In the field of the police organization, mainly during the 70s, 80s and 90s decades, numerous criminological investigations, mostly in the United States, began to question the traditional model of police action. The main criticisms were centered in aspects related with the effectiveness of the traditional police strategies, but also in the existing aloofness between police and community. In this context and in line with the rise of the neoliberal policies supported in the New Public Management, the police organizations are progressively incorporating management systems of performance, decentralization, accountability, management by objectives, among others. This article takes as case study the Madrid Municipal Police and reveals the existing contradictions between its system of Management by Objectives and the so-called implementation of a model of Community Police. The difficulties and deficiencies become evident due to the complexity of the system, to the quantitative nature of the indicators in charge of measure the work quality, and also to the economical component linked to the fulfillment of those indicators. All of this makes that a system a priori in charge of improve the quality of the service may be grow into counterproductive for the police function itself.
