In the beginning policing was considered the civic duty of members of a community. These “drafted” officers were not paid or trained. Appointed Sheriffs were motivated by money, and lost focus on enforcing the law. This began to change as did society, and industrialism. Urbanization brought with it a rise in crime, causing police to shift towards a more proactive approach to law enforcement.
There became a big break down between police and communities. ( “Police: History-Policing Twentieth Century America” the Reform Era (n.d.) Once the officers were placed in patrol cars people of the communities had to call and have an officer come to his or her house, to resolve a problem When this happened, it made people feel more isolated from the officers. This started bringing problems around on how citizens feel toward police in general. When new technologies started coming around the big impact between citizens and police was not understood in the beginning but years later the impact of the new technologies is understood. In present time technology is still evolving and the use of cameras on street corners have come in to play.
It protects the guilty rather than the victims. This rule basically states that evidence obtained illegally cannot be used in a criminal trial. The basis of this rule is supposed to prevent the police and other sections of the government from illegally searching or violating our homes and our privacy. When all it really does is prevents the truth from surfacing and help criminals go free. After researching both sides of this issue, in no way am I stating that I don’t understand the determination of the opposing side to keep this rule.
Another important form of technology that has made a very big impact on policing is the computer-aided dispatch. This is very important in policing because is allowed police officers to have a faster response time and the departments are able to communicate with the officers that are out doing field work. The safety of the officers is enhanced by the use of this system because the department can monitor the officer’s status. Technology has changed policing and will continue to do so in the future. Weapons that are used in policing will also change in the future.
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.
This power struggle led to the downfall of team policing in Aberdeen. The definition of team policing “meant something different in each city, but generally it has been an attempt to strike a new balance between the presumed efficiency needs of police centralization and community needs for police decentralization in order to be more responsive to citizens” (Sherman, Milton and Kelly 1973:13). It means that there should be lots of communication between team members, as well as communication between the team to the community. “In Aberdeen, it began as an effort to counteract the low morale and boredom of single officers patrolling quiet streets” (Sherman, Milton and Kelly 1973:13). Aberdeen wanted to get rid of the loneliness on the job for officers.
Community policing required special training in mediation and conflict, problem-solving and analysis, community organization, facilitation, communication, network, and linkages, and cross-cultural competency. In early days the crimes committed were done much different than today. Sir Robert Peel was very influential in modern policing by helping to create the modern concept of the police force today. The Metropolitan Police Act of 1829 provided uniforms, organized, paid, and policing similar to those today. Modern American policing follows the English model in Boston and New York.
Every report of abuse is often met with denial or explanation of why the abuse was necessary instead of taking any real action like a suspension or removal of their badge in most cases. Police departments seem to be paying more money defending themselves in court than on proper training of their police officers. Each precinct has their own, yet similar set of rules and regulations when it comes to use of force, as we learned from out two officer speakers. According to our San Diego precincts, the only time they are to use deadly force is when they, or civilians are in a life threatening situations. There are many examples of excessive force that will examine what’s being done to address the issue.
In the first ever elections, 41 new police and crime commissioners have been elected across England and Wales to give us a say when it comes to cutting crime in our areas. Is this the most significant change in policing since the 1829 Metropolitan Police Act? With this statement I will look into the idea of PCCs and the changes that it will make with the police and how the public have reacted to this new era of policing. I will look back to other significant changes within the polices history and how they have impacted the police and the public. When we look at some of the significant moments in the polices history we need to first look at the introduction of the Metropolitan Police otherwise known as the 'new police' in 1829, this was not
Data is analyzed to identify areas lagging or needing more attention. Prior to Information technology time and monetary resources were strained to cruise areas assigned to police officers after it was divided among the precinct. With inflation of the price of gas, cruising in low crime areas would not be cost effective. Having technology like CompStat to give “hot spots” for patrolling would give the police force what areas should be