMPD, he worked in operational, investigative and administrative positions and retired holding the rank of Major. Dr. Reed has a BS and an MS in justice administration and a PhD in urban and public affairs from the University of Louisville. His publications cover organizational issues in policing, leadership and management and government and police consolidation.

Harry W. More was Professor Emeritus at San Jose University, where he served as chair of the Administration of Justice program. He held a BS in criminology from the University of California at Berkeley, an MS in public administration from American University, and a PhD in political science from the University of Idaho. His first teaching position was at Washington State University. Also, he was the founder and chairman of the Department of Criminology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He served as a juvenile probation officer and a special agent in the U.S. Secret Service. Active in professional organizations, Dr. More served as president of the Western Society of Criminology and received its Fellows Award in 1978. He was elected president of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in 1980. Harry More was an acclaimed scholar, publishing numerous articles in professional journals. His textbooks influenced the development of American police management: Effective Police Management (coauthored with Terry L. More) and Effective Police Supervision (coauthored with Larry Miller and Michael Braswell). The scholarship and contributions of the late Professor Harry More bolster the creation of the 4th edition of this textbook.