Policing notes

Police history:

- a police officer is a civil servant whose purpose is to protect the community.

- a law enforcement agencies is more of an idea. Most agencies focus on specific parts of criminal justice. Ex: DPS

- DA is part of the government and is not part of the criminal justice system. DA is also the most powerful part of this system.

-Police and the Military are two different parts of the system

-police represent the civil powers of the government

Early police & English police

-in early civilizations, police were a private business

-local responsibilities of citizens: an eye for an eye

Retributive justice

-we punish people to create order

Praetorian Guard: first century BCE

-first police officers created by Roman emperor

-selected from the military force

Mutal pledge: the first English criminal justice/law enforcement system

Constable: the first form of English police officer dealing with a more serious violation

Magistrates: presiding in courts, ordering arrests, calling witnesses

Thief-takers: private citizens having no official status

-similar to bounty hunters in the American West

Henry fielding: laid the foundations for the first modern police force

Sir Robert Peel: the founder of modern policing

-drafted the first police bill (Metropolitan police act which was passed in 1829)

-first large-scale, uniformed, organized, and paid civil police force

-two magistrates/missioners

Peel’s nine principles:

-preventive role of police

-positive and cooperative relationship between the police and community

Discussion question:

What are the factors contributing to the creation of the first modern police force in England?

Discussion question:

Should university students be treated differently or more leniently?

American policing

The colonial experience replicated the england model

-law enforcement was still mainly the responsibility of the individual citizen

County sheriff:

-the most important law enforcement official

-not paid

In Cities:

-Town marshal was the chief law enforcement official

The south:

Policing was still individual business

-slave patrols: a formal system the first organinzed police of social operation

The Urban experience

Early police departments:

Boston- first police department, 1838

New York City:1845

The early police officer job-

-enforcement arm of political party

-protect private property

-Control of foreign immigrants

Boston strike was in 1919

-all the striking officers were fired and replaced by mew recruits

Policing from the 1900s to the 1960s continues

-international association of Chiefs of policing (1938)

Ausgust Vollmer: father of American policing

-chief of police in Berkeley california

-school of criminology

O.W. Wilson

-one officer squad car

-policing administration

-Modern management and administrative thechics of policing

John Edgar Hovver: director of the FBI 1924

-unifrom crime reports (UCR)

-in respones to the problem between the policing and citizens

-creation of national commissions’-president’s commission on law enforcement and administration of justice, 1967

-evauatedall respects of criminal justice

-significant reducation of violent crimes scine the 1990s

Future Policing

Cybercrime and cybersecurity

-In 2022, there were 5.4 billion malware attack

State law enforcement

Prior to 1900, only Texas Massachusetts had formed a state police

-evolved from the Texas Rangers

- a quasi-military force to protect

Duties:

Highway patrol, small-town patrol, and traffic law enforcement

Criminal investigations

Assist the local departments in criminal investagation where requested

-provide service such as identifications, laboratory, and training programs

Two Models:

Centralized model of state law enforcement

-combones the criminal law enforcement with traffic

Federal law enforcement

Department of justice

-legal and prosecutorial arm of the U.S government

-under the control of the U.S attorney General

Duties:

Enforce all federal laws

-repressenting the government at courts

-united states v. lopez

-conducting indepent investigations

National Instiute of Justice

-Conducting the National Crime Victimization Survey

FBI

-not a police force but a investigative agency

- they have various services like the uniform crime report that is reported ny local police department

US Marshall

-the oldest law enforcement agency

-3900 deputy marshals working for 94 presidentially appointed U.S marshals offices

-thier primary function was to support the federal courts

-the main responsibilities are judicial security and fugitive investigations

Department of home land security

-established in march 2003

-Merged 22 previously domestic agencies

-protection against further terrorist

Department of the Treasure

-internal revenue service

-executive office for asset forfeiture

US postal service has an investigation part

CIA is not law enforcement

Joint law enforcement

-fedearl, state, and local task forces officers work together as a team to deal with particular crimes

-not only cooperate

Interpole

Worldwide police organization founded in 1923

-established for cooperation among nations

-united states became a member in 1938

Chapter 3

How a police office is organized:

-division of labor

-personal

-area

-time

-function and purpose

Managerial definitions:

-three components of an organization: people, activities, and specific goal

What are the three components of a police department? Not crime fighters because about 20% of the time is spent crime fighting

Chain of command-Hierarchy of authority

-a managerial concept describes the relationship between superior and subordinate/worker

Every individual is supervised by one immediate supervisor

-smaller departments have more intimate relationships

Span of control

-the number of officers a superior can supervise effectively

-Management reach-out outcomes indicate that the best number is 6 to 10 officers

What are the factors? Population and Community

Delegation of responsibility and authority

-tasks, duties, and responsibilities assigned with authorities

Unity of Command

-each individual is directly accountable

Alternative managerial models and structures

Shared leadership

-incorporate subordinates into the process of decision-making

-evaluation indicated significant improvements

What kind of factors contribute to the success of shared leadership models? Trust and communication skills

NYPD’s CompSat program

-decentralization of management structure

Since 1992 the crime rate in New York decreased by 85 % (idk if this is important)

Sworn vs nonsworn personnel

-sworn members have traditional police power

-federal, state, and local criminal laws

Police officers, troopers, deputy sheriffs

-oath

is cowardice a crime, especially for law enforcement officers?

-armed school resources officer stayed outside as florida shooting unfolded, sheriff says

Nonsworn members

-assigned to nonenforcement

-civilian

-civilan investigators, crime analysts, dispatchers, equipment managers, and records management

-very limited arrest power becuase they are not licsied

Highly Organized Rank structure

-chief of police/police commissioner

-head agency

-captain

-lieutenant

-segrgeant

-Corporal or master patrol officer

-police officer

detective/investiator

Patorl Officers

-perform the basic duties of the police department

Sergeant

-the first supervisor in the chain of command

Duties: Supervise a number of officers of the same squad (which is a group of 10 officers) and make decision at the scene of a police action

Lieuteuant

-in charge of an entire platoon (which is all the people on a particular tour/shift)

Captain

-operation or administrative area of a police department

-chief of police/police commissioner

-appointed y hiring authorities of a city

Other Personnel

-civilianizion

-community service officers (CSOs)

Reserve officer

-volunteers & nonregular

-sworn members of a law enforcement agency

-serve with or without compensation

-has regular police powers (Hedulan & Burke, 2006)

Auxiliaries

-other volunteer officers in law enofcerment agencies who have no full power

Beats

-the smallest geographic area that a single patrol unit can patrol effectively

-can be patrolled by many methods: foot,bike patrol, car,horse patrol

Ideally officer will know everyone; the beats should not be too big

Precints/districts/stations

-the entire collection of beats

Precint house or station house

-administrative headquarters if a precinct

Desk officer

-a sergeant or lieuteant surprising all actives in the station house

The three-tour system

-separates each day or 24-hour period

-shift, platoons, or watches

-crime does not fit neatly into the timing system

-disproportionately distribute manpower

Tour Lenght

-8 hour tour is most commonly used

-10 hour tour

-12 hour tour: increase in officer fatigue and has a trend of increase

Overtime issues

-the call must be completed (you have to finish anything that is assigned before leaving)

Tour Conditions

-day tour

-construction traffic flow

-schools

-police hot spots such as commercial areas

-other police services

The evening tour is the busiest tour for police

Line and staff(support) functions

-directly connecting with the organization's goals

staff/support functions

-supplements line units in their task performance

Police department units

-operation units

-policing activities

-directly related to agencies’ goals

Administrative units

-not directly related to the public

Facilitating the smooth running agencies: personal units planning and analysis budget and clerical work

Chapter 4: Becoming a police officer

Finding information on jobs in policing

-job information sources

-traditional sources

-radio, television, and newspaper

Job posting from the government human resource or police department

The Internet has become a favorite choices

Intern programs for college students

General Standards for Law Enforcement (LE) Jobs

-physical requirement

-still strict but job-related and not arbitrary

-edinburg dp

Why reduce the physical requirement? Advancements in theconolgy may reduce the need for strict physical requirements in certain roles

-aviod discriminatory pratcies to ensure fair recruitment for all groups

-focus on inclusive particles for minorities and women

-smoking restrictions

-age requirements

-education requires (bachelor's degree)

-Generally, the education requirement is not high

-high school diploma is the minimum required

-only 1% police department required a four-year college degree

-most federal agencies require a four-year college degree

-37% PDs offer tuition reimbursement

Law enforcement education program (LEEP)

-more than 90% of students in this program were in-service sworn officers

-drug use records restrictions

-non-smoking policy

-on or off duty

Why?

-professional appearance

-Health and monetary considerations

-supported by courts as a conditions of employment

Prior drug use

-policies/requirments are flexible

-strict policies will lead to small applications pool

-restirctions vary from agency to agency

-international Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)

-10 years free from hard drug use

-5 years free from marijuana use

-age requirements

-most people departments require an age between 21-29

-anyone over the age of 29 was considered too old

-exceptions for military or past experience

-agencies have come to value mature candidates

-criminal records

100% do a criminal record check

-applicants with a felony conviction history

Misdemeanor conviction history are treated case by case

-Selection process

-only 1 out of 100 applicants makes it through

-Written and physical agility tests first, and then psychological and medical evauations

Written examination: to minimize time and cost of agencies, fair and unbiased, invlovement of private enterprise

-Recruiting training: initial training and usually starts at police academy

-state laws: knowledge, skills and abilityies to do the job

The police acadmeic

Field training: on the job training for academy gradaduates

-selected patrol officers

-average hours Firemarms training

-FBI’s practical pistol course

-hogan’s Alley

-computer-controlled simulations training

-in-service, management, and specialized training

In severice training - important since laws are constantly changing

-Training process

Oral interview-

-The purpose is to measure presence and communication skills

- a board of interview

-All candidates asked the same questions

-carefully designed to fit for the jib

-to be fair for all the candidates

-could easily distinguish candidates

Background investigation

-purpose: to avoid hiring the wrong person

-identifies unfavorable

Psychological evaluations

-critical too in selection and becoming more

Why is it hard to attract qualified police candidates?

Problems of the hiring process

-lengthy and challenging discourage applicants

-low public respect of police officers

-less attractive economical factors

-increased requirements

-distractions from other agencies

-Overseas agencies and other criminal justice agencies

What are pros and cons of the higher education requirement?

-losing of excellent potential candidates

Chapter 5

The role of police & the exercise of police discretion

What are the police roles:

-crime-fighting

-order maintenance

-providing servicing

What Americans expect from the police depends on how the public views their role in society

-different people have different role expectations for the local police

-different communities have different role expectations for the local police

-different expectations may lead to role conflict for police officers

Crime Fighting:

-enforcing the laws

-criminal law & criminal procedural law

-apprehending offenders

-very small part of arrests were related to UCR (uniform crime reports) Index Crimes

-most arrests are related to crimes of disorder (FBI, 2011)

-534,704 violent crimes vs. 1.64 million property crimes

-millions of arrests of disorderly behaviors

-prostitution, drugs, gambling, DUI, etc.

The most common contact between police and the public, 2008

-Traffic stop

Preventing crimes:

Using all kinds of policing strategies to deter potential offernders from committing crimes

-Patrol: “backbone of the department”

-Zero-tolerance policing: strictly clamping down minor antisocial behaviors such as littering begging, graffiti, and others

-In New York, crimes dropped from 30-50% since 1994

-In Liverpool, crimes fell 25.7% since 2005

-Intelligence-based policing

The police role:

order-maintenance role

-Peacekeeping and order maintenance

-problem-oriented policing

-broken windows theory

-Proving services:

-The majority of patrol activities was to providing services

-55% of police officers time and 57% of their calls related to provide social service

-Originally, police forces were created more for prevention and deterrence than law enforcement

Change with the community expects

-should adopt the appropriate role for any given situation

Primary goals and objectives:

-Maintaining order

-Protecting life and property of the public

Secondary goals:

-preventing goals

-arresting and prosecuting offenders

-recovering stolen and missing property

-assisting the sick and injured

-enforcing non-criminal regulations

-delivering services not available elsewhere in the community

Available 24/7

High mobile

Police Operational Styles: the way of thinking about the role of police and law in society, and how the police should perform their jobs.

James O. Wilson:

Legalistic style

-strictly enforce all kinds of laws

-focus on law enforcement and arrest

Watchman style

-exercise discretion and ignore many minor violations

-focus on an order-maintenance styles of policing

-illegal destructive behaviors

-Still reactive policing

Service style:

-emphasize community service

-searches for alternatives to arrest and the use of formal sanctions

-proactive policing strategies

- POP

-police styles are influenced by political culture of a city

-California vs. Texas

What is discretion?

-the availability of a choice of options or actions

-The police exercise the majority of discretion of the criminal justice system

Police-committed vs. police-uncommitted time

-specifically assigned actives vs. random policing activities

-the majority of policing activities are uncommitted activities and left to individual officers’ discretion

How is discretion exercised?

-enforcing laws

-stop, questions, or frisk

-physical force

-deadly force

-traffic summonses

-others

Why is discretion exercised?

-necessary to the police work

-vague and ill-defined laws

-most violations are minor

What factors influence discretion? (Herbert Jacob)

-characteristics of the crime/offenses

-characteristics of offenders

Race -discrimination

Gender

-socioeconomics

Do communities matter? Characteristics of police officers

-white people officers were more likely

How to control and regulate discretion?

formal set of policies or guidelines

-department policy regarding use of deadly force

employee early warning systems

-based on the statistics of individual officers

Chapter 6

What is culture: the pattern of human activity or the way of life for a society

-key components: values (important things in life), norms (expectations of how people will behave in different situations), institutions (structure of a society where values and norms are transmitted)

What is police culture?

-A combination of shared norms, values, goals, career patterns,

-characteristics/culture that different police from the rest of the society

-a set of values and beliefs that differs from popular american culture

Factors influencing police culture and subculture

-the nature of the policing

-the experience police officers go through

-institutions vs. individuals

Three principles of police subculture (Michael K. Brown)

-honor, take risks, loyalty, back up colleagues, individuality, capable of dealing with situations by her/himself

-as a community member, which of the three subcultures is most important?

Characteristics of police culture and subculture

-clannishness: tending to associate only with a select group of similar backgrounds or status

-secrecy

-isolation for the police: we vs. they?

-honor: dedication to create a better society

-loyalty and individuality

Factors influence police subculture

-perception of danger

-abrupt changes from citizen to police officers

-exciting and dangerous life

-isolated from otehr lives

-distrust of citizens

-police cynicism

-organizational factor/administration

-the media

The blue wall of silence/blue curtain

-only trust