after the residents collected funds to begin the project. Staffed and funded by city monies in conjunction with the matching funds, the police station provides local residents with police officers who build relationships with the community; analysts acknowledge that these relationships are at the heart of community policing's success or failure (Morrow & Cheek, 1997, p. 4).
Total Quality Management in Industry
TQM has gained much attention in recent years as American manufacturers seek to improve their productivity and their profitability. At the heart of successful TQM programs is the requirement that all employees at all levels of the organization be committed to the TQM process. In small organizations, getting all employees to be involved in the process can be accomplished through internal communications and training programs. The process has been adapted to companies that provide services rather than products, and the principles of TQM should be able to be applied to community policing, as well.
Any TQM program requires the commitment of the highest levels of the organization at the outset (Crosby, 1997, p. 73). Without this commitment, the organization cannot put the necessary resources into the TQM program, and the program will be destined for failure. Since TQM represents a major shift in the way that most organizations operate, it is not an inexpensive process, nor is it a short-term program. Effective TQM programs will have a long-term effect on the way that the organization works on a day-to-day basis.
Total Quality Management in Law Enforcement
In the case of law enforcement, a TQM program should not be initiated only in one segment of the department. Instead, TQM should be made an agency-wide operation. This is because personnel get transferred from one division to another, and there maybe changes in the personnel within the community policing effort. In addition, having a different culture for commu...