CJ101: Introduction to Law and Justice - Lecture Notes

Learning Objectives

  • Describe the forms of discretion used by police.
  • List and define the three primary purposes of patrol.
  • Define the types of force used in policing.
  • Describe ethical dilemmas that police officers face.
  • Identify and define modern “progressive” law enforcement models.

The “Basic” Department

  • Agency responds to emergencies and other calls for service as quickly as possible.
  • Patrol officers drive around randomly and do what they want in between calls for service.
  • Investigators work 9-5 and investigate select cases based on seriousness and “solvability."
  • Crime prevention officer gives community presentations using basic tips.
  • Chief and executives handle administrative things and hope nothing major happens.
  • Maybe some basic metrics.

Examples of Discretion in Policing

  • Patrol:
    • How much effort to invest in calls for service
    • How much time spent investigating before referring to investigations
    • Whether to make an arrest or not
    • Whether to write a citation or not
    • What to do in between calls for service
    • How to treat people
  • Investigations
    • Which cases to investigate and what priority to give them
    • Whether to file charges
  • Command
    • What instructions to give to patrol and investigations
    • What programs and policies to implement

Why Patrol?

  • Deter crime through visible presence
  • Provide sense of security and order
  • Be in strategic places to quickly respond to calls for service

Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment of 1973

  • One year
  • No effect on crime
  • No effect on citizens’ perceptions of safety

Criminal Investigations: Clearance Rates (2021)

  • Murder: 61.4%
  • Rape: 32.9%
  • Robbery: 30.5%
  • Agg. Assault: 29.7%
  • Violent Crime: 45.5%
  • Burglary: 14.1%
  • Theft: 18.4%
  • Auto Theft: 13.8%
  • Property Crime: 17.2%

1973 RAND Corporation Study on Detectives

  • Investigation has almost no impact on arrest or clearance rates (3%).
  • Most detectives’ time is spent on administrative paperwork and re-interviewing people.
  • Most departments offer no special training for investigators.
  • Even when latent prints were lifted, they were hardly ever compared to known suspects.

Progressive Law Enforcement Models

  • Community Policing (1970s, Various):
    • Police need to work more closely with the community and make the community a true “partner.”
  • Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) (1971, C. Ray Jeffery):
    • Crime can be prevented by changing the physical environment of locations.
  • Criminal Apprehension Programs (CAPs) (1970s, LEAA):
    • Crime can be greatly reduced by arresting repeat and serial offenders.
  • Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) (1979, Herman Goldstein):
    • Police should focus less on individual incidents and more on how long-term and chronic problems create multiple incidents
  • COMPSTAT (c. 1993, NYPD/William Bratton):
    • Controlling crime means holding police commanders accountable for crime in their areas using regular statistically-focused meetings.
  • Focused deterrence/ “Pulling Levers” (c. 1996, Anthony Kennedy):
    • Repeat offenders will stop if confronted with direct interventions and given alternatives
  • Evidence-Based Policing (1998, Lawrence Sherman):
    • Police should focus on strategies and policies that research has proven to work
  • Intelligence-Led Policing (ILP) (c. 2000, Various, in U.K.):
    • Police should prioritize and focus on repeat offenders.
  • Hot-spot policing (c. 2005, Anthony Braga):
    • Crime can be greatly reduced by focusing on small locations and providing police presence to suppress crime
  • Data-Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS) (c. 2007, NHTSA/NIJ):
    • Hot spot policing can be extended to traffic collisions, and in fact traffic enforcement can reduce both at the same time.
  • Predictive Policing (2009, LAPD/William Bratton):
    • We need more advanced predictive statistics to inform all of the above

Crime analysis

  • A profession and process in which a set of quantitative and qualitative techniques are used to analyze data valuable to police agencies and their communities.
    • Identify and respond quickly to emerging patterns
    • Solve long-term and chronic problems
    • Suppress activity at hot spots
    • Prioritize offenders and identify points of intervention
    • Educate and communicate with the public

Serious Offender Prioritization and Tracking

  • Example using name JARION MENTUS JR., DOB 07/26/1969. The system contains various incidents associated with the individual, including dates, locations, offenses (e.g., Other Theft, Vandalism, Simple Assault), and roles (Suspect, Defendant, Victim.) Also contains general notes describing individual as street person accused of accosting passers-by, suspected schizophrenic, stays at YMCA.

Crime Analysis Examples

  • Analysis of Larceny from Motor Vehicle (LMV) incidents in Cambridge, MA, highlighting chronic problem areas and sporadic clusters with details on locations, timing (weekdays/weekends, early evening/overnight), and arrests made.
  • WM Mustache Robbery Series Summary (April 11th - June 16th):
    • A series of 8 robbery events occurred at Subway and Radio Shack businesses. Five (5) of the incidents occurred on or near Rainbow Blvd. The last two robberies were committed at businesses the suspect had previously robbed; both are located off of Tropicana Ave.
    • The suspect is described as a white male adult, approximately 6'0, 200 pounds, between 35-40 years of age, with a mustache. The suspect is typically seen wearing a long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans, a bandana tied around his head (not covering his face) under a light green camouflaged or dark colored baseball hat, and white shoes or work boots.
    • Upon entering the business, the suspect orders the employees behind the counter near the cash register and to put their hands on the counter. He then simulates a handgun under his shirt and demands the money from the register. The suspect then has the employees get down on the ground before he flees the business. In 3 events, the suspect was seen fleeing in a small white older model 2-door pickup truck.
    • Target Day of Week and Time of Day: Based on previous behavior, it is likely that the suspect will hit on a Wednesday or Saturday, between 1700 and 2059 hours. On average, there have been 11 days between robbery events. In recent events, the suspect has robbed the businesses between 1720 and 1825 hours.
  • Thefts from Cars in Route 1 Parking Lots:
    • Route 1 is an attractive location for thefts for several reasons. First, it has a large number of restaurants, apartment complexes, and hotels and motels, where thieves know cars will be unattended for a long time. Second, it provides easy access to escape routes; both Route 95 and Route 128 are only minutes away. Third, out-of-town thieves are more likely to be aware of Route 1 and its various businesses
    • Danvers Police have arrested or charged 15 individuals with thefts from vehicles on Route 1 in the past two years. Evidence suggests that most of the thieves are drug-addicted adults who come from cities and towns north of Boston.

People - Places - Patterns - Problems

  • Killing of Tyre Nichols – January 7, 2023, Memphis, TN.
    • Officers assigned to SCORPION (hot spot policing) unit stopped Nichols for reckless driving.
    • Later review of camera footage showed no probable cause for stop.
    • Nichols got out of car and was thrown to ground and tased. Got up and ran, chased down, beaten, punched, pepper-sprayed, tased again despite offering no resistance.
    • Died of injuries three days later.

Issues in police/community interactions

  • General blame vs. specific blame, or blame for overall incident vs. blame for specific actions
  • Prioritization of officer safety vs. prioritization of citizen safety
  • Conscious vs. unconscious bias / profiling
  • Officers judged by departmental policy rather than criminal law
  • Self-investigation of police agencies
  • No protocol to disengage
  • Disproportionate enforcement
  • Citizen expectation of flawless performance in high-stress situations
  • Unwillingness to concede, even in clear cases

Key Terms

  • Discretion
  • Chain of Command
  • Purposes of Patrol
  • Clearance Rate
  • Directed Patrol
  • Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment
  • Hot Spots
  • CompStat
  • Problem-Oriented Policing
  • Crime Analysis
  • Deadly Force/Less than Lethal Force
  • Racial Profiling
  • Noble Cause Corruption