Ethnicity and the Police By CJA344 The police department is leaving a bad impression in many minority communities, because of the corruption and brutality that comes from the police patrolling the areas. The police should leave a positive impression with the communities that they serve, this way the police will be able to ask the community for help when needed. There are a few people in the community that speak highly of the police because they have good experiences with the police and have positive opinions of the police and are more freely to cooperate with the police department. Lack of community support to the police force can lead to more crimes in the communities, as a result of the community the police can be less likely to work up to their full potential. “When crime rate goes up there is a further dip in the public perception of the police resulting in a greater antagonism towards the police on the part of the public “(1985).
I will also look into the U.S research into foot patrol. In 2002 the English and Welsh Police forces introduced Police Community Support Officers, this increased unformed street patrols. However, Paskell found that the impact of the Police Community Support Officers in public reassurance was not strongly evident. She did find that despite, or even because of the limited policing powers that the Police Community Support Officers had, had enhanced the abilities for them to engage with the local residents, workers and other organisations. She also found that the Police Community Support Officers helped contribute to the police by reducing juvenile anti-social behaviour and environmental disorder.
An integral component to the infrastructure of government is law enforcement. In recent years, police actions, particularly police abuse has come into view of a wide, public and critical eye. While citizens worry about protecting themselves from criminals, it has now been shown that they must also keep a watchful eye on those who are supposed to protect and serve. This paper will discuss the types of police abuse prevalent today, including the use of firearms and recovery of private information. I will also discuss what and how citizens’ rights are taken advantage of by the police.
If the responsibilities were limited in the community it would result in more chaos and more crime, and people would no longer seek police assistance. Agencies at the local level represent the largest number of police officers and include municipal police, county sheriff’s department, county police, coroner and a medical examiner, special district police (Walker & Katz, 2011). City police departments are the most complex division of law enforcement because the functions that officers perform vary. The primary responsibility of city police officers is protecting and serving the people. City police officers are responsible for maintaining order, responding to emergency calls, and dealing with violence, and serious crime.
Broken-windows theory has suggested a way of thinking in the community. Citizens feel safer when police departments conduct more foot patrols in the neighborhood, and feel the police were more aware of the crime that are occurring. As time progressed into the adaptation of the motorized patrol, some people felt that the police had lost touch with the community and were not aware of the small underlying issues of the bigger crimes that occurred. Through the theory of broken-windows, a zero-tolerance style of policing was developed. Some police departments, such as New York, implemented the zero tolerance style and claimed that it lowered their crime rates in the mid 1990’s.
Police Influence on Society Shaketra Jones CJA/344 Torria Richardson April 8, 2013 The criminal justice system has come a long way from years ago. Changes to the criminal justice system have changed in many of ways since years ago but some changes have not. One of the changes within the system is how the law enforcement officers deal with people around the world. The population of people from different races is steady growing causing the law enforcement officers to learn how to deal with different ethnic groups. Because of the continuous growth of the population and crime, officers have been force to treat them all differently.
As far as follow up to investigations, when a crime is committed and there are loose ends on the investigation, they may have to do a follow up, and that is when the reactive comes into effect. The difference between a proactive and reactive is, instead of responding to a call, the officer is out on the streets acting on their own initiative to gather information about crimes in the area they patrol, and how to suppress it. An example of this is the officer, getting out there, and meeting people in the community, so that they build a rapport, and make the community members want to help solve crimes, and give information on people who are bad for the community. If the functions of a police agency are limited in communities, I believe there would be more crime and issues at hand. Just a handful of local police or community agencies are not equipped to handle certain issues.
There is a substantial difference between what the police are “a body of people patrolling public places in blue uniforms, with a broad mandate of crime control, order maintenance and some negotiable social service functions” (Reiner, 1985). The function of policing is not solely the remit of the police the community, cctv camera’s, security companies bouncers etc all provide policing roles. The importance of communities becoming involved in problem solving cannot be underestimated and this includes Gardai getting involved in their local communities providing structures, supports and role models for the people living in those communities. Traditional policing methodology has been questioned regarding its perceived lack of effectiveness in crime prevention. Traditional policing does not focus on prevention but ‘fire fights’ or is reactive in nature, they deal mainly with the results of crime rather than the causes.
Although police officers are authority figures for which who should be trusted, police officers are not trusted today. There are many police officers who abuse their authority and should be held accountable for their actions. There are many crimes being committed for which excessive force is being used today. The crimes being committed today which may need to use excessive force is need to apprehend criminals who are under the influence of many different drugs such as alcohol, and control dangerous substance. This is place because the tradition of an eye for an eye and tooth for tooth.
The police are occasionally called upon to force unpopular laws while attempting to foster or maintain public support (Wrobleski & Hess, 2006).” How the police balance these concerns often determines the quality of the relationship that they have with the public. The actions of individual police officers (the use of excessive force), or policies enacted by a department that emphasize the coercive legal authority of the police (zero tolerance policing) may jeopardize public satisfaction. In addition, “the quality of police and community relations often contributes to the ability of the police to accomplish goals of public safety (Wrobleski & Hess, 2006).” When the public is satisfied with and has confidence in the police, they are more likely to contribute information that may assist the police in solving crimes. When community residents trust the police, they are more willing to work collaboratively with the police to make improvements to neighborhoods. Therefore, there are very real and