Introduction
The theory of democratic policing is no monolithic, cogent and cohesive doctrine. Rather like democracy itself, the literature on democratic policing is characterised by oft-competing claims and counter-claims as to its core principles, goals and arrangements. This literature review canvasses the notable differences and similarities in the various characterisations of democratic policing, and also briefly looks at the challenges that some authors argue are already threatening the dominance of the theory.
Recent decades have seen a number of attempts by democratic (primarily Western) countries to export both democracy, and democratic policing, to post-conflict, emerging and developing states. Unsurprisingly then, a large proportion of the literature on democratic policing is centred on overcoming the peculiar difficulties inherent in introducing democratic policing to populations that have little experience of its key tenets. This review canvasses this theme, with a particular focus on literature that discusses the establishment of democratic policing in the former colonial countries of the South Pacific.
The texts examined in this review are primarily 21st century although, necessarily, some reference is made to the historical antecedents of the current body of work. The texts are authored by criminologists, other academics and government and non-government bodies.
The birth of democratic policing
Authors are in relative agreement as to why the institution of policing evolved, with a common view being that it arose as the means “through which the state [could] assert its exclusive or pre-eminent title to the use or threat of coercion against dangers from within its territory”.1 Loader notes how this this in...
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...ing in the Commonwealth Pacific, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 2006 accessed 5 September 2011
REINER, R., The Politics of the Police, 2nd edn., 1992, Brighton, Harvester
United Nations, "Principles of Democratic Policing", UN Police Magazine, December 2006 accessed 22 September 2011
WALKER, N, “Decoupling Police and State”, pp. 75–85 in E. Bort and R. Keat (eds.) The Boundaries of Understanding: Essays in Honour of Malcolm Anderson, Edinburgh, International Social Sciences Institute, 1999
WIATROWSKI, Michael & JA GOLDSTONE, “The Ballot and the Badge Democratic Policing”, Journal of Democracy, Vol. 21, No. 2, April 2010, pp. 79-92, ProQuest, accessed 21 September 2011
With reference to the orthodox and revisionist perspectives, assess the statement that ‘the establishment of the Metropolitan Police in 1829 was a rational solution to changes in society and the associated challenges of crime and disorder’. Use a contemporary example to demonstrate how these perspectives can be useful in interpreting modern policing activities.
Marques, O. (2013, October 23). Issues in Policing [Lecture]. SSCI 1000 Introduction to Criminal Justice. University of Ontario Institute of Technology . Retrieved November 18, 2013
One of the most disturbing trends in American policing in recent years has been the militarization of police weaponry and tactics. In his new book, “The Rise of the Warrior Cop”, author Radley Balko traces the roots of American law enforcement from the constables of colonial times to present day SWAT teams and special response units. With the high controversy surrounding the “war on drugs” and the “war on terrorism,” policymakers have signed off on a dangerously aggressive style of policing that too often leads to unnecessary deaths and injuries. Some people say that modern law enforcement is on a collision course with our Bill of Rights and is unconstitutional. In the book “ Rise of the Warrior Cop” the author talks about how modern day policing are adapting mostly all military tactic. These wars are more than just metaphors designed to rally public support and secure all the money they can to support these programs. They change the way we think about what the police do. Wars mean shooting first and asking questions later. Wars require military tactics and weaponry. Wars mean civilian casualties. Are we at war with our own people?
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.
Peak, K. J. (2006). Views. In K. J. Peak, Policing America: Methods/Issues/Challenges (p. 263). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
As taught in the lectures, it is impossible for police officers to win the war against crime without bending the rules, however when the rules are bent so much that it starts to violate t...
& Forst, L.S. (2016). An Introduction to Policing (8th Edition). Boston, MA USA: Cengage Learning. p.243 (245). Retrieved June 6, 2017, from https://www.betheluniversityonline.net
A Critical Assessment In defining police ethics, ethical policing and police ethics are not synonymous or interchangeable connotations to or for one another. Aside from establishing a police role independently from establishing any definition of ethics or police ethics, the semantics tend to complicate the defining process. Some of these complications include, but are not limited to, sociological aspects, psychological conditions, or philosophical reasoning. Examples of sociological complications include historical, political, cultural, or economic aspects. Some psychological examples include one’s ability to discern sociological implications from other implications; namely, the condition of post-traumatic stress disorder, hydrophobia, or even weary dreams. Lastly,
Third, problem-oriented policing entails a greater and closer involvement by the public in police work. Communities must be consulted to ensure that police are addressing the...
Potter, G. (2013, June 25). The History of Policing in the United States, Part 1. Online Police
Rutkin, Aviva. "Policing The Police." New Scientist 226.3023 (2015): 20-21. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Both of these articles were focused on the Strategy of Policing, but the author’s approaches to the ‘hot topics,’ couldn’t be more difficult. Williams and Murphy focused on the different eras of policing, and how the racial conflicts have overlapped policing efforts. Whereas, Kelling and Moore focused on how police have evolved with the eras. The articles were dramatically different, however, the policing eras: Political, Reform, and Community Orientated eras were influenced largely as the main focuses for each academic article.
American law enforcement agencies are based off the English models which began in the early 1800’s. In 1829, the English Parliament passed the Metropolitan Police Act (Walker, 1983). Sir Robert Peel who has been credited as the father of modern policing introduced this act to Parliament (Walker, 1983). This act established the London Metropolitan Police which was the model for American policing. This method of policing incorpor...
The focus is on the issues of police accountability in modern society, and in particular why their accountability is more important than other professions. This is not surprising considering the amount of power and discretion police officers have, and the level of trust that the public holds with these civil servants. Police officers accountability is the biggest thing in their profession which has been an issue of concern they have to be accountable to the police department who want the officer to be an effective and responsible person, to people in the community who have best expectation from an officer and being accountable to themselves for their acts. An ordinary citizen of a country cannot obtain the powers that police officer’s have.
The Web. The Web. 15 Mar. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Gul, Zakir, Hakan Hekim, and Ramazan Terkesil. “Controlling Police (Excessive) Force: The American Case.”