Quiz 3 CJ

Sheriff

Derived from shire-reeve; Shire means county, and reeve means “agent of the king”. Appeared in England in 1066 to maintain law and order, and collect tithings. They appeared in America during the colonial period. Today the primary roles for in the US are: Rural crime control, collecting taxes, and operating county jails.

Metropolitan Police Act (1820s)

Modern policing didn’t appear until the early 1820s. Before modern police, most enforcement was done by watch groups. The Parliament passed this Act, which served to create a national police force.

Peele

is the father of modern police. London police are named bobbies after Robert (Bob) Peele. Peele’s model spread to other cities throughout the world.

Peele’s Beliefs:

Police should work in a coordinated manner

Police should designate beat areas.

Coverage should be 24 hours a day.

Officers should be uniformed to identify them

Officers should be reserved, even keeled.

Officers would not carry weapons.

Different Eras in Policing:

Ever since the policing model was first imported from England, there have been three eras in US policing since the mid-1800s

Political Era: (1840s-1930s)

In the US, the first formal police force began in the 1840s in NYC. Soon spread to all major cities in the US. Because police were under control of city politicians, it led to corruption. Hiring and promotion were based on external politics, not the best people for the job. Police were also known to take bribes from illegal activities.

Reform Era (1930s-1980s)

Moved away from political influence and into professional policing. Some jurisdictions did not allow officers to live in the same area of their beat. A high emphasis on measuring effectiveness through numbers: Arrest, citations, response time.

August Vollmer,

the police of Chief of Berkeley, CA, is credited with professionalizing police by purchasing first squad cars with lights, beginning first forensics program, and creating first entrance exams. Vollmer teamed up with UC-Berkeley to create the first higher education policing classes.

Community Era (1980s-Present):

In prior eras, police were not concerned with long-term change. They were not concerned with addressing causes of crime, only response. Focused on community policing and problem solving. The focus was on proactive policing instead of reactive. Looked at underlying causes and developed responses

Critical studies:

Response had little to do with whether arrest was made at the scene. Detective were overrated in their ability to solve. Most calls for police were non-criminal.

Basic Qualifications:

Police officers are entrusted with immense responsibility and often must make snap decisions that could affect people’s lives.

We’ve all heard about police mishaps: from car wrecks, accidental shooting, illegal use of force. It can cause harm to people’s lives and property.

Bad Policing is costly: In NYC, lawsuits involving police officers cost the city nearly 8 million dollars.

To mitigate harm, jurisdictions must be extremely selective when deciding who they select to enforce law.

Typical Selection Process:

Exam

Physical Fitness Test

The most common is the Cooper Standards Test: Measures strength and agility

Oral Exam/ Interview

Psychological Exam (Approximately 90 percent of police departments use some type of psychological exam)

Polygraph Exam (Approximately 60 percents of departments still use polygraphs, even though most researchers say that polygraphs are unreliable and inaccurate in detecting deception.

Drug Use

Illegal Drug use on case-by-case basis. Type of drugs and last use may affect decision.

Background Investigation

Four main considerations for drug usage:

Recency of usage. How long ago was it?

Patterns or frequency of usage. Was it experimental? A daily habit?

Types of drugs used. Marijuana will like be treated differently than Heroin.

Past drug trafficking (dealing) normally an immediate disqualifier, even if the individual was not arrested for it.

Background Investigation

Dishonorable Discharges, criminal convictions, arrests, etc.

Felonies will normally disqualify a candidate.

Domestic violence charges, even if a misdemeanor, will disqualify a candidate. Individuals was not arrested for it.

Depending on the agency, this may include more in-depth investigations.

College Degrees:

15 percent of departments in the US require a college degree for new officers.

NOPD nixed college requirements in 2015.

Why? What are some reasons why some departments moved away from college degrees?

Benefits of college education:

Fewer citizens complaints

Have better peer relationships

Likelier to lead to relationship role

Are less dogmatic and authoritarian

Tend to be more less flexible

Take fewer leave and sick days

Fewer vehicle accidents

Many jurisdictions also pay bonuses to officers with college degrees.

Basics Tasks of Policing:

Enforce the law, Perform welfare tasks. Prevent crime, Protect the innocent

Enforce the law

Small portions of time is devoted to this.

Perform welfare tasks

Runaways

Death notifications

Deliver blood to hospitals

Report safety hazards

Running errands.

How they Perform these tasks: Styles of Policing

Police officers must use discretion. It’s not possible to for departments to exercise full enforcement.

Only certain crimes are enforced fully; in most cases it’s up to the officer to determine response.

The public, department culture can also instill a favored approach to enforcement.

Originated from researcher James Q Wilson.

The Watchman Style

Focused primarily on order maintenance.

May ignore minor violations or deal with them informally.

Exercises a lot of discretion

The Legalistic Style

Acts like a soldier

Issues many tickets, makes a lot of arrests.

Assumes their purpose is to punish lawbreakers.

Service Style

Falls in-between watchman and legalistic style

Officer sees themselves as a teacher

Takes seriously all violations, but less likely to respond with arrest on all occasions.

Protects public order from ‘outsider’ and uses informal sanctions often.

The Myth of Full Enforcement

The fact is all laws cannot be enforced equally, all the time.

When officers observe something suspicious illegal, they must ask themselves two questions:

Whether to intervene?

How to intervene?

Two sides of Criminal Law

  Formality and Reality

Formality

Criminal Code, statuses, SC opinions

Reality

  Practices of LE Officers

Determinants of Discretions: Officers Attitude

Empathy

Personal viewpoints

Determinants of Discretions: Citizens Attitude

Rude and condescending

Denies wrongdoing

“Do you know who I am? I pay your salary”

Pitfalls of Discretion

Discretion is often practiced by low-ranking officers on patrol, with little administrative oversight.

Impartiality

Impartiality

Officers may be biased when using discretion

Liability

If an officer uses discretion and lets someone go, there may be repercussions later.