CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN ACTION: THE CORE. Chapter 6 Challenges to Effective Policing OUTLINE Recruitment and Training: Becoming a Police Officer Police Organization

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN ACTION: THE CORE

Chapter 6Challenges to Effective Policing

OUTLINE Recruitment and Training: Becoming a Police

Officer Police Organization Refocusing on the Community Law Enforcement in the Field “Us versus Them”: Issues in Modern Policing Police Ethics Criminal Justice in Action—The DNA

Revolution

Chapter 6: Effective Policing Blue curtain p.146

A metaphorical term used to refer to the value placed on secrecy and the general mistrust of the outside world shared by many police officers.

Broken windows theory p. 138 Wilson and Kelling’s

theory that a neighborhood in disrepair signals that criminal activity is tolerated in that area. Thus, by cracking down on quality-of-life crimes, police can reclaim the neighborhood and encourage law-abiding citizens to live and work there.

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Chapter 6: Effective Policing Bureaucracy p.

132 A hierarchically

structured administrative organization that carries out specific functions.

Citizen Oversight p. 151 The process by which

citizens review complaints brought against individual police officers or police departments. The citizens do not have the power to discipline misconduct, but can recommend that action be taken by police departments.

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Chapter 6: Effective Policing Clearance rate p.

144 Comparison:

the number of crimes cleared by arrest and prosecution with the number of crimes reported.

Differential response p. 134 Response time is

adapted to the seriousness of the calls.

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Chapter 6: Effective Policing Hot spots p. 137

Concentrated areas of high criminal activity that draw a directed police response.

Police cynicism p. 146 Suspicion that

citizens are weak, corrupt, and dangerous. Results from exposure to citizens at their worst.

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RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING:

BECOMING A POLICE OFFICER (cont.)

Basic Requirements Most agencies require at a

minimum that a police officer:

Be a U.S. citizen

Not convicted of a felony

Driver’s license

21 years old

Weight / eyesight reqs



Additionally most agencies engage in: Background checks, drug tests

Review educational, military, and driving records

Credit checks

An (FBI) search

Fitness test

Basic Requirements



1968: 5% of officers were African American, even less were women

2002: 17% are minorities, 27% are women

Recruiting Members of Minority Groups and Women

POLICE ORGANIZATION (cont.)

Measured by response time and arrest rates

Response Time and Efficiency: Incident-Driven Policing: A reactive

approach to policing that emphasizes a speedy response to calls for service

Striving for Efficiency


Arrest Rates and Efficiency: the more arrests a police department makes, the lower the number of criminals there should be on the streets of the community

An additional measure of police effectiveness is citizen satisfaction

Striving for Efficiency

Chapter 6: Effective Policing Police Subculture

p.145 Values and

perceptions shared by members of a police department.

Problem-solving policing p. 136 Identify potential

criminal activity and develop strategies to prevent it.

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Chapter 6: Effective Policing Reasonable force

p.148 Degree of force

that is appropriate to protect the police officer or other citizens and is not excessive.

Socialization p. 146 Process through

which a police officer is taught the values and expected behavior of the police subculture.

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Professional vs. Community Policing p. 137 Professional model policing focuses on

technology and efficiency to reduce corruption

Involves rapid response to calls and preventive control (police patrol reduces chances of crime)

Refocusing on the Community


Professional vs. Community Policing p. 137 Community Policing is a reaction to the

professional model Return to foot patrol, “reconnect” with

community Uses problem solving to approach crimes

as problems that can be solved with long-term approaches



Professional vs. Community Policing p. 137 Look at the comparison of professional and

community policing in your book Pick a style of policing that you think makes

more sense On a separate sheet of paper, write down:

5 reasons that your style should be used over the other one

What is the ultimate goal of your style? Why should this be the goal of police work?



Professional vs. Community Policing p. 137 Split into two groups, one for professional

and one for community From your lists of reasons, come up with

the 5 best arguments for your side as a group

Share your arguments with the class


REFOCUSING ON THE COMMUNITY (cont.)

Uses hot-spots and crime-mapping to actively tackle problem areas of the city

Problem-Solving Policing

REFOCUSING ON THE COMMUNITY

Broken Windows Theory: Theory that a neighborhood in disrepair signals that criminal activity is tolerated in the area

Crackdowns: When police intensely focus their energies on a particular crime or set of crimes in a given area

Broken Windows: PopularizingCommunity Policing

REFOCUSING ON THE COMMUNITY

Compstat system: It starts with beat officers reporting the exact location of crimes and other crime-related to department officials

These reports are then fed into a database, which prepares grids of a particular city or neighborhood and highlights areas with a high incidence of violent crime, drug dealing, and so on

Broken Windows: Popularizing Community Policing

LAW ENFORCEMENT IN THE FIELD

Community policing is one of the field services that police officers perform.

Field services aka “operations” or “line services,” include:

Patrol activities

Investigations

Special operations

LAW ENFORCEMENT IN THE FIELD (cont.)

The most common law enforcement agent is the patrol officer, who is responsible for deterring and preventing crime as well as providing social services

The Purpose of Patrol: 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

Police on Patrol: The Backboneof the Department


Patrol Activities: The four general categories are:

1. Preventive patrol: By maintaining a presence in a community, either in a car or on foot, patrol officers attempt to prevent crime from occurring

2. Calls for service: Patrol officers spend nearly a quarter of their time responding to 911 calls for emergency service or other citizen problems and complaints

3. Administrative duties: Paperwork takes up nearly 20 percent of patrol time

4. Officer-initiated activities: Incidents in which the patrol officer initiates contact with citizens

Police on Patrol: The Backbone of the Department


Preventive patrol: Direct patrol: Patrol strategies that are

designed to respond to a specific criminal activity at a specific time

General Patrol: Patrol strategies that rely on police officers monitoring a certain area with the goal of detecting crimes in progress or preventing crime due to their presence. Also known as random or preventive patrol

The Kansas City Experiment: The theory of preventive patrol was tested by the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment, conducted in 1972 and 1973

Police on Patrol: The Backbone of the Department


Investigation is the second main function of police, along with patrol

Patrol is primarily preventive, investigation is reactive

Detective: The primary police investigator of crimes

Police Investigations


More than 97 percent of cases that are “solved” can be attributed to:

A patrol officer making an arrest at the scene

Witnesses or victims identifying the perpetrator

Detectives undertaking routine investigative procedures

Clearance Rate: A comparison of the number of crimes cleared by arrest and prosecution to the number of crimes reported during any given time period



The Detection Function: A detective division in the larger

police departments usually has a number of sections: Crimes against persons Crimes against property Vice, a broad term that covers a

number of public order crimes



Cold Case Investigations:

The term cold case refers to a crime that has been unsolved for a long period of time

Cold case squads have become more common in the past decade, thanks to advances in forensic science

DNA testing, in particular, has revolutionized cold case investigating



Aggressive Investigation Strategies:

Sting Operation Undercover Operation Confidential informant (CI)

A human source for police who provides information concerning illegal activity in which he or she is involved


“US VERSUS THEM”: ISSUES IN MODERN POLICING

Racial tension and questions of excessive force are two of the many on-the-job issues that make law enforcement such a challenging and often difficult career

“US VERSUS THEM”: ISSUES IN MODERN POLICING (cont.)

The values and perceptions that are shared by members of a police department, and to a certain extent, by all law enforcement agents

These values and perceptions are shaped by the unique and isolated existence of the police officer

Police Subculture

“US VERSUS THEM”: ISSUES IN

MODERN POLICING (cont.)

The Core Values of Police Subculture : Socialization: The process through which a

police officer is taught the values and expected behavior of the police subculture

Rituals critical to the police officer’s acceptance:

Attending a recruit academy Working with a senior officer who passes on the

“lessons” of police work and life to the younger officer Making the initial felony arrest Using force to make an arrest for the first time Using or witnessing deadly force for the first time Witnessing major traumatic incidents for the first time

Police Subculture


Blue Curtain: A metaphorical term used to refer to the value placed on secrecy and the general mistrust of the outside world shared by many police officers

Police Cynicism: The suspicion that citizens are weak,

corrupt, and dangerous; this outlook is the result of a police officer being constantly exposed to civilians at their worst and can negatively affect the officer’s performance

Police Subculture


According to the U.S. Department of Justice, police have the most dangerous job in the United States

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, policing is one of the ten most stressful occupations in the country

The Physical and Mental Dangers of Police Work


Both police officers and civilians tend to equate terms such as authority and respect with the ability to use force

The “Misuse” of Force In general, the use of physical force by law enforcement

personnel is very rare, occurring in only about 1.5 percent of police-public encounters

The Department of Justice estimates that law enforcement officers threatened to use force or used force in encounters with about 664,500 Americans in 2002

Authority and the Use of Force


The Use of Force by Police against Suspects



Types of Force

Reasonable Force: The degree of force that is appropriate to protect the police officer or other citizens and is not excessive

Deadly Force: Force applied by a police officer that is likely or intended to cause death

Non-lethal Weapons Designed to subdue but not seriously harm

suspects



Defined as the misuse of authority by a law enforcement officer “in a manner designed to produce personal gain”

Types of Corruption1. Bribery2. Shakedowns3. Mooching

Corruption in Police Subculture There is no single reason that police

corruption occurs

Police Corruption


Who shall police the police? Internal investigations:

Internal Affairs Unit (IAU). A division within a police department that receives and investigates complaints of wrongdoing by police officers

Citizen Oversight: The process by which citizens review complaints

brought against individual police officers or police departments; the citizens often do not have the power to discipline misconduct but can recommend that action be taken by police administrators

Police Accountability

POLICE ETHICS

The rules or standards of behavior governing a profession are aimed at ensuring the fairness and rightness of actions

Police Code of Conduct: “A police officer willnot engage in acts of corruption or bribery”

Officers will never allow personal feelings, animosities, or friendships to influence official conduct”

POLICE ETHICS (CONT.)

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

Ethical Dilemmas

POLICE ETHICS (CONT.)

Discretion Duty Honesty Loyalty When considering a particular action,

officers ask themselves:1. Is it legal?

2. Is it balanced?

3. How does it make me feel about myself?

Elements of Ethics

Documents

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN ACTION: THE CORE. Chapter 6 Challenges to Effective Policing OUTLINE Recruitment and Training: Becoming a Police Officer Police Organization