Police-probation partnerships: Professional identity and the sharing of coercive power

As formal police-probation partnerships become more commonplace, the occasional incompatibility of police and probation functions becomes increasingly obvious. Understanding how police-probation partnerships create unique pressures on officers and ultimately reconciling the real or perceived incompatibility of police and probation objectives is an important prerequisite to partnership success. Few studies had considered how inter-agency collaborations have the potential to alter the role distinctions between police and probation officers and how the quality, diversity, and effectiveness of the services that they provide may be compromised or enhanced. This study, based on interviews with police and probation officers participating in a formally organized police-probation partnership in Spokane, Washington considered how close working relationships may influence the professional orientations of the participating officers. Findings suggest that tension between organizational objectives threatens to create an imbalance of power between partnership participants.