Organizational Structure And Design At The Miramar Police Department

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For this second internet activity, we are tasked to visit and review the website for our local law enforcement agency, locate the organizational chart and discuss its organizational structure and design. I reside in the city of Miramar, Florida which is located on the southwestern border of Broward County, just north of Miami-Dade County. Miramar has a population of just over 122,000 residents and was incorporated as a city in May, 1955. (“About the City”, n.d.). According to the Miramar Police Department website, the Miramar Police Department employ 198 sworn officers and 70 support staff, (“About Us”, n.d.) who perform various tasks throughout the city, which has been divided into patrol areas or zones. I have included the Miramar Police …show more content…

At the top of the organizational chart, we have the Chief of Police and under him, the assistant Chief of Police; at which point, the chart further divides into other areas with lesser ranked individuals in charge of each of them. This provides a clear example of how “authority flows downward in the organization”. (Swanson, Territo & Taylor, 2012, p. 221). One interesting item of note is that, although the officers in the pictures are wearing military-style rank, they are using alternative titles vice the traditional ones for example, officers wearing the traditional insignia of a First Lieutenant are called Managers or Commanders as described in Figure 6.3 of our textbook. (Swanson et al, 2012, p. …show more content…

233). Examining Figure 1, we can see that the Miramar Police Department is divided into three bureaus. The Community Policing Bureau and the Special Operations Bureau can be identified as “line” elements which are those “that perform the work the agency was created to handle.” (Swanson et al, 2012, p. 232). The Support Services Bureau, performs functions such as, logistics, records and communications, which directly gives aid to line elements and also provides services that are of less immediate assistance. (Swanson et al, 2012, p.