In recent months, the unrest between citizens and local law enforcement has been played out on the 24/7 news cycle. As law enforcement deploys paramilitary patrolling units to bring order to cities in turmoil over police shootings of unarmed civilians and the surveillance of citizens, the relationship between local police and the citizens they are sworn to protect is tense and broken.
Case Study No. 1 - Ferguson, Missouri and the 1033 Program Darren Wilson, a Police Officer with the Ferguson Police Department on August 9, 2014, fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown, a resident of Ferguson, Missouri. From this initial incident, public outrage sparked protests, looting and violent clashes with law enforcement. In order to regain order in
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With the recent turmoil across various states in the United States, the citizenry is requiring accountability of the criminal justice system in order to have effective policing that does not infringe on civil liberties and the law.
1. Law enforcement departments should strengthen their community policing through community outreach. In order to have the trust of the community, departments must learn about their communities and work together with community leaders. By re-instating “on the beat” policing and utilizing more police officers on bicycles, it enables citizens within the community to see their police officers routinely and for police officers to better interact more closely with their
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Terrorism does not discriminate, but many tactics and policies that have been created post-September 11th have caused infringements on civil liberties and resulted in great unrest. The local criminal justice process has therefore been affected through the militarization of law enforcement and the deployment of cutting edge surveillance techniques and equipment as communities begin to not trust in their law enforcement. With examples such as Ferguson Missouri, No Knock Search Warrants and the PRISM program, the distrust of the citizens of the United States has spilled over into violence on streets. In order to regain control and prevent those that seek to do harm to the United States from seizing this moment of turmoil, law enforcement agencies must re-evaluate their policies, tactics, equipment and specialized units. Regaining the trust of those within their communities must be leveraged through communications between community leaders and law enforcement agencies. The United States is at a crossroads, if change is not enacted, more violence and civil unrest will be the
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
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?
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
Police corruption is not a new problem in society and there is not a standard way to deal with it. Police officers have enormous power and responsibility and are asked to make difficult decisions. There is not an exact guide to behavior for police officers so their discretion can lead to corruption (Monkkonen, 1999). The existence of police corruption in America has created a negative public view of law enforcement. Police corruption has deteriorated the relationship between law enforcement and the community. In the past four years, more than 500 officers in 47 cities have been convicted of various federal crimes. Local and state authorities in 32 other jurisdictions are either engaged in active investigations or prosecutions of dirty cops (Johnson,1998) .
The police are usually charged with the great responsibility of ensuring that citizens are living quality lives that are free of crime and fear. In order to perform this duty effectively, the police need accurate and deeper knowledge of the citizens and issues they encounter in their daily lives. This knowledge will not be easy to come by if the police work independently from the citizens. Over the last several decades, police agencies have been working to gain the respect and the cooperation of the communities they serve. Community Oriented Policing was introduced to bring a closer working relationship between the citizens and the police.
This paper explores the work of six published articles that discuss the topic of police militarization. The purpose of this paper is to explore the polarity between domestic policing and the military. This paper begins by discussing the evolution of the police and the military and then later determining the shift in strategy in favor of police militarization. The paper will also discuss the effect this change has on local communities as well as examples of recent occurences that have made their way into the public eye as a result of “police militarization”. Balko (2013) argues the prevalence of “police militairzation” with the use of SWAT (Special Weapons and Tatics) teams. Hall and Coyne (2013) discuss the factors and strategies in favor of
Within our police system in America, there are gaps and loopholes that give leeway to police officials who either abuse the authority given to them or do not represent the ethical standards that they are expected to live up to by society. Because of the nature of police work, there is a potential for deterioration of these ethical and moral standards through deviance, misconduct, corruption, and favoritism. Although these standards are set in place, many police officers are not held accountable for their actions and can easily get by with the mistreatment of others because of their career title. While not every police abuses his or her power, the increasingly large percentage that do present a problem that must be recognized by the public as well as those in charge of police departments throughout our country. Police officials are abusing their power and authority through three types of misconduct known as malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance and these types are being overlooked by management personnel who rarely intervene even though they know what is happening. Misconduct is wrong because it violates rights and causes people to be wrongly accused of crimes or be found not guilty and set free when they are still an endangerment to other people. The public needs to be educated on what is happening in the police system in hopes that someone will speak out to protect citizens from being violated by police officers.
Community policing allows officers to be actively involved on the streets alongside the community. Their focus is not only to solve crimes but to interact with the people in their neighborhood, establish a rapport with them. This initiative has gained popularity within recent years as the police and leaders of the community pursue more significant ways to promote public safety and to enrich the quality of life of their community members. The police and the citizens often come in contact with each other for a multitude of reasons other than criminal purposes. Police officers often engage in community service by providing an abundance of information for those in need, and they offer educational services at schools and outreach
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.
Today in 2015, community policing is as relevant as it has ever been in the history of America policing as many law enforcement agencies across the country continue to try and build stronger relationships, and establish partnerships between police officers and the communities they serve, especially minority communities. Since the 1990’s and early 2000’s many police agencies have come to accept the concepts of community oriented policing, and have made great strides towards better community-police relations. Many departments now meet regularly with neighborhood groups, allow citizens to participate in citizen police academies, conduct forums to give citizens a better understanding of the duties of police officers and their actions. Some police departments require and encourage officer to get out of their patrol vehicle and initiate positive contact with the people on their beats (Shusta, Levine, Wong, Olson, & Harris, 2011). All of these efforts are important and relevant to community policing, which helps to remove and diminish negative images of police officers. Citizens are more willing to work hand in hand with police officers who are approachable, engaged, and take ownership in the neighborhoods they serve, which is what community policing is all
Community policing is a strategy used by various departments in order to create and maintain a relationship between the law enforcement agency and the community being patrolled. Community policing is composed of three critical components, community partnerships, organizational transformation, and problem solving (Gardiner, 154, 2016). Community partnerships are pivotal in community policing since they increase public trust and create am improved relationship in law enforcement agencies better serving the community (Gardiner, 87, 2016). These partnerships not only offer public input but also encourage the public to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in order to minimize crime within the community (Gardiner, 88, 2016). Unlike, the traditional strategies of policing, community orientated policing has been adopted by two-thirds of agencies in order to improve public safety and control crime. (Gardiner, 148, 2016).
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.
The key aspects to community policing involve having officers working in permanent neighborhoods, the involvement of citizens to identify problems and have potential solutions, and the reliance on agencies to help locate issues. The cornerstone of the program is the citizen interaction with the police. It is reported that communities that receive community policing funds have reduced levels of violent and property crimes, also has a greater number of arrests. Successful partnership helps with the reduction of gang and drug activities, area crime rate, and the improvement of the relationship between law enforcement and
♦ Make a strong commitment to community-oriented policing. Everyone in the police department should be involved, not just a few units or off...
(Berlin, Michael M. "Encyclopedia of Community Policing and Problem Solving.") At the same time, aggressive patrol tactics adopted in response to rising crime and civil disobedience increased the likelihood of hostile confrontations between police and citizens and contributed to increasing complaints against the police (Berlin, Michael M. "Encyclopedia of Community Policing and Problem Solving.") The community policing literature strongly suggests that community policing could improve communication and trust between police and citizens, reverse the growing distance and isolation of the police from the public, and reduce citizen complaints of brutality and indifference (Berlin, Michael M. "Encyclopedia of Community Policing and Problem