PROGRESS IN POLICE ADMINISTRATION.

This article looks at the progress achieved in U.S. police administration. Weaknesses in police administration, aggravated by the increased complexity of police tasks, have become more readily discernible in recent years, and some trends toward their correction are evident. On these may be based some conjectural future developments. The future will probably restore to the police chief some measure of his lost control over police personnel. Greater attention will be given to the provision of staff services in police departments, but the present trend toward extreme specialization at the level of execution will probably be reversed. Police activity in the prevention of delinquency and the assurance of suitable treatment for problem children will undoubtedly increase. A fair appraisal of the American police must recognize that none of their major problems has yet been solved. The police, with the other agencies concerned with the administration of criminal justice, continue to muddle along repeating the mistakes of the past with little consideration to the fundamentals of their task. The need for research to discover the underlying factors in crime and other police problems is becoming increasingly apparent. Real progress cannot be expected until professional training becomes a prerequisite for service in police departments throughout the country. The next 50 years may see the American police emerge as a true profession.