Competition for the “Good Cases”: Convergence of Police Interests and Organisational Objectives in the Judicial Police

Using an organizational analysis of the daily work in a “sûreté départementale,” that is a detective organisation who belongs to the DDSP (Direction Départementale de la Sécurité Publique), this article shows that a competition for the “good cases” helps to converge the professional’s interest of the policemen and the objectives of this detective unit. More than the convergence between the institutional mandate and the mission of the organizational’s police forces – the crime fighting it contribute to explain the mobilization of the policemen. More generally we show that two organizational characteristics – a particular system of evaluation on the quality of the case and a system of cooptation – promote this competition for the “good cases” which in its turns, entails a virtuous circle which is in favor of the unit’s performance.