Police and Society Midterm Study Guide

The best source of knowledge about the police is ______.

Scientific research

Officers spend a majority of their time on law enforcement activities

False

Within the United States, the police are part of which branch of government

Executive

Without the police, the entire criminal justice system would cease to operate

True

When government power increases, the rights of citizens ______.

decreases

In many cities, ______ hire and fire police chiefs

mayors

Discretionary decision-making is _______ in policing.

common

Because they determine who comes into the system and who stays out, the police are often described as the ______ of the criminal justice system.

gatekeepers

Over-policing occurs when citizens perceive that the police are taking too much enforcement actions in a specific area.

True

_______ is unique to policing and separates it from all other occupations.

The authority to use force in many situations

Performing wellness-checks on elderly citizens is an example of which primary police responsibility?

service

Which of the following is an example of an unethical but legal police action?

lying to a suspect in an interrogation

What is a way for police departments to increase transparency?

All of the above

Regardless of severity, all laws are enforced equally

False

The first 10 Amendments to the U.S. constitution are collectively known as ______.

The Bill of Rights

The three primary roles of police include _______.

law enforcement, order maintenance, and service

Providing a security presence at a public demonstration or protest is an example of which primary police responsibility

order maintenance

The police spend a majority of their time in ______.

public

Police departments are required by law to equally emphasize their law enforcement, order maintenance, and service roles?

False

The media tend to focus on ______ police behavior

bad

Which era of policing sought to get closer to the community and work with members of the community to fight crime?

community-problem solving era

The first police departments were modeled after the military

True

During the mid-1800s, most policing agencies in the United States operated at the _____level.

local

This law enforcement agency served as the model from which American police departments were built in the mid-1800s.

London Metropolitan Police Department

During the settlement of the American West, a group of armed male citizens that could be summoned by the sheriff to apprehend criminals or deal with other violent threats was called ______.

the Posse

During which era of policing was corruption widespread, officers poorly trained, and selection and promotion tied to political party affilitation?

political era

In what year did the Supreme Court of the United States rule that prolonged beating as a method of extracting confessions were no longer an acceptable police practice?

1936

The first appointed law enforcement officials in Colonial America were called _____.

Constables

Berkley, California police chief ________ was responsible for a number of significant advancements in policing, including putting two-way radios in police cars, developing the first crime laboratory at a police department, and creating the first criminology program at an American university.

August Vollmer

What was the primary purpose of early London police?

crime prevention

During the late 1800s, increasing crime rates led to the creation of specialized police officers who were familiar with criminals and their tactics called _______.

detectives

During which decade did the crime rate in the United States double, and the police found themselves facing off against rioters and demonstrators, and landmark decisions like Miranda v. Arizona were seen by many as “handcuffing” the police?

1960s

The first police department in the United States was created in ______.

Boston

During the political era of policing, appointments and promotions of police officers were based on merit

False

Historically, the practice of using force against suspects during interrogations to get them to disclose information was called ______.

the third degree

In the late 1800s, the first women hired by U.S. police departments were called

police matrons

______ is largely credited with creating the London Metropolitan Police Department

Sir Robert Peel

According to Kelling and Moore (1989), the expected outcomes of police during the Political Era were crime prevention, riot control, order maintenance, and providing services such as running soup kitchens to feed the homeless and providing newly arriving immigrants with temporary lodging.

True

Studying police history is important because it can help to identify persistent police problems

True

The introduction of _______ represented a first attempt to control and improve the police during the political era of policing

early warning signs

The ______ unit is tasked with investigating citizens complaints against officers as well as departmentally generated complaints.

internal affairs

Most departments use _______ as the basis for job assignments and shift preferences

seniority

_____ refers to the number of distinct units within an organization as well as the number of supervisory levels in the organization

specialization

_____ refers to the idea that each subordinate within an organization should have only one supervisor

unity of command

_______ refers to the number of people a supervisor is responsible for supervising.

span of control

This principle holds that every person in an organization has a supervisor, and supervisors have more authority than subordinates.

hierarchy of authority

Larger police departments tend to have _____ smaller departments.

more specialization than

The minimum education requirement in most police departments is _____.

a high school diploma or equivalency

To emphasize the “selling points” of their department, it is critical that recruiters are aware of candidates’ _______.

motivation for being a police officer

______ protections are in place to minimized political considerations in job-related processes, and to ensure government employees are recruited hired, and promoted based on job qualifications and merit and demoted or dismissed only for cause.

Civil service

The majority of full-time sworn officers are employed by

local departments with more than 100 full-time officers

A ________ is generally a disqualifying factor for employment as a police officer.

felony conviction

_______ training occurs annually throughout an officer’s career.

in-service

The largest percentage of police academies are operated by ______.

universities or colleges

The ______ process involves the probationary officer working alongside a training officer to learn and perform the tasks of policing while actually on the street

field training

The primary federal law enforcement agencies are located in the Department of Homeland Security and the ______.

Department of Justice

Which of the following is an example of special jurisdiction law enforcement agency?

University of Pennsylvania Police Department

This type of law enforcement agency is responsible for enforcing laws on county land, and in towns and villages that do not have their own police departments.

Sheriff’s Department

Which of the following is an example of a local law enforcement agency?

Scranton Police Department

Which of the following is an example of state level law enforcement agency?

Texas Highway Patrol

Which of the following crimes would most likely be eligible for a differential police response?

larceny

The ______ experiment found that increased preventative patrol had no impact on the amount of crime committed.

Kansas City preventative control

Research shows that increased levels of preventative patrol _______.

have no impact on crime

______ is the most common method of police patrol.

vehicle patrol

______ is(are) grounded in the understanding that a small percentage of offenders are responsible for a large percentage of crime, and focusing police efforts to identifying, monitoring, and apprehending these individuals.

Offender-focused strategies

An officer on _____ patrol would be most able to easily initiate contact with citizens

foot

Concentrating police presence in location and times where crime is concentrated is called _____.

Hot spot policing

A fast police response is most likely to lead to an on-scene arrest when citizens do not delay in contacting the police about a ______.

involvement crime

When officers respond to calls for service while on patrol, it is called ______ time.

assigned

The _______ was created in 1968 and is the national emergency phone number.

911 call system

Calls for services are categorized based on

priority

Handling calls for service by taking reports over the phone, over the internet, or via some method other than immediate response by a patrol car is called _______.

differential police response

_______ evidence is crime-related information that immediately demonstrates the existence of a fact in question.

direct

_____ evidence is evidence that tends to include or incriminate a person as a perpetrator.

inculpatory

______ occurs when the police induce someone to commit a crime the person would not have otherwise committed.

Entrapment

Tools marks found on the window frame at a crime scene is an example of ______- evidence.

physical

_______ is the process of collecting crime-related information to reach certain goals.

criminal investigations

The most persuasive form of evidence is ______.

A confession

An example of digital evidence in an investigation is _____.

information from a cell phone

_____ is evidence that tends to exclude or eliminate someone from consideration as a suspect.

Exculpatory

According to the Monolithic model, in which environment do officers face “supervisor scrutiny” and “role ambiguity"?

Organizational environment

______ are the values, beliefs, and ideas created in order to cope with an environment, while ______ is the process of acquiring those values.

culture; socialization

_______ comprises the attitudes, values, and norms that are transmitted and shared among police officers as a way to collectively cope with the common problems and conditions they face

culture

The ______ is an important dimension of the police subculture, and a potential obstacle to preventing police corruption and misconduct

code of silence