The Police Role: Historical Development, Theoretical Frameworks, and Operational Realities

Learning Objectives for the Police Role

• Historical Development and Evolution: Describe how policing has developed in the United States and how this history continues to shape contemporary law enforcement structures and social expectations.
• Core Functions and Responsibilities: Identify and explain the primary operational roles of the police, which include:
  • Law Enforcement
  • Order Maintenance
  • Service Delivery
• Mandate vs. Social Expectation: Distinguish between the formal legal mandate given to police and the broader, often conflicting expectations from society, explaining the resulting tensions.

Defining the Police Role and Its Significance

• Understanding Behavior: How police view their own role is essential for understanding their behavior, the strategies they choose, and the nature of their interactions with citizens.
• Assessment Metrics: To a lesser extent, the definition of the role determines the criteria by which police performance is assessed.
• Societal Context: To understand the police, one must first understand their functional role within the framework of society.
• The Inherent Contradiction: The central problem of the police role is that it is inherently contradictory:
  • Upholding vs. Revoking Rights: Police are tasked with protecting the rights of citizens while simultaneously being the entity that takes those rights away when necessary.
  • Order vs. Liberty: There is a constant tension between maintaining social order and preserving individual liberty.
  • Double-Edged Sword: The role is described as a "double-edged sword that cuts both ways."

Policing as a Social Expression and Zero-Sum Game

• Social Consensus: While policing should theoretically be an expression of social consensus, there is no universal agreement on how the police should function.
• Necessity of Intervention: To maintain order, police must use force and intervene in the lives of citizens.
• The Zero-Sum Nature of Policing: Policing often results in a no-win scenario where action leads to criticism and inaction also leads to criticism.
  • The public often demands conflicting responses.
  • Police are subject to constant scrutiny, as is typical for all forms of authority.

Formal Definitions and the Element of Coercion

• Functional Definition: Police is the branch of administrative machinery of government charged with:
  • Preservation of public order and tranquility.
  • Promotion of public health, safety, and morals.
  • Prevention, detection, and punishment of crimes.
• The Defining Characteristic (Coercion): The unique attribute of the police is the use of coercion, defined as using authority to compel someone to do something they do not want to do.
• Egon Bittner (1970) Definition: Bittner defined the role as "A mechanism for the distribution of non-negotiable coercive force employed in accordance with the dictates of an intuitive grasp of situational exigencies."
• Bittner's Summary: He further simplified this to: "Something that ought not to be happening and about which someone had better do something now!"
• August Vollmer's Idealized Role: Vollmer described the impossible expectations of an officer, stating a good policeman would need:
  • The wisdom of Solomon, the courage of David, the strength of Samson, the patience of Job, the leadership of Moses, the kindness of the Good Samaritan, the strategical training of Alexander, the faith of Daniel, the diplomacy of Lincoln, the tolerance of the Carpenter of Nazareth, and an intimate knowledge of every branch of the natural, biological, and social sciences.

Public Expectations and Resource Challenges

• Conflicting Demands: Public expectations are often unreliable for determining police roles because different demographics have conflicting needs.
  • Society wants force used, but not "too much" force.
  • Society wants proactivity, but not "invasions of privacy."
• Doing More with Less: Police are increasingly asked to handle expanding responsibilities with fewer resources, including:
  • Staffing and budget cuts.
  • Incorporating new technology.
  • Preventing terrorism and active shooter scenarios.
  • Addressing legitimacy issues and social movements (e.g., Black Lives Matter).
  • Managing community policing, crime prevention, and crisis intervention.
  • Maintenance of external accountability.
• Inevitability of Dissatisfaction: Because the act of policing involves proceeding against someone, it is a process where "someone always loses," making total public satisfaction impossible.

Theoretical Frameworks and Historical Origins

• Consensus Theory: Society reflects the shared norms, values, and goals of the majority, leading to cooperation. In this view, police uphold these shared values.
• Conflict Theory: Society is characterized by competition between social classes where dominant groups maintain power. In this view, police are a means of controlling the lower classes.
• Ancient Roots: Early policing involved emperors, kings, guards, and military police. In rural areas, the "Night Watch" system relied on citizens to police themselves.
• Colonial America: The first form of policing in the American colonies was slave patrols, which established the roots of negative perceptions among racial and ethnic minorities.
• Modern Policing (London): Modern policing emerged with the Metropolitan Police Act.
  • Sir Robert Peel: Known as the "Father of Modern Policing."
  • Model: Policing was modeled after the military and emphasized crime prevention through regular patrol.

The Structure of American Policing

• Federalism: Division between national and state governments.
• Traditions: American policing is defined by a tradition of limited authority, local control, and extreme decentralization and fragmentation.
• Consequences of Decentralization:
  • No two police departments are exactly the same.
  • Massive variation in policies, procedures, organizational structures, and training standards.
  • Difficulty in collecting uniform national data.
• Advantages of Decentralization:
  • Policing is tailored to the specific needs of a community.
  • Greater adaptability and use of discretion.
  • Limitation of centralized power and maintenance of local accountability.

Eras of American Policing

• The Political Era ($1849$ – $1920$):
  • Characterized by political control and an intimate relationship with the public.
  • Decentralized structure using foot patrols.
  • Offered a wide array of services including help for immigrants and the homeless.
  • Plagued by high turnover, lack of accountability, and corruption.
• The Reform Era ($1920$ – $1970$):
  • Shifted focus to criminal law and the "crimefighter" image.
  • Centralized agencies with professional training standards.
  • Emphasized automotive patrol, response times, and investigations.
  • Resulted in an alienated relationship with the public.
• The Community Era (approx. $1970/1980$ – Present):
  • Combines community focus with criminal law.
  • Consultative relationship with the public emphasizing order maintenance.
  • Focuses on quality-of-life policing, problem-solving, and crime prevention.
  • Aims to improve police-community relations.

Core Functional Categories

• Law Enforcement: Includes crimefighting, making arrests, and conducting investigations.
• Order Maintenance:
  • Addressing behavior that disturbs public peace or involves face-to-face conflict.
  • Determining if a crime has actually occurred.
  • Focusing on "quality of life" policing.
• Social Services:
  • Conducting welfare checks.
  • Aiding the public regarding homelessness or mental health crises.
  • Utilizing school resource officers.

Analysis of Police Time and Service Calls

• Nature of Calls: Most calls to the police are for non-criminal or less serious incidents.
• Lum et al. ($2020$) Findings: Approximately half (arbitrarily $50\%$)) of calls are resolved by dispatch without an officer ever being sent to the scene.
• Time Allocation:
  • Only approximately $20$ – $30\%$\ of an officer's time is spent on law enforcement activities.
  • The remaining time is spent on order maintenance, service, and administrative tasks.
• Unassigned Time: Studies (Famega et al., $2007$) show that officers have roughly $6.5$ hours of unassigned time per shift.
• Primary Tasks: Traffic, disorder, and administration consume the majority of an officer's active time.

Implications and the Peacekeeper Role

• Why the Role Matters: The definition of the role impacts citizen expectations, officer discretion, research/reform efforts, and evaluation metrics.
• Complexity and Democracy: The police role is controversial due to the democratic requirement of using coercive force.
• The Crimefighter Myth: While police and the public often prioritize the "crimefighter" image, it is the function police spend the least amount of time performing.
• Conclusion: Police are ultimately best described as "peacekeepers" rather than just crimefighters, as most calls for service are not related to law enforcement.