A police ride along is a way for ordinary citizens to experience firsthand the things that police officers do in their line of work. The citizens get to sit in the passenger seat of the police cruiser and go with the police officers as they patrol and respond to calls. I got the opportunity to participate in a ride along on June 24, 2016 with Officer Tommy Jordan of the Matthews Police Department. I chose this department because I live in Matthews and I wanted to see how the police officers that serve and protect my town function on a daily basis.
As Officer Jordan told me a couple of times, many different factors affect the type of experience you will have during a ride along. These factors include the time of day that you patrol, the area of town that you patrol, and even the personality of the officer you ride with. Luckily for me, Officer Jordan is a relatively laid back officer with a great sense of humor. When
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I thought that there would be more traffic stops and giving people tickets for speeding, but we didn’t do that once. I did see Officer Jordan clocking how fast a few cars were going, but none were going fast enough for him to pull them over. Instead, what we did the most was help people. We helped the lady whose car got stuck, we helped the homeowners whose alarm went off, and we helped the people on vacation by checking on their house. In a way, I guess that’s all that police officers do, is help people. Even the people who are getting tickets or getting arrested are being helped. They are being helped to become a better person by giving them a punishment for doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing. Giving tickets or arresting someone also helps bystanders. If someone is speeding and you give them a ticket, they likely won’t speed again for a while. This helps bystanders by putting them at less of a risk of being involved in an accident with the speeder. The same goes for arresting
On Easter Sunday of last year, the sound of gunfire, then police sirens, interrupted the music booming from the cars on South Sixth Avenue. Three people died and six were injured in two separate shootings that occurred within an hour of each other on the street crowded with cars and people (Stauffer). This event reinforced the way the public often views cruisers: as violent juveniles or gang-bangers engaging in a dangerous, vain activity. The violence of Easter Sunday, however, does not typify cruising or cruisers. Cruising - and the intense work that goes into making a car, especially a lowrider, truly "cruise-worthy" - offers an alternative to violence and gangs. Often, a car club helps with the work of customizing a ride, giving the owner advice on how to get the look of the car just right. Duke's Car Club has been one of the most popular and visible car clubs in Tucson since it was founded forty years ago (Teran 10/8/01). Sandra Teran, a member of Duke's Car Club, represents an aspect of cruising and car clubs that few people are aware of: family involvement and community pride.
Officers were rewarded and reprimanded appropriately for the amount of arrests that were made. When Officers successfully prevented or deterred crime it didn’t show on paper. This tied in with officer morale in a big way. The book illustrates that when departments put out arrest quotas for the east side arrests fell, usually to the minimum. Mosko is often very critical of upper police managements distance and ignorance to the actual problems out there.
When formed by legislation in 1935, the Colorado State Patrol was created to “…promote safety, protect human life and preserve the highways of this state by the courteous and strict enforcement of the laws and regulations of this state relating to highways and the traffic on such highways” (CRS 24-33.5-201). Originally named the “Courtesy Patrol,” over the last 76 years the Colorado State Patrol has evolved into a comprehensive and complex law enforcement agency, without forgetting its original mission. Through the dedication to its members, both past and present, distinguished professional standards, and industry-leading technical competence, the Colorado State Patrol has stayed true to its traditions while taking on changing law enforcement challenges.
He told me that Takoma Park was a very a quiet neighborhood and does not have too many crimes occurring. He expressed his love for his co-workers and how they have been working in a team to achieve many difficulties that may arise in the community. For instance, during our patrol we had a call concerning a man who was very violent and was causing a lot of trouble in his home. Just a few minutes after the call it was amazing that all the officers were at the scene and trying to preserve peace. Furthermore, Officer Carl works around only the jurisdictional boundaries which he was sworn to serve and maintain peace. These areas include Langley Park, New Hampshire Ave and other areas within the same boundaries. Officer Carl also explained the importance of community relation programs held in the community and how positively it affects the community and them themselves. He emphasized that community relation programs were very effective and each police officer was happy to a part of it. In addition, this program is often in a form of reunions where the community members and the police come together and celebrate and discusses how to make the community great. The purpose of this program was for the police force to have a good and close relationship with the community so that
For my Internship, I was lucky enough to do it with South Elgin Police department, which is located on ten north water street in South Elgin Illinois, 60177. There are about thirty members that work for the South Elgin Police Department. South Elgin Police department is a public safety service that is for the community of South Elgin. Their mission is to exist to enhance the quality of life for the South Elgin Community that supports core values. Such as integrity, reputation, family, faith, progressive and compassion for other people. This means that all of the values go with the way that Police Officer should handle them self and how everyone in society should act around each other on a daily basis. South Elgin Police Department has four detectives which include a sergeant that see over in ingestions deviation. They also have one crime prevention officer, who force on the community relationship between the department and the people of south Elgin. They also have one civilian public aid Officer who goes around the community tracking down vehicles that are abandoned and helps the department maintain cars. They also a k-9 unit to help out with their daily actives when needed. South Elgin also has to two civilians that work in the record department . They also have four sergeants for every shift. South Elgin Police has a
To conclude, I learned many things on my ride along, but the thing that I still think about now is how police officers just do their job. The media gives police officers’ a bad name and tell the public about the bad things that they do. The media does not show what the officers do to protect the community or how they risk their lives in order to bring safety to the community. My ride along was a great experience and I am glad that I had the chance to ride along with Officer Ernesti.
Police officers would be wearier of how they interact with citizens as well as avoid us of foul language. A 2013 New York Times article written by executive director of Law Enforcement against prohibition, Neill Franklin explains how officers will be more accountable for their actions and put at the same standards as regular citizens (Franklin). Citizen behavior would also greatly improve because a trust in police would most likely follow and more likely to seek police assistance when needed. Implementing body cams would make citizens feel like police officers are just as responsible for their actions as they
Something happened my sophomore year of high school that little did I know would change my perspective, not only of myself, but life in general. I was looking for something new and exciting to enhance my high school existence and decided to give the Criminal Justice Club a try. I was familiar with the advisor of the club, but knew that the club had astigmatism for attracting those students who were just looking for something easy to do. I knew about the criminal justice system, but only what they show on Law and Order. However, I immediately fell in love, not only with the club but the entire prospect of Criminal Justice. I stepped into the club as if it were a place I belonged and easily became a leader. I was able to learn things the TV shows
A various points throughout the night we came across other officers who were dealing with accidents and various other tasks. Unless there was a rush to respond to a call, Officer Crutchman would slow his cruiser down and check to see if his fellow officers required assistance. Furthermore, after assisting multiple officers from his unit in a potential trespass violation at a local school, instead of driving going about their separate ways the officers began swapping arrest stories and offering their opinions on the progression of the resulting criminal cases. Afterwards, between some hilarious joke telling, the talk moved to personal and professional concerns and issues; one officer had a badly fitting bullet-proof vest that was on loan. Officer Crutchman offered to give his extra armor to his fellow officer since they were around the same
More police officers doesn’t mean less crime because many of the crimes committed such as burglary, robbery, auto theft, larceny and vandalism which are preventable cannot be prevented if the response time is too slow. Even though more officers were on the job, even the fasted response had little influence of crime since the crime reports made came a significant time after the actually occurrence ,therefore flawing even the fastest police response.
Community oriented policing has been around for over 30 years, and promotes and supports organizational strategies to address the causes, and reduce the fear of crime and social disorder through problem solving tactics. The way community policing works is it requires the police and citizens to work together to increase safety for the public. Each community policing program is different depending on the needs of the community. There have been five consistent key elements of an effective community oriented policing program: Adopting community service as the overarching philosophy of the organization, making an institutional commitment to community policing that is internalized throughout the command structure, emphasizing geographically decentralized models of policing that stress services tailored to the needs of individual communities rather than a one-size-fits-all approach for the entire jurisdiction, empowering citizens to act in partnership with the police on issues of crime and more broadly defined social problems, for example, quality-of-life issues, and using problem-oriented or problem-solving approaches involving police personnel working with community members. Community oriented policing has improved the public’s perception of the police in a huge way. Community policing builds more relationships with the
Just this past summer, one of my good friends was driving through Harrisonburg on his way home from work, when he noticed the one thing all drivers dread, flashing blue lights closing in on him fast. While pulling to the side of the road, he realized there was not one, but two police cars behind him. He knew he had only been going five miles per hour over the speed limit, so he was worried as to why two police cars had just pulled him over. After sitting in fear behind his wheel for several minutes, two cops walked to his car and informed him that he was getting a speeding ticket.
There has always been a love-hate relationship between the public and the police. When called upon to help, they can be something sent from God, but when they are writing tickets, or taking a friend to jail, the view changes from a savior to a presence that is unwanted and often hated. An effort to improve the public view of law enforcement is being attempted by many departments. Using different styles of policing techniques, mainly community based policing, has proved to be the best way to improve the image of law enforcement.
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.
A normal day, for an officer on patrol, is following up on calls, issuing traffic citations or directing traffic, “The traffic-safety part of law enforcement is usually the common one