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.
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.
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.
This may just be a “sense” of safety, but officers like to think their partner has their back. In truth is could be safer to fight crime individually, because two police officers may seem to evoke the individuals with which they are involved with. Having two people looking out for the situation is extremely beneficial. If one officer is occupied with a task, her partner can be keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings and the circumstances that have a potential of arising. When all these factors are grouped together it appears that police partners would be more productive, writing more citations, and completing more arrests.
This paper while not cover the ethics behind lethal force, but will discuss the steps, and progressions leading up to that point. Non-lethal force is very common for a police officer to use in their career. A law enforcement agency must carefully choose the various devices, and techniques it will authorize for the protection of its officers and the public. In making policy decisions in this area, an agency should consider existing court decisions and litigation trends. Use of force is a very important part of an officer’s ability to keep themselves and the public safe, but is also very controversial.
Controlling Police Brutality The police have served an integral part in society as out protectors. Throughout the years, however, scholars as well as we citizens have begun to question the use of force, racism and internal corruption as well as other forms of misconduct by our officers of the law. The excessive use of force by police officers persists because of overwhelming barriers to their accountability. For instance, when police do get in trouble, it is normally a slap on the wrist, a lecture or loss of a vacation day as it stated in the article “Good Cop Bad Cop.” This fact makes it possible for officers who commit these violations to escape punishment and then often repeat their offenses. 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.
Predictive Policing Tracy Hudson Dr. Edwin Otto CIS500-012VA016-1138-001 Info Syst Decision Making 20 October 2013 1. Compare and contrast the application of information technology (IT) to optimize police departments’ performance to reduce crime versus random patrols of the streets. A capable new technology with the intention of analyzing and predict crime tends before it occurs. Information Technology and Performance optimization of police department increase in crime rate, which is pervasive demands policing to be practical rather than reactive. It requires change from conventional too tough purposefully methods shared with better aptitude.
Proactive patrol has been known to deter crime in areas where criminal activity is high. Providing proactive patrol can deter criminals from actually committing the crime but it does not always deter the crime from happening in the first place. Creating the awareness in a community there are police nearby does help deter the crime from taking place. In order for a police organization to be successful it would take both patrols to reach this goal. One without the other in my eyes would not work.
License plate scanners make work easier and more accurate for police officers, probation officers, and local traffic police all over the United States. The question is, can they do so without victimizing every law abiding citizen that travels the road on a daily basis? Although license plate scanners are efficient for the criminal justice field, every day civilians consider them to be an invasion of privacy. In this paper there will be a detailed definition of license plate scanners and what they are used for, and where the problems arose with the expansion; the controversy that’s been taking place over the past few years will be discussed by explaining what license plate scanners are attempting to prevent, and clarifying how people feel about the scanners. Usage and Expansion It seems as though over the past few years, people have become experts at “beating the system”.
In this paper information technology will be discussed and how it is optimized in police departments to reduce different crimes. It will also be compared to random patrolling on the streets and which one is more effective. The four basic functions of CompStat will be discussed and each function will be described. There are many tools in which police departments can use to respond to crime quicker. These tools involve information systems for example CompStat.