police systems exam 1

A law enfo

Alaw enforcement agency has four primary functions:

1. Prevents crime

2. controls crime

3. maintains public order

4. provides many other miscellaneous services

Police officer

Nonmilitary person who is employed by a governments agency and has the legal status peace officer

peace officer

status granted to individual who have certain powers not available to ordinary citizens and provides certain legal protection can be a police, probation, parole, or correction officers

the crime fighter myth

1. enforce laws

2. investigate crimes

   1. arrest criminals

sources of the crime fighter image

1. entertainment media

2. news media

3. police themselves

true or false: only 19% of the calls involve crime and only 2% of calls are related to violent crime incidents

true

complexity of the police role

• ambiguities

• discretion

• conflict

true or false: use of force-even deadly force- is one of the most important factors to understand police work

true

factors that shape the police role

• police are 24/7 and their availability is jurisdiction wide

• people call and police promise to respond

• police are generalists, and you can call the police for any reason

• authority to use force. this factor makes the police more likely to take care of the problem

social control

a process by which people are taught to behave in a certain manner

informal control

exists when the individual is willing to abide by the rules/social norms

former social control

the group sets the boundaries for acceptable individual behavior

social control mechanisms emphasizes:

conformity not diversity and predictability

true or false: police are part of the political and social welfare system

true

the relationship between police and social control

1. police are a mechanism of formal social control

2. police select methods of achieving control

3. criminal processing is a choice of police

legitimate police

• procedural justice when enforcing the law

• public interactions to build legitimacy

• public trust in the police work

• transparency in policy and practices

freedom vs order

freedom focuses on the individual rights such as defined in the constitution

order emphasizes on the group interest which specifies the rules that individuals have consensus and should abide by

effective strategies for controlling crime

• hot spots policing

• focused deterrence

• problem-oriented policing

limited police authority

the legal tradition values individuals liberty. citizens are suspicious of a strong and centralized governemt

local control

police agencies are controlled by local government. there is no centralized police force in America

true or false: as a consequence of local control, there is a highly decentralized and fragmented system of law enforcement

true

true or false: there is an exact number of law enforcement agencies in the U.S.

false

the passage of metropolitan police act in 1829

sir robert peel, the “father of modern policing” established the 1st police force in london.

shared responsibility

formal organization

In Colonial America, the sheriff was appointed by:

colonial governor

in Colonial America, a constable was responsible for

responsibility for enforcing law and maintaining order, originally elected, later appointed.

watchmen patrolled to guard against:

• fire

• crime

• disorder