Essentially, the police will base their use of assets in a manner to reduce crime by building ties within the community and having a presence in neighborhoods. This can be an effective method because many argue that seeing the police in an area a majority of the time deters criminals from acting in those areas. A downfall of the COP theory is that political influence can force a department to pool resources in an area where crime is not as prevalent in order to keep good relations with a major tax base. Often times the poorer neighborhoods do not feel as though they are receiving enough of a police presence. The contingency theory is based on the approach to achieve specific goals, such as crime control.
The ‘broken windows’ hypothesis suggests that maintaining order through the management of minor offenses is an essential function of public police (Wilson & Kelling, 1982). In their article, Wilson and Kelling argue that if minor instances of crime and disorderly behavior are not addressed, more serious forms of disorder and increased levels of crime will follow. “Disorder and crime are usually inextricably linked, in a kind of developmental sequence,” (Wilson & Kelling, 1982). This hypothesis was based on the findings from observations of foot patrol officers managing the occurrences of disorder on their beats, and led the authors to suggest that in order to combat crime, police must refocus their efforts on neighborhood disorder. The concept of ‘broken windows’ is appealing to police departments attempting to reduce crime and restore order in their communities.
For these problems, solutions will be discussed, focusing on political reform, education, and citizen review boards. These measures are necessary to protect ourselves from police taking advantage of their positions as law enforcement officers with greater permissive rights than private citizens. Because of this significant differential, all citizens must take affirmative action from physical brutality, rights violations, and information abuse. Discrimination can lead to legal problems for an officer of the law. If discrimination due to an officer’s use of discretion results in a violation of due process it is a violation of the law.
“Professional Courtesy in Policing" Ethics, or moral conduct, are of major importance in the Criminal Justice Field. If the police force condoned unethical behavior, there would be very little, if any, justice being served. But what is unethical behavior and how do we judge moral conduct? Just as we all see this world through different eyes, we come to decisions through different life experiences. Due to the uniquely stressful work environment, Law Enforcement have created an occupational subculture with its own informal code of ethics.
Exact expectancy, timely targeted action and reduce resources for casual patrolling turns into achievable goals. NIJ defines Predictive Policing as “taking data from disparate sources, analyzing them and then using the results to anticipate, prevent and respond more effectively to future crime” This paved way for development of COMPSTAT (Computer Statistics) which used all crime related data as its input to anticipate a crime. (Willis, J., et al, 2004) 2. Describe how COMPSTAT, as an information system (IS), implements the four (4) basic IS functions: Input - Data gathering development which is the building block of COMPSTAT comprises of information compiled from an array of sources like police incidents, arrest reports, suspect debriefing, telephone calls, and field interview reports. Approaching the inputs to Incident Reporting System will help to retain a
Today's police have an advantage over their counterparts of the 60's and 70's with the help of the invention of the computer, new processes, and new calculations being processed. Information stored in some form of database such as business code violations, burglaries, citations, demographics of age of residences, housing appraisals, utilities usage and many others aspects are used to create an educated guess on where police should focus their efforts on deterring crime. When predictive information is used appropriately this can bring about a great change to law enforcement such as was seen in Santa Cruz Police department that used the data to arrest five criminals. However, the adage of “Garbage in Garbage out” comes into play. Typically, a human handles all data entered into a database and there are always clerical mistakes with data entry.
Discuss the powers of police in the criminal process. Make reference to the role of discretion in the criminal justice system Police powers, refers to the authority that the law enforcement body has when investigating a crime. The powers that police have include search and seizure, access to information, interrogation, electronic surveillance, medical examinations, detention, fingerprints and photographing. These powers allow police to deepen their investigation and to effectively obtain justice for victims and society. Furthermore, the discretion of police can play a large role in the investigation of criminal offences; however, it can lead to certain individuals in society being targeted.
If a department wishes to implement such a massive undertaking as community policing, it is imperative that its leaders have a clear-cut definition of what it is that they are trying to implement. Without such a distinct and straightforward definition, how can administrators be expected to explain what it is that they expect their patrolmen and lower level officers to do? Community policing requires officers to be open minded, unbiased, and sensitive to the concerns and problems of others; also known as the new policing paradigm. Even if officers do not agree with a complainant's viewpoint, they should try to listen and understand the problem. Police should display empathy and compassion with sincerity, not in a rehearsed way.
The overall purpose and meaning of this article is to send the message that police officers can play a unique part in disrupting the disorder process. If police officers focus on less serious crime and disorder of a neighborhood then serious crimes like felonies will not be able to surface as much. This is because the community will participate more and become more social, and they will develop their own set of rules. A main section of this article that I want to point out is the idea that foot patrol decreases crime rate. In the article it states that police officers didn’t like the idea of foot patrol too much but because they did it relationships with the community was formed and people were less afraid to go outside.
It is usually recommended that any career use honesty as a quality, but it is extremely important that criminal justice professionals have honesty as well. Law enforcement is occasionally known for being corrupt, and it is so important for our law enforcement officers to be truthful on all applications, reports, and everyday work. This provides for more efficient and trustworthy public servants. The most important reason for honesty is simply to ensure that the innocent stay that way and are not caught in the lies of the accusers. Criminal justice professionals play an important role in the court system, and if they lie on accusations and evidence, the innocent become victims of the dishonesty.