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David Plebanski and Roberta Garner 21 Police and the Globalizing City: Innovation and Contested Reinvention IN 1960, on a cold January morning in a shabby North Side neighborhood, police arrested 23year -old Richard Morrison, soon to be labeled the “babbling burglar.” In his 77-page confession , the small-time crook implicated eight Summerdale police district officers in a burglary and fencing racket. In a vigorous effort at damage control, Mayor Richard J. Daley appointed a new police chief with academic as well as experiential credentials—O. W. Wilson—to launch a major reform of the Chicago Police Department (CPD). Not only were hundreds of police officers suspended, but a general process of structural and technological modernization began (Cohen and Taylor 2000, 252–55; Bopp 1977). In the year of John F. Kennedy’s election, O. W. Wilson’s appointment signaled impending changes in police work, in Chicago and the nation. Unsophisticated local police forces composed of meagerly educated white men, operating within insulated cultures, were transformed byprofessionalization,diversification,academic discourse, and managerial efficiency. Managerialism, as a form of authority, was a major facet of these reforms. It includes depoliticized administrative decision making; discourses of professionalism and expertise; reduced influence for traditional, local powerholderssuchasaldermen ,precinctcaptains,and ward bosses; and the rejection or marginalization of grassroots initiatives. Managerialism is a strategy with two fronts, opposing both archaic, machine-controlled local centers of power and grassroots citizen movements. Managerial discourses emphasize that decision making should be “above politics,” in contrast to these two other forms of authority. Managerial authority thus can be interpreted in different ways— as cleaner, fairer, more modern, more efficient, more knowledge-based, and less racist than old style politics or, alternatively, as anti-democratic and anti-grassroots. SECTION I: REFORM, INNOVATION, AND MANAGERIALISM Innovation in policing moved along five tracks: professionalization; racial–ethnic and gender diversification; technological development; improved accountability; and a new proactive and interactive relationship to communities. Changes in the CPD paralleled and were influenced by similar changes in other large-city police departments, reflecting underlying national economic, social, and political forces. The CPD was propelled toward managerialism and community policing, not only by decisions made within the CPD and city government, but also by grassroots activists, the media, and national stakeholders in law enforcement, such as federal agencies and academics. The outcomes in institutional forms and practices are the net result of these contending forces. Five Elements of Change Professionalization is a key element of police evolution, subsuming many of the other elements. A major component of professionalizationisahighereducationrequirement ,transforming policing from a blue-collar job into a 260 David Plebanski and Roberta Garner salaried profession, similar to nursing or teaching . In 1965, not even a high school diploma was required for applicants; today, 60 college credits are needed for the application, with an exceptionmadeforapplicantswitharmedservicesex perience . A four-year college degree is required for promotion to lieutenant or captain. Another component of professionalization is release of sworn police personnel from support functions, such as lock-up keepers, auto pound personnel, and 911 operators, positions now privatized or staffed by civilians. Professionalization requires the longer training of police officers and new skills and sensibilities, such as attention to cultural diversity, sensitivity training, conflict resolution instruction, and ethical practice. Professionalization is ambiguous in policing, as it is in most occupations that became professionalized in recent decades. Professionalization has many meanings, including more theoretical training, self-regulation, independence from politics and particularistic ties, merit-based appointment , working conditions akin to those of salaried workers, adherence to standardized and bureaucratically imposed “best practices,” new patterns of recruitment, and (in the specific case ofpolicing)lessuseof“man-to-man”forceinfavorofsophisticatedtechnology .Thesemeanings can be points of contention; they are not always consistent with each other and represent agendas pursued by competing stakeholders. For example , both self-regulation and standardized “best practices” are elements of professionalization , but reflect different interests within an organization . Diversification has come to the police department with some difficulty. An especially contentious area of change, diversification took place largely through federal pressure and draconian affirmative action policies, notably a prolonged hiring freeze for white males. Althoughdiversi ficationwastheresultofcontestation ,collectiveaction,andfederalpressure,local elites also contributed to it as part of the institutionalrestructuringthatbroughtminoritiesinto the mainstream of city governance during both the Harold Washington and Richard M. Daley administrations.In1965,Chicagopoliceofficers were uniformly white; by the beginning of the century, 26 percent were African American and 13...

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