Policing is a very difficult, complex and dynamic field of endeavor that is always evolves as hard lessons teach us what we need to know about what works and what don’t work. There are three different Era’s in America’s policing: The Political Era, The Reform Era, and The Community Problem Solving Era. A lot has changed in the way that policing works over the years in the United States. During the Political Era the police departments were typically established and controlled by local government agencies. The Police being ran by the Local Government means that the State and Federal government did not interfere too much. Only well established families or local political groups would get the local elected positions. Police also did a lot more during this time other than fighting the bad guys. The helped run the soup kitchens, find shelter for the homeless, and help immigrants find jobs. The problem with this Era is when corrupt political regimes started using their police powers to harass and belittle, intimidate, and commit crimes against political opponents, immigrants who wouldn’...
The objective of this essay is to examine one of the six pillars of the President’s Task Force on 21st century policing. Of the six pillars, pillar four’s target is the importance of community policing and crime reduction. The definition of community policing is the use of partnership and problem-solving methods to address public safety issues, such as crime, fear of crime and social disorders. The highlight of community policing is that it partners with residents in the community to implement public safety. Some background into how community policing came to be was in the 1960s and 70s, civil rights protest were in effect. For example San Diego’s police department conducted a study with community policing. “Officers were expected to become
The author focuses on the U.S. Task Force on 21st Century Policing and Police Data Initiative or PDI to determine if it helps to restore trust and the broken relationship between and communities and police officers. The Task Force made by Barack Obama recommended the analysis of department policies, incidents of misconduct, recent stops and arrests, and demographics of the officers. The PDI has tasked 21 cities to comprehend the police behavior and find out what to do to change it. Also PDI was said to have data and information on vehicle stops and shootings by police officers. The use of statistics has a purpose to help rebuild trust and the relationship between and communities and police officers.
This era is where the shift from a centralized task force has gravitated to a decentralized task force, causing some friction from both the community and the officers that serve it. Police are told that they are needed to listen to the concerns for the community; however, law enforcement is still the primary goal. Police forces now have to defend the values for which the forces were built upon. The idea of problem solving has come into question with police discretion towards certain run-ins with the law. Williams and Murphy argue it is due to the lack of sensitivity from minorities and the concern on crime itself than the community. Kelling and Moore contradict Williams and Murphy, with Kelling/Moore suggesting the era is more about listening to concerns of the community and improving the citizen satisfaction. But both the article came to the conclusion of the silent underlying problems that are becoming more of a “quiet riot” with the police and the
By the turn of the twentieth century, criticism was developing over the ineffective and illegitimate character of local police departments. During this time period, the Progressive Era, many changes were taking place in America. Urbanization was bringing many people to large, increasingly industrial cities of the day. City officials were required to redesign many facets of urban life as cities continued to grow. This atmosphere of reform was also carried over into policing. Roberg et al. argues that the 1920s to 1960s were “probably the most significant period in the development of policing in the United States” (2012). During this time period, the foundations of professionalization were laid down. The reform model of policing dominated police work during this time period (Roberg et al. 2012). This model was characterized by a commitment to base the police-community relationship on law and police policy. It was now understood that police action should not be influenced by politics or personal opinions. To avoid this, police departments were now efficiently and centrally m...
The new philosophies of problem-oriented policing and community-oriented policing have started numerous discussions. Throughout time, researchers have questioned whether or not problem-oriented or community-oriented policing is the most effective approach in reducing crime, disorder and the fear of crime. Researchers have built on quite an extensive amount of literature, in the quest of discovering the effectiveness of both policing methods. However, while researchers have argued that both policing method have proven to be efficient in reducing crime, fear and disorder, these researchers have also argued that both methods have the potential to fail if not implemented suitably (Weisburd, Telep, Hinkle and Eck 2010; Scott 2006; Sciarabba 2009, Kerley and Benson 2000; Mirsky 2009; Rubenser 2005).
Era’s in Policing. How science and technology have changed policing methods throughout the past decades. The three main policing methods that have changed in the past decades are Political Era, Professional Era and Community Oriented Era. What have been the pros and cons throughout the three different Era’s in Policing.
American policing originated from early English law and is profoundly influenced by its history. Early law enforcement in England took on two forms of policing, one of which heavily influenced modern policing and it is known as the watch (Potter, 2013). The watch consisted, at first, of volunteers which had to patrol the streets for any kind of disorder including crime and fire. After men attempted to get out of volunteering by paying others, it became a paid professional position (Walker & Katz, 2012). The three eras of policing in America are shaped by these early ideas and practices of law enforcement. Throughout time, sufficient improvements and advancements have been made from the political era to the professional era and finally the community era which attempts to eliminate corruption, hire qualified officers and create an overall effective law enforcement system.
Since the founding of this country, to the wild west, and up to the present, the agenda of the policing bodies have been clear: to uphold and enforce the laws of our societyessionalizing' law enforcement. Their efforts ushered in the 'second wave' of major law enforcement reform. Standardization, specialization, synchronization, concentration, maximization, and centralization, dominated law enforcement during this era...
The police stereotype by perception the society is two sided. The response from a police officer sounds like, “Absolutely, we love our city and protect our city.” The reports written by police sometimes lack information given, excluding the use of force to the public. Another form of policing is community policing. According to the Department of Justice (2008) “Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies, which support the systematic use of partnerships and problem solving techniques, to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues, such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime.” “Policing the Police” uses the example of community policing in areas of Newark, the officer “Pepper” builds relationship with the people of society. This is a major effect in getting drugs off the streets without violating a person’s rights. The direction both the police and the community have a solution towards crime prevention. The war on drugs is one aspect examined by crime
Gary Potter, The History of Policing in the United States,Pg 4). By controlling the police, politicians were able to maintain votes as well as enforce their policies. By doing this police were not truly helping citizens, they were helping corrupt politicians gain “support”(Dr. Gary Potter, The History of Policing in the United States,Pg 4) . Police would calm workforce riots(which were primarily contrived of minorities, mainly Blacks). (Victor Keppler,P.h.D, A Brief History, of Policing and Slavery in America,Pg 1) by brutally beating and arresting individuals. A minority or low income citizen exercising their free speech was too much for the upper class to handle alone. Ironically enough, this was the majority opinion being suppressed by the upper class minority. Even today police are implemented to solve civil unrest. Instead of getting to the root cause of the problem, law enforcement's primary reaction would tend to be violence or new restrictive policies first rather than actively becoming involved within a troubled community. Today politicians are
Oliver, William. (1998). Community-Oriented Policing: A Systemic Approach to Policing (Second edition 2001). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Talking about Europe, the Law Enforcement system intrinsically incorporates the notion of police. The word "police" is Greek and originally meant a state, city (Wakefield, 2009). From the XIV century, its value begins to change, and by the police, over time, people began to see only the activities in the field of public order, which were carried out by state coercion. In the modern form the police unit was formed in Europe around the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During this period of history was finally completed the process of functionally-organized formation of police systems in most of its countries.
The Political Era of policing occurred in the early 1800’s and lasted until the 1930’s, and was under the direct influence of the local government and politicians. There were benefits of political influence; police departments began to develop intimate relationships within their communities offering a wide array of services to citizens. For example, the police worked soup kitchens and provided temporary housing for immigrants searching for work (Peak, 2015). In addition to providing an array of services to the community, officers were integrated into neighborhoods, which helped to prevent and contain riots. Typically, officers were assigned to neighborhoods where they lived or had the same ethnic background. Police departments
To conclude, Community policing represents a major development in the history of American law enforcement, but the extent to which this approach is a success and dominates contemporary policing remains a source of debate. In my point of view, community policing is good for communities. It has challenged the traditional concept of the police as crime-fighters by drawing attention to the complexities of the police role and function. In addition to the police officer hard work; citizens can also make a difference and contribute to make neighborhoods a better place to live. For instance, citizens can hold community meetings to talk about concerns and agree on solutions help organize healthy activities for children in your neighborhood, join or starting a neighborhood crime watch program, and talk to your community police officers and share information and concerns.
Standing alone, it will not succeed. Advocates of community policing seek a needed change in the mission and methods of the police. They argue that the police should focus their efforts on reducing fear and maintaining public order on the quality of life in neighborhoods.” This article centralizes the main problems occurring in communities in today’s society. Police officers are dehumanized and humiliated by the society due to scenarios they are placed in, but whenever there are small incidents the same officers are the first ones to be called and they are expected to be present at the scene and restore peace. Police are placed in certain situations at times where they are easily placed in the wrong and are at the center of protests. A major form of police needed in a community are foot patrol officers. “This criticism is accurate. As studies confirm, the passing police car does little to make us feel safer or to deter crime; it distances the police from the community and prevents them from focusing on patterns of conduct that injure community life. Community policing calls for a return to foot patrol. It harks back to the halcyon days when an officer was permanently assigned to the same area so that he came to know its residents and their problems. No sensible law enforcement official can quarrel with such reforms, many of which are long overdue. But before community policing is fully embraced, important caveats