Police communication at the local level: An exploratory study

Using data from interviews with 21 police officers across one northeastern state, the current study expands upon extant literature by examining informal communication among police officers of all ranks of different departments. Results indicate that police use personal contacts most frequently when seeking information from other departments. Secondly, they tend to have the most personal contacts in police departments within their own county. Finally, police officers have found that recent budget cuts have hindered their ability to attend inter-departmental meetings and build their professional networks which they rely on for information sharing. These results indicate that county borders may still obstruct fluid information sharing at the local level within the state despite police officers having the knowledge that crime crosses political boundaries.