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Challenges to Effective Policing

Challenges to Effective Policing. Recruitment and Training: Becoming a Police Officer. Basic Requirements : U.S. Citizen No felony convictions Valid Driver’s License Minimum 21 years of age Weight, eyesight, and fitness requirements Background check Polygraph .

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Challenges to Effective Policing

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  1. Challenges to Effective Policing

  2. Recruitment and Training: Becoming a Police Officer Basic Requirements: • U.S. Citizen • No felony convictions • Valid Driver’s License • Minimum 21 years of age • Weight, eyesight, and fitness requirements • Background check • Polygraph

  3. Training includes the police academy. Laws of arrest, search, seizure, and interrogation Weapons use Crime scene preservation Witness interviewing First aid Self-defense Field Training occurs after the academy. The field training officer (FTO) helps the rookie apply what (s)he has learned “the the streets.” Recruitment and Training: Becoming a Police Officer

  4. Recruiting Members of Minority Groups and Women Only within the past fifteen years have police agencies actively been recruiting women, African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and other minority groups. Minority representation in police agencies has grown from 14.6% in 1987 to 23.6% in 2003.

  5. Recruiting Members of Minority Groups and Women Discrimination and the Law • 1964 Civil Rights Act • 1972 Equal Opportunity Employment Act The Benefits of a Culturally Diverse Police Force • Improved community relations • Higher levels of service

  6. Police Organization Cornerstones: Bureaucracy Delegation of Authority

  7. Law Enforcement in the Field Field Services (operations) include: • Patrol activities • Investigations • Special operations

  8. Law Enforcement in the Field The purposes of patrol include: • The deterrence of crime by maintaining a visible police presence • The maintenance of public order and a sense of security in the community • The twenty-four hour provision of services that are not crime related

  9. Law Enforcement in the Field Routine patrol activities can be categorized into four areas: • Preventive patrol • Calls for service • Administrative duties • Officer-initiated activities

  10. Law Enforcement in the Field Investigations: • Reactive, rather than proactive • The responsibility of detectives • Success is measured with clearance rates, or the number of cases resulting in arrest and prosecution • Aggressive strategies include going undercover and working with confidential informants.

  11. Forensics is the practice of using science and technology to investigate crime. Forensics can be used to determine: Cause of death/injury Time of death/injury Type of weapon Identity of the victim Identity of the offender Law Enforcement in the Field

  12. Law Enforcement in the Field The DNA Revolution: • DNA provides the genetic blueprint for every living organism. • When DNA is recovered at a crime scene and matched to a suspect, the odds that match is conclusive are 30 million to 1. • The Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) is a database that stores DNA samples taken from crime scenes. • As of 2007, CODIS has produces almost 59,000 coldhits nationwide.

  13. Police Strategies: What Works • More police officers, less crime? • Response time to 911 calls • Incident-driven policing • Response time as a benchmark of efficiency • Differential response • “Cold” calls versus “hot” calls

  14. General patrol: relies on officers to monitor a certain area to detecting crimes in progress or preventing crimes due to their presence. Also called preventive patrol, or random patrol. Directed patrol: is designed to respond to a specific criminal activity at a specific time. Targeted areas are labeled hot spots. Police Strategies: What Works

  15. Reactive Arrests: Arrests that come about as part of the ordinary routine of police patrol and calls for service . Proactive Arrests: Arrests that occur when police take the initiative to target a particular type of criminal behavior. Police Strategies: What Works

  16. Police Strategies: What Works Broken Windows Theory: • A neighborhood in disrepair signals that criminal activity is tolerated in the area • By cracking down on quality-of-life crimes, police can reclaim the neighborhood and encourage law-abiding citizens to live and work there • Based on order maintenance of neighborhoods

  17. Police Strategies: What Works Community policing is a strategy that emphasizes community support for and cooperation with police in preventing crime. Community policing is: • less centralized • proactive in nature

  18. Community Policing Problem-Oriented Policing: • A key component of community policing • Moves beyond simply responding to incidents and attempts instead to control or even solve the root causes of criminal behavior • Two important aspects of problem-solving policing are “hot spots” and crime mapping

  19. “Us versus Them”: Issues in Modern Policing Police Subculture: The values and perceptions that are shared by members of a police department. These values permeate agencies and are taught to new officers through a process of socialization.

  20. “Us versus Them”: Issues in Modern Policing Rituals critical to the police officer’s acceptance of police subculture: • Attending a recruit academy • Working with a senior officer who passes on the lessons of police work and life • Making the initial felony arrest • Using force to make an arrest for the first time • Witnessing major traumatic incidents for the first time

  21. “Us versus Them”: Issues in Modern Policing • The Blue Curtain, aka the “blue wall of silence” • Police cynicism • Physical and mental dangers associated with police work • Chronic stress • Alcohol abuse • Suicide

  22. “Us versus Them”: Issues in Modern Policing Authority and the Use of Force Reasonable Force: Deadly Force: The degree of force Force likely or that is appropriate intended to cause to protect the officer death. and other citizens.

  23. “Us versus Them”: Issues in Modern Policing The United States Supreme Court and Use of Force: Tennessee v. Garner (1985) Graham v. Conner (1989)

  24. “Us versus Them”: Issues in Modern Policing Types of Corruption: • Bribery • Shakedowns • Mooching

  25. “Us versus Them”: Issues in Modern Policing Sherman’s Stages of Moral Decline: • Officers accept minor gratuities. • Officers accept bribes. • Officers actively seek out bribes and commit extortion.

  26. “Us versus Them”: Issues in Modern Policing Police accountability: • Internal investigations • Citizen Oversight

  27. Police Ethics Ethical dilemmas are defined as a situation in which law enforcement officers: • Do not know the right course of action • Have difficulty doing what they consider to be right; and/or • Find the wrong choice very tempting

  28. Police Ethics Four categories of Ethical Dilemmas: • Discretion • Duty • Honesty • Loyalty

  29. Police Ethics Officers should ask themselves: • Is it legal? • Is it balanced? • How does it make me feel about myself?

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