Community Policing Essay Exam PDF

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Police in the Community Essay Exam Questions

Police in the Community Essay Exam Questions

What lessons should community policing advocates learn from history, include the three eras of policing?

Policing is a very complex and dynamic field of work that evolves as lessons from the past serve as an experience to know what works and what does not, in order to build a helpful and effective policing force for the community. For this, it is extremely important to examine the history of policing in the United States to try to understand how it has progressed over the years. Changes in the purposes and structure of the police departments have enabled the evolution of this group of professionals and the improvement of the work performed with the community through the development of new technologies and problem solving strategies in their daily operations [ CITATION Arc12 \l 1046 ]. Much has changed over time in how policing works in the United States, to better understand the role of police in society, we need to know the evolution history of this department, categorized into three basic eras, which include the Political Era, the Reform Era, and finally, the Community Era, which is the current form of policing.

The first Era was called the Political Era and encompasses the period from 1840 to 1930. This was the time when US police departments were being formed. During this period the police were closely linked to politics. Here the police sought a closer relationship with the community, and police departments were characterized by decentralization. The police lived in the community in which they worked, developing a close relationship with the stores’ owners and the citizens who worked there. The most common form of policing at that time was conducted by foot or bicycle patrols, which

Police in the Community Essay Exam Questions brought law enforcement officials closer to the local public. However, in addition to serving the community, the role of the police was to meet the needs of local political leaders, as police chiefs were appointed by politicians and had an interest in keeping those who nominated them in power. The big problem was that what was called a patronage system was introduced, that is, politicians granted jobs and special privileges to reward those who voted for them. This has led to the inefficiency and corruption of the police. According to Mark Bond, “Policing was very corrupt during this era and the police departments ruled with an iron fist for anyone who disrupted the peace. Police officer’s brutality ruled over their assigned beats during this era of American policing and forcing confessions from suspects. During the political era of policing, prohibition gave rise to organized crime and this caused widespread police corruption”[ CITATION Bon16 \l 1033 ].

Concern over corruption and brutality in local police forces called for a reform that resulted in the state taking of some municipal departments and led to the creation of new state police organizations to end the corrupting influences of the political era. At the turn of the century, the progressive movement began to promote professionalism in law enforcement. In 1929, the Commission of Wickersham was created by President Herbert Hoover, who gathered a set of reports on the criminal justice system of the United States and some strategies and operations of law enforcement. It was the Wickersham Commission's findings that led to the era of American policing reform.

Consequently, arose the Reform or Progressive Era that lasted from 1930 to 1980. Due to the inefficiency and corruption established by the previous era, the first measure to be taken was to disassociate the police from politics. The implementation of a civil service system wiped out political influences on hiring and firing officers. During

Police in the Community Essay Exam Questions this period the police departments became centralized and a model of crime control was established. This professionalism based on efficiency and anti-corruption helped to distance the police from the community, ie the community saw the police as professionals who remained separated from the citizens they served as inaccessible people and who did not care to build an intimate relationship with citizens. The police at that time were known as a professional model which emphasized control of crime by the preventive patrol associated with the rapid response to calls. According to the website communitypolicing.com, “During this era, many police management concepts were introduced, police science and police training programs were formed, as well as professional police training organizations such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police http://www.theiacp.org/. The radio car was introduced, and many police officers were taken off their foot posts and put into cars. The patrol car became the symbol of policing during the professional era. Equipped with a radio, it was at the limits of technology. It represented mobility, power, conspicuous presence, control of officers, and professional distance from citizens. The goal soon became faster response time. In the patrol cars, police distanced themselves from their communities” [ CITATION His18 \l 1033 ] The community's trustworthiness in the police remained worn, as the local police department no longer had time to meet the citizens they served, appearing preoccupied only with aggressive policing and no longer acting as the protectors of the community. While policing became a better paid, more trained profession, adopting scientific methods in solving crimes and technologies that made law enforcement more efficient, on the other hand, problems arose such as civil rights movements, murders, demonstrations, that is, a series of social movements that drew the police as enemies. Drug culture in the seventies was at its peak, officers were called as "pigs" and policing was at war with the society they served.

Police in the Community Essay Exam Questions August Vollmer and O.W. Wilson were the greatest contributors of this era. In 1933 Volmer published an article describing some of the significant changes he believed to have occurred in American policing from 1900 to 1930, such as the use of the civil service system in hiring and promoting police officers, implementing effective police training programs, ability of police administrators to strategically distribute the police force according to the needs of each area or neighborhood, enhanced communication, including the adoption of two-way radio systems, as well as improved methods for identifying offenders (including use of fingerprint systems) by the agencies. On the other hand, O. W. Wilson began as chief of police in Wichita, Kansas and founded the School of Criminology at the University of California. His greatest contribution to policing was in the police administration, which involved centralizing police agencies and devising a strategy to distribute police patrol within a community, based on criminal allegations and calls for service.

We are currently in the era of community policing that covers the period from 1980 to the present day. Between 1979 and 1980, numerous studies conducted by social scientists on policing strategies, along with political pressure for police reform in law enforcement, have led to the Community Era of American policing. During this period, efforts were made to restore the close relationship between the police and the community, including terms such as community policing, community-oriented policing, neighborhood policing, etc. Aiming for a safer neighborhood, American policing creates crime control strategies along with providing services to the community, regaining decentralization and creating special units of community policing. This era is concerned with rebuilding the relationship between local police and people in the community, improving the quality of life and encouraging the community to work together with the local police department.

Police in the Community Essay Exam Questions Compare and contrast the Quasi-military way of policing with the Community Policing philosophy.

Many US police departments are organized based on the design of the police as an almost military institution. The military model proves to be very attractive to policing because it draws parallels between the military and the police in terms of using force to achieve targets and employing highly trained personnel, the need for rigid internal regulations to eliminate and control police corruption, as well as the military experience shared by many police officers that helps strengthen internal discipline.

There are many similarities between the Quasi-Military Organization and the community police. In addition to both wearing uniforms, the police follow the military style of command designations (Chief - Captains - lieutenants - sergeants - patrol officers), the style of the organization is authoritarian, penalizing those who disobey the law, there is a hierarchical command structure or pyramidal (where the work is divided between workers, first-line supervisors, and executive directors), whose chain of command is drawn from the top to the base, and police are allowed to make use of lethal force, physical force, as well as bear arms and make arrests. Command units arise where each person is accountable to only one superior and the written Rules and Regulations are designed in order to ensure uniformity and consistency.

However, the growing militarization of US policing may be harming community policing. In 1929, when Robert Peel developed his plan for the London Metropolitan Police, although he had borrowed from the military the organizational style and the administrative structure, he wanted a clear distinction between the police and the military. Through his principles, Peel emphasized crime prevention through voluntary community collaboration and minimal use of the force, while military forces

Police in the Community Essay Exam Questions were based on the use of force. As US policing evolved, the quasi-military orientation was mainly adopted, abandoning political control and focusing on crime control as the main mission. The police became more autonomous and less corrupt. While the community policing movement has followed many of Peel's policing principles, emphasizing the importance of the relationship between police and community, the simultaneous practice of militarization may be undermining such relationships [ CITATION Bic13 \l 1046 ].

However, the Quasi-Military system is much criticized because it cultivates the idea of "us versus them" in relation to those who serve and protect, while prosecuting the war on crime, the war on drugs and now a war on terrorism. This idea of "war on crime" and the authoritarian style of command is inadequate to serve citizens and is contrary to the principles governing democratic participation. In addition, according to Gary Potter, “There are many problems with the military model of policing. First there is a major difference in who exercises discretion in the military and the police. In the military discretion is most commonly exercised at the top of the bureaucratic hierarchy. Individual soldiers, in the field, make very few discretionary decisions. But, in police agencies the greatest discretion resides with individual police officers”[ CITATION Pot13 \l 1033 ].

Therefore, it would only be possible to build a true professional police force when officers could be rewarded for having good police work qualities. However, this system would be in direct competition with current methods of military-bureaucratic regulation.

Explain how two technologies changed policing, include positive and negative points.

Police in the Community Essay Exam Questions Technological advances related to the applicability of the law have changed the way police officers and investigators investigate crimes. The use of mobile technology made it possible for police officers, detectives and detectives to be more connected to the community that they protect and react faster, reducing response time.

As an example of a technological device, we can cite the Body Cameras and Police Car Cameras. Such artifacts have emerged as a way of increasing the officers' responsibility as well as their own safety. In addition, these advances could reduce unnecessary violent incidents and help the police to defend its own reputation. As stated by Patrick Solar, “These cameras, which are now small enough to be mounted on an officer’s uniform or on a pair of glasses do far more than just promote public trust and accountability in the age of viral videos and demands for transparency. Though some members of the law enforcement community have raised concerns over the use of the cameras, they can actually provide a helpful resource to police departments and protect officers from an increasing abundance of false claims of inappropriate behavior or abuse”[ CITATION Sol15 \l 1033 ]. The records of the cameras can be brought to evidence as a means of reporting all that occurred during the police action, without the need for testimony to prove what happened. Also, the images can be used by the department for the purpose of training and practicing, analyzing if the action was successful or if improvements are needed.

However, the use of this technology is controversial because it raises questions about individual privacy, causing significant changes in the way the public sees the work of the police and the way police officers see their own tasks.

Another technological breakthrough was the establishment of a single telephone number, eventually available nationwide, that Americans could use to call the

Police in the Community Essay Exam Questions police, called 911. This number was created to address emergency calls from the police and fire department. This line of communication was meant to be a facilitator for the police work, with the promise of an emergency response. However, according to Raymond Foster, “Within ten years, police chiefs of large departments were beginning to complain that ever-increasing 911-generated calls for service were starting to distort and even overwhelm the balanced deployment of police resources” [ CITATION Fos18 \l 1033 ]. Thus, new technologies can also be synonymous with new problems for the police. The 911 system became essential in order to requisition emergency police services, but it created new headaches for the police departments, since it received any type of complaint, leaving the police overloaded.

Explain Community and how the Broken Windows Theory affects the community.

According to the book Community Policing, community "refers to the specific geographic area served by a police department or law enforcement agency and the individuals, organizations and agencies within that area"[ CITATION Mil17 \l 1046 ]. The community also represents integration, a sense of shared values, the symbology of the 'we'.

Relating this concept of community to the theory of the broken window, we can observe a relationship not very close between them and considered by some a little controversial. The Theory of Broken Windows was introduced in 1982 in an article written by social scientists James Q. Wilson e George L. Kelling, who used this metaphor "broken windows" to refer to disorder in neighborhoods and incivility within a community, with the consequent occurrence of crimes. Prior to the development and implementation of theories such as broken windows, police attention was focused on

Police in the Community Essay Exam Questions serious crime; that is, they were more concerned with those big crimes that had more serious consequences for the victims, such as rape, robbery and murder. However, Adam J. McKee, states that the authors of the broken window theory, Wilson and Kelling, had a different view, hence “They saw serious crime as the final result of a lengthier chain of events, theorizing that crime emanated from disorder and that if disorder were eliminated, then serious crimes would not occur” [ CITATION McK17 \l 1033 ]. There is no absolute certainty that this theory of zero tolerance, as it was also known, was responsible for huge reductions in crime. While some contend that policing broken windows has contributed to crime reduction, others believe that it has facilitated oppressive policing and that clemency and discretion, which are vital to good community policing, would have been lost along the way. There is a strong need to improve community policing and "build trust and legitimacy" within the community. For this, we do not need oppressive policing. Practiced police officers are required to use their discretionary power in a professional manner, contrary to the relentless practice of policing broken windows, which puts enormous pressures on law enforcement officers to launch extensive networks of subpoenas and prisons and weakens their professional capabilities. John Eterno and Eli Silverman state that “Officers need to develop close ties to the communities they serve rather than alienate them. They should not browbeat citizens but work with them so that if citizens see something they will actually say something to the local beat cop. Officers must have the discretion to write or not write a summons, conduct a forcible stop or make an arrest. They must not be robots who try to meet mindless quotas. Most importantly, communities must have input into police practices. This must be

Police in the Community Essay Exam Questions substantive rather than a simple going through the motions to check boxes”[ CITATION Ete15 \l 1033 ]

What do you think will be law enforcements biggest future challenge and why?

The police are the face of the entire criminal justice system and it means much more than a simple police department. Community policing has become the slogan of American policing and is based on partnership between the community and the police. The primary role of the community police goes beyond arresting people or answering calls. Policemen should try to understand the problems of the community and be aware of the reasons why they are called by people. Also, they should try to help sick people, resolve small "domestic disputes, regulate traffic, and educate children and adolescents about drug use. Identifying and assessing the needs of victims and providing strategies for individuals is key to policing. I believe the biggest challenge is to bring the community closer to the police so that both can work together. Police departments should be more proactive, that is, they should make crime prevention as important as law enforcement. In addition, the community must be more participatory and not view the police as an enemy. Gene Stephens states that, “The twenty-first century has put policing into a whole new milieu--one in which the causes of crime and disorder often lie outside the immediate community, demanding new and innovative approaches from police. Most ordinary street crime involves perpetrators and victims from the same or nearby communities; thus, prevention involves closely watching and analyzing activity in the

Police in the Community Essay Exam Questions immediate area and taking action to head off problems (leading to what some call "problem-solving policing")”[ CITATION Ste18 \l 1033 ] Therefore, I believe that the police should improve their skills in dealing with people, improve their educational level and have a greater command of emerging technologies, as these will be crucial tools for the success of policing in the future.

References

Police in the Community Essay Exam Questions

Archbold, C. A. (2012). Policing: A Text/Reader (illustrated ed.). The United States of America: Sage Publications, Inc. Acesso em 25 de November de 2018, disponível em https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upmbinaries/50819_ch_1.pdf Bickel, K. (December de 2013). A crescente militarização de nossa polícia prejudicará o pol...