Introduction to Law Enforcement Responsibilities Culture and Technology

Case Study: Alan Horujko and Ohio State University Incident

  • Background: Former engineering major Alan Horujko volunteered as an unarmed student safety officer at Ohio State University (OSU), patrolling the Columbus campus and preparing for active shooter scenarios. He graduated in 2012 and was hired as an OSU police officer three years later.
  • November 28, 2016 Incident: While assisting firefighters with a gas leak, Officer Horujko witnessed student Abdul Razak Ali Artan drive a gray Honda into pedestrians and stab bystanders with a butcher knife (following online posts by Artan expressing anger over Muslims killed and tortured by the U.S. military).
  • Police Response: Horujko ordered Artan to drop the knife, checked that the area was clear of civilians, and fired three times, killing Artan and ending the attack.
  • Aftermath: Eleven people were hospitalized. Following protocol, Horujko was placed on administrative leave during an investigation by the Columbus Department of Public Safety, receiving praise from Columbus mayor Andrew Ginther.

Definition and Core Responsibilities of Police

  • Bittner's Definition: Sociologist Egon Bittner described the function of police as providing "situationally justified force in society" to resolve problems that may require force.
  • Four Basic Responsibilities (LO4-1):
    • Enforce laws
    • Provide services
    • Prevent crime
    • Preserve the peace

Execution of Police Responsibilities

  • Enforcing Laws:
    • Defined publicly and self-perceived as "crime fighters."
    • Research by Jack Greene and Carl Klockars on Wilmington (Delaware) Police Department dispatch data showed officers spent only about half their shifts enforcing laws or dealing with crimes; the remainder was spent on order maintenance, service provision, traffic patrol, and medical assistance.
    • According to 2015 Uniform Crime Reports, police made roughly 8.8 million arrests for minor disorder offenses (drunkenness, liquor violations, disorderly conduct, vagrancy, loitering) compared to approximately 505,000 arrests for violent crimes.
  • Providing Services:
    • Reflected in the motto "To Serve and Protect" and the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics.
    • Encompasses counseling in domestic disputes, directing traffic, giving directions, finding lost children, emergency medical procedures, and community policing initiatives.
    • Local police in Pennsylvania used naloxone to reverse over six hundred opioid overdoses in a single year.
    • Police departments in Houston, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis partner officers with mental health specialists to respond to emergency calls involving mentally ill individuals.
  • Preventing Crime:
    • According to Jerome Skolnick (Center for Research in Crime and Justice at New York University School of Law), public responses to rising crime are stricter penalties or demands for crime prevention.
    • Former police director William Bratton emphasized that well-led, appropriately resourced police forces impact crime levels ("cops count").
    • Carl Klockars noted police cannot control external root causes of crime, such as unemployment, poverty, immorality, inequality, political change, and lack of educational opportunities.
  • Preserving the Peace:
    • James Q. Wilson highlighted the peacekeeping role as "handling the situation" or "fixing up" issues (e.g., dispersing loud house parties or handling domestic disputes) before serious or violent crimes occur.

Police Technology and Intelligence-Led Policing

  • Vehicle & Field Tech: Patrol car technology (in use since the 1930s) includes mobile data terminals, video cameras in two-thirds of departments (some with live-streaming), and automated license plate readers. Other field technology includes mobile biometrics (fingerprints and facial features), through-the-wall sensors, handheld translation devices, and handheld thermography cameras.
  • Intelligence-Led Policing (ILP): Predictive policing that measures criminal risk associated with individuals or locations to deploy resources to specific "hot spots."
  • Operation LASER: The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Real-Time Analysis Critical Response Division identified the Newton division as a drug and gang "hot spot." Flooding the area with patrols under Operation LASER led to a dramatic decrease in gun-related murders, robbery, and aggravated assault over ten months.

Warrior vs. Guardian Mindset

  • Warrior Mindset: Emphasizes military-style tactics, weaponry, hypervigilance, escalation, and the "will to survive." Associated with SWAT units (deployed roughly 50,000 times a year for search warrants) and highlighted in incidents such as the summer 2016 fatal shooting of Philando Castile by Minnesota officer Jeronimo Yanez following "Bulletproof Warrior" training.
  • Guardian Mindset: Highlighted by scholars like Seth Stoughton and Sam Walker; emphasizes community protection, communication, de-escalation, restraint, and building trust within communities.

Scenarios and Ethics Challenges

  • Discretion in Action (Mental Health Emergency):
    • Situation: Terri, a resident of a group home for mental illness, stopped taking her medication and threatened a social worker with a knife ("Get out of here! I have a knife, and I'll kill you if I have to!").
    • Police Response: Officers Helton and Ramirez entered her locked room using a master key, where Terri held a five-inch kitchen knife and screamed ("I am going to kill you. I don't need help. Get out."). The officers retreated without drawing weapons to evaluate options.
    • Legal Context: Under the Fourth Amendment, law enforcement officers may enter a dwelling without a judicial warrant during emergency situations involving potential injury.
    • Options: Reenter and subdue her, call for police backup, or request assistance from mental health experts.
  • Ethics Challenge: Questions whether officers have an ethical obligation to provide medical assistance to save the life of a profuse-bleeding suspect who has just shot and killed their partner in a shootout.