Motivation

Introduction
The State College Police Department is a mid-sized police department located in Centre County, Pennsylvania. The department has 65 sworn police officers and 15 civilian support staff employees (City of State College, 2006). Most officers are assigned to the patrol division in the department. The patrol division is comprised of four platoons spanning two twelve hour shifts. Two supervisors are assigned to each of the four platoons, with the same officers working under the same supervisors all of the time. However, there are other units within the State College Police Department. These units include traffic, K-9, bicycle patrol, and the detective division. The K-9 and bike unit fall under one of the four platoons, while the traffic unit and detective unit remain separate.
Productivity is an important concept for each and every unit in the State College Police Department. Being that the chief is a numbers oriented type of leader; he expects statistics to consistently rise in every possible area – arrests, tickets, case clearances, and citizen contacts. Therefore, understanding and identifying the motivational theories of the department is important. Patrol officers, including K-9 and bicycle patrol officer, motivation processes align closely with Frederick Herberg’s two-factor theory (Robbins, 2003, p. 159). On the other hand, the traffic unit and detective division are specialized units that have motivation processes that align more closely with Douglas McGregor’s acquired needs theory, or “Theory X and Theory Y” (Robbins, 2003. p. 159).
Patrol division
The Patrol Division seeks to maintain social order and quality of life through the enforcement of laws, the timely response to calls for service, the preliminary investigation of criminal offenses, the apprehension of offenders, the enforcement of traffic laws, and the furtherance of crime deterrence through the maintenance of a visible presence and collaboration with the community. The State College Police Department is comprised of four platoons spanning two twelve hour shifts. Each shift is staffed by two supervisors per platoon.
The patrol division has multiple tasks throughout the day. Community division is one of them and it is primarily designed to develop ways to meet with citizens in non-conflictive situations, exchanging ideas, and developing verbal relationships that will foster cooperation in solving and/or preventing problems.
A large portion of the Patrol Division’s time is spent in traffic enforcement. Frequent accident locations are targeted for radar enforcement. In addition to speed enforcement, patrol officers are on the lookout for other traffic violators, such as stop sign/stop light violators, general operation violators, improper registrations and/or driver’s license, and seat belt violators.
The Patrol Division investigates hundreds of criminal cases a year. They range from simple misdemeanors to felonies. Thefts, assaults, suspicious activity, prowlers, burglaries, and vandalisms are just a few of the types of cases routinely investigated by officers of the Patrol Division. Cases that require in-depth follow up are referred to the Detective Division.
Not all of a patrol officer’s time is spent with traffic violators or criminals. Much of it is spent on service-oriented calls. A good example would be helping a motorist whose car has broken down on the street. From time to time, it becomes necessary for the Police Department to tow and impound vehicles. It may have been for being parked on a no parking zone. A contract is awarded by bid to a local merchant to furnish the towing service.
The men and women of the Patrol Division are responsible for enforcing state and municipal laws and regulations designed to protect life and property. Maintain order in an assigned district or beat. Patrol the city to preserve the peace and to prevent crime. Take criminal reports and interview witnesses and suspects. Apprehend fugitives and criminals. Collect evidence and give testimony in court. Conduct investigations for all misdemeanor and many felony cases. Direct traffic, issue traffic tickets, investigate accidents, and makes arrests. Participate in crime prevention, public information, and safety programs. Patrol officers maintain closer contact with the public than any other section of the police department and it is always open (http://longmontpolice.com/patrol.htm).
Patrol division motivation
Special units
Most police forces contain subgroups whose job is to investigate particular types of crime. These subgroups are commonly referred to as specialized units. The State College Police Department has a few specialized units such as K-9, bike patrol, traffic, school resource officers, detectives, and a county wide drug task force. However, the traffic unit and the school resource officers are the only units that do not fall under regular patrol.
Uniformed police and specialized units differ in their responsibilities. Uniformed police wear uniforms and perform functions that require an immediate recognition of an officer’s legal authority, such as traffic control, stopping and detaining motorists, and more active crime response and prevention. Patrol officers in the course of their duties respond to crimes in progress, manage crisis, conduct preliminary investigations, draft initial incident reports, prevent crime by their presence, and conduct community oriented policing (Wikipedia, 2006).
Specialized unit officers and detectives work in a capacity where a patrol presence would either be a distraction or intimidating, but a need to establish police authority still exists. Officers and detectives in specialized units wear plainclothes, business attire, or they have a different uniform unique to their unit. Specialized units are established within many law enforcement agencies for dealing with particular types of crime, such as traffic enforcement and crash investigation, K-9, narcotics, homicide, or fraud; or for situations requiring specialized skills, such as underwater search, aviation, explosive device disposal, computer crime, etc.
Motivational theory for special units
Another way that specialized units differ from patrol units is in their motivation. One motivational theory is Theory X and Theory Y. Douglas McGregor, a business theorist proposed two distinct views of human beings known as Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X is a negative assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy, dislike responsibility, and must be coerced to perform. Theory X also states that employees take little initiative and prefer to be directed in their tasks. On the other hand, Theory Y is a positive assumption that employees like work, are creative, seek responsibility, and can exercise self-direction (Robbins, 2003 p.157).
Productivity is an important concept for the specialized units within the State College Police Department. The police chief expects his officers to be proactive and aggressive in conducting and closing their investigations and performing their duties. Additionally, they are expected, because of their expertise, to provide training and support to patrol officers. Based on State College Police Department’s specialized unit statistics, morale and duty descriptions; the theory most closely aligned with this type of unit is Theory Y.
Typical characteristics of officers comprising State College Police specialized unit’s are they have a drive to excel requiring little outside motivation, work independently of others, are able to think of innovative strategies in conducting investigations and duties, and enjoy their profession not out of recognition, but out of the desire to conduct a thorough investigation, produce high statistics, and added to the community oriented policing philosophy. For these reasons various reasons the State College Police Department specialized unit’s motivation processes are identified under the Acquired Needs Theory.

References:
City of State College (2006). Police career opportunities. Retrieved May 29,
2006, from http://pa-statecollege.civicplus.com/index?NID=404.
Robbins, S. (2003). Organizational behavior (10th ed.). Boston: Pearson Custom
Publishing.
Patrol Division, Retrieved June 2, 2006, from: http://longmontpolice.com/patrol.htm