The police department relies on strict codes of organization to ensure their effectiveness in society, protecting us from crime and serving justice (“Police”, 2010). This type of organization relies on its personnel to execute, and can fall under three crucial categories: area, time and purpose.

Organization by are refers to the position or geographical location where a particular group of officers are responsible for. The beats or posts is the smallest measure of unit and requires only one patrol unit. According to Vollard (2006) the smaller the area, the easier it is to maintain discipline and order. Beats and posts are important to the effectiveness of the police department so that all areas of certain cities are well covered. A number of beats which are grouped together is referred to as a sector or a zone. This covers a larger are, and requires more than one patrol units. Lastly, precincts are the largest of the geographical areas covered by patrol units. This is multiple beats and sectors in one area. In smaller police departments, only one precinct is needed, and a building called a precinct house or a station house is the headquarter for these. Organization by area ensures that all geographic locations in a particular department are well covered at all times, this also makes it easier to determine which patrol unit would get to an area in the shortest amount of time possible.

Like all types of work requiring employees to punch in eight hours a day, the police department allocates time shifts for its personnel, which rotates around a fixed number of shifts across the 24-hour day. This is referred to as the Three-Tour System. This system ensures that all time periods of the day are duly covered by police officers who are designated shifts during certain times of the day. There is a midnight or night tour which occurs during the hours of 12mn and 8:00am; the day tour which is from 8:00am to 4:00pm; and lastly the evening tour from 4:00pm to midnight. Since police patrolling can be an enduring practice, officers must rotate their shifts for the efficiency of the police department (Skogan, & Frydl, 2004). However, there are different types of tours, depending on the police department. There are 12 hour tours, as well as four 10 hour tours in one week. The tradition three-hour tour system requires at least three officers in one day. This is the time an officer spends at a beat or a post, and when he is done with his shift, the next officer who is designated the shift replaces him. This system makes sure that no beat is left un-patrolled during any time of the day, ensuring the effectiveness of the police department. Each time of day is different, thus making each tour different in its characteristics and conditions. Allocating police officers evenly throughout the day with an equal number of officers each tour ensures that there is a constant watch over the precinct. Organization in the police department is very important in terms of time and scheduling so that there are no areas within a certain precinct left unsupervised. If anything happened in a certain area, it does not matter what time of day it is, we can be sure that through police organization there will be a police officer found in the area.