3. Bittner’s definition of the police role is that police may not always be able to prevent crime and in order to prevent crime we must remember it falls to political values. The police cannot always prevent incidents of crime, because they may not always look at various variables that may come into play. It is a constitutional organization that cannot always overstep their boundaries to stop criminal behavior and it’s on the police organization structure. To illustrate dishonest law enforcement, determined crime prevention, honorable law enforcement, strong law enforcement, and stratified crime prevention. Dishonest law enforcement oversell the fear of crime to control the civilians, however they create a false image or pretense that are no alternatives to crime but violent behavior. Determined crime prevention is to create key guidelines that …show more content…
They are consultation, adaptation, mobilization, and problem solving. Consultation provides to counsel police officers on the scene or the front lines that determine their behavior, adaptation is link with this because officers must adapt to any situation. Mobilization is for police officers to become active while on duty and to use quick problem solving in their criminal thinking methods; to provide clarity in difficult tense moments to protect the country. Stratified crime prevention has not come to the United States, as it origins are more foreign in other countries. It focuses more on personnel and holding them more highly regard, however the responsibility along with the pressure is more severe. As police officers become more involved in particular communities or just within their judicial they should know the background or layout of the structure better. This is seen as the future of police officers and possibly in politics as it has bought some success to other countries such as Britain and
Crank & Caldero (2004) discuss the notion of the noble cause that is widely used by police officers to justify their actions. Police officers feel that there are many obstacles that prevent them to do their job efficiently. They claim that courts only hinder the process of putting criminals behind bars. They also believe that they are true patriots with a noble cause of getting rid of bad guys. To further prove their point Crank & Caldero (2004) use works of many authors, who wrote about police ethics and corruption and about how the noble cause is interpreted by police officers. Each of the authors discusses a dilemma with which polices officers have to deal when deciding what action they need to take in order to deal with criminals. Cumulatively, it seems that police conduct themselves towards criminals and citizens with hostility and with actions that maybe constituted as unlawful and corruptive in nature. But to the police officers, who are seeking justice and are driven by a noble cause, all means are good to get the bad guys. There is also a philosophical twist that puts a poli...
According to Kelling, Pate, Dieckman, & Brown (1974), patrol is the “backbone” of police work. This belief is based around the premise that the mere presence of police officers on patrol prohibits criminal activity. Despite increasing budgets and the availability of more officers on the streets, crime rates still rose with the expanding metropolitan populations (Kelling et al., 1974). A one year experiment to determine the effectiveness of routine preventive patrol would be conducted, beginning on the first day of October 1972, and ending on the last day of September 1973.
Areas such as skid-row are filled with people that are without the ability to function in normal society, and simply the fact that they exist is offensive to those that do operate within the normal realms of a community (Bittner, 1967). Due to the primitive nature of those individuals living in these chaotic areas, most officers feel it is necessary to enclose the area in which the behaviors occur to keep it from assimilating with “normal” society. The necessity to contain the areas similar to skid-row is the responsibility of the police, and with few governing superiors to mandate guidelines and the large amount of discretion allotted to police, they assume the peace keeping role and abandon the role of enforcer (Bittner, 1967). Maintaining peace is a difficult task in itself because of the uncontrolled way of life in skid-row. Therefore, it is by focusing on maintaining order and protecting the outside normalcy from skid-row inhabitants (Bittner, 1967) that officers use tactics where they choose non-enforcement, or make a decision to ignore a violation (Brown, 1981). According to Brown (1981), ignoring offenses brings with it a bartering situation between the ...
When political anarchy, social injustices, and crime end up leading to civil depravities that go against the foundation of democracy, society depends on the police to come in and keep the peace, while attempting to restore the order. These officers are asked to pursue criminals in vehicles, and on foot, repeatedly expose themselves to the dangers of the crimes, and remain calm while being under pressure at all moments on the job, and even off duty. Being an officer of the law takes a special person
The modern police agencies have grown and developed since the early 1600s to become an increasingly organized group that endeavors to prevent crime while preserving the rights and professionalism of citizens. Generally, modern policing in the United has been shaped by the early English police styles (“The History of the Police”, n.d.). This is primarily because the first organized policing agencies were witnessed in the early 1800s but exper...
Crime is a part of society encompases the news and the public. A variety of studies of media content have estimated that as much as 25 percent of the daily news is devoted to crime (Surette 1992) and that crime is the largest major category of stories in the print and electronic media (Chermak 1994, 103). (Lawrence 18). With crime at an all time high, police are constantly having to deal with more and more issues. This can lead to stressed out and fed up officers, which can lead to poor decisions by an officer. The use of force by police is a highly controversial topic as it raises questions about a government’s ability to use force against its citizens (Lawrence 19). Today’s society is caught up on the ideals of civility and equality before the law, making police use of force a touchy
It is a myth to believe that an officers job is spend fighting dangerous crimes, in reality officers spend more time handing smaller cases. For example, police officers spend a lot of time doing daily tasks such as giving speeding tickets and being mediators in disputes (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). Handing out speeding tickers and handling minor disputes are far from fighting crime. Police officers spend more time doing preventive measures (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). Preventive measures involve officers intervening to prevent further altercations. Victor Kappeler and Gary Potter discussed the myth of crime fighting as invalid and misleading notions of an officer’s employment.
...ce of petty crimes will lead to the increment in the number of serious crimes. Just like other authors, Bratton believes that the examination of crime statistics by time, place and other factors is very effective in discovering how to organize police resources. However, all these readings fail to integrate Kauffman's ‘Theology of Consensus’ which would have enabled readers to understand and appreciate least splendid but vital aspects of the police department.
However, after reading the article the author noted that police are mandated to enforce civilian law and order, investigate crimes, and strictly follow legal procedures even when in pursuit of chronic and dangerous criminals (Kagoro, 2014). Ideally, it has been argued, there should be strict dividing lines between the police and the military; the former for domestic purposes with the latter protecting citizens from external threats (Kagoro, 2014). In his article on the anti-militarization of the police in the United States, Kurt Andrew Schlichter aptly put it that the military is designed, organized, and equipped to execute rapid, violent and efficient obliteration of the “enemy”-whoever the enemy may be ( Kagoro, 2014). However, the law enforcement is usually modeled after the military and in fact there a large number of police officers who are former military personnel. This was a new criticism of police that was unfamiliar to me in the study of criminal justice but, I found it to be a valid point. The idea of changing the focus of policing to be less of a battlefield and more of a community may be a compelling approach to make interaction with citizens less
Use of Force Ambrose Bierce, a social critic known for his sarcasm and wit, once described the police as "an armed force for protection and participation." In this pithy statement, Bierce identifies three critical elements of the police role. First, by describing the police as "armed," their ability to coerce recalcitrant persons to comply with the law is emphasized. Because police carry weapons, it follows that the force they use may have lethal consequences. The capacity to use coercive, deadly force is so central to understanding police functions, one could say that it characterizes a key element of the police role. Second, the primary purpose of police is protection, and so force can be used only to promote the safety of the community. Police have a responsibility for safeguarding the domestic well-being of the public, and this obligation even extends in qualified ways to protecting those who violate the law, who are antagonistic or violent toward the police, or who are intent on hurting themselves. In dealing with such individuals, police may use force in reasonable and prudent ways to protect themselves and others. However, the amount of force used should be proportional to the threat and limited to the least amount required to accomplish legitimate police action. Third, the concept of participation emphasizes that police and community are closely interrelated. Police are drawn from the community, and as police they continue to operate as members o...
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.
Law enforcement is an important element of the United States’ system of criminal justice apart from the corrections and the courts. It is one of the major functions of the various governmental agencies of police. It is therefore concerned with police service or functions of police departments. In this paper, the author analyzes at law enforcement and related issues. Specifically, the author discusses law enforcement, theoretical understanding of the different models of policing as well as policing styles. The author also looks at the question of stress associated with the life of a police officer and how such stress affects them. This is a purely theoretical discussion based on secondary sources of information. Time and resources constraints could not allow for a more empirical, experimental fieldwork research. The materials relied upon are mainly journal articles from respectable academic journals and databases.
Cordner, G. W., & Scarborough, K. E. (2010). Police administration (7th ed.). Albany, N.Y.: LexisNexis/Anderson Pub.
Current economic and political trends will affect how, and if, certain reforms take place. Some trends like the increased costs for medical services will affect officer’s salaries and benefits, while the growth of inexpensive technology with instant communication through cell phones and personal computers will improve response time and distribution of information quickly and effectively. Changes population demographics, with the increase in the cultural and ethic diversity of the population will create more of need for career equality. This will also be pushed forward by the immigration of more highly educated professionals from third world countries. Increased multinational organized crime activity will create a bigger need for better communication between countries and joint efforts to stop it. Increased concerns with crimes committed by violent juveniles and individuals with modern weapons, terrorism and threats against our infrastructure will also shape the way policing reforms to solve these increased threats. Because of greater concern with terrorism, more resources will be allocated to homeland security. These are resources that could have helped domestic crimes and police management and will have to compensate for. Even smart credit cards, DNA identification and global positioning systems will all help shape the new policing model.
The police must be active members in their community to understand the people they are protecting and how they can be proactive in the crime prevention in that given community. For the second question in the survey I stated that it is the public’s job to obey the law and make the police’s job easier and not more difficult. Once again, I was close minded in my answer. The public is tasked with policing the police; however, it does not mean they are making the police’s job more difficult, it is just about holding them accountable for their actions. Police require a wide set of characteristics, if they want to be successful during the application process and enjoy a long career in public safety. When asked in the survey at the start of this course, I answered that an officer requires the ability to treat all people fairly in all situations. This is a phenomenal quality for a police officer to have, but it is just one of many that an officer must possess. Adaptability was the first the trait that stood out me, when reading the modules, because it is essential for a new and old officer to continue to grow and adapt.