The Police: Organization, Role and Function Chapter 6

The Police Organization  Independent organizations  No two exactly alike  Hierarchical with a chain of command  Problems are not uncommon, nor are they unique to policing agencies  Personnel changes  Internal reorganization

Organization of a Traditional Metropolitan Police

The Police Organization  The time-in-rank system  Requires that before moving up the administrative ladder, an officer must spend a certain amount of time in the next lowest rank  Prohibits departments from allowing officers to skip ranks  Sometimes prevents them from hiring an officer from another department and award him/her a higher rank

The Police Role  Real police work  Minor disturbances  Service calls  Administrative duties

The Patrol Function  Patrol officers are the most highly visible components of the entire criminal justice system  Patrol activities  Deter crime  Maintain public order  Respond quickly  Identify and apprehend law violators  Provide aid  Facilitate the movement of traffic and people  Create a feeling of security in the community

Police Encounters With Citizens Each Year

Improving Patrol  Proactive policing  An aggressive law enforcement style in which patrol officers take the initiative against crime instead of waiting for criminal acts to occur  Broken windows model  The role of police as maintainers of community order and safety  Rapid response  Improving police response time

The Patrol Function  Procedural justice  Concern with making decisions that are arrived at through procedures viewed as fair  Use of technology  Technologies such as CompStat to help guide patrol efforts

The Investigation Function  Investigative work is less visible than patrol work  Work closely with patrol officers to provide an immediate investigative response to crimes and incidents  Many police departments maintain separate units, squads, or divisions of detectives who investigate crimes ranging from vice to homicides

How Do Detectives Detect?  Specific focus  Interview witnesses, gather evidence, record events, and collect facts  General coverage  Canvass the neighborhood and make observations, conducts interviews with friends/family/associates, contacts others for information regarding victims/suspects, construct victim/suspect time lines to outline their whereabouts

How Do Detectives Detect?  Informative data gathering  Use technology to collect records of cell phones, computer hard drives, notes, and other information

Investigative Functions

The Investigation Function  Sting Operations  Organized groups of detectives who deceive criminals into openly committing illegal acts or conspiring to engage in criminal activity

The Investigative Function  Undercover Work  Pose as criminals or as victims  Considered a necessary element of police work, although it can prove dangerous for the officer  May pose psychological problems for the officer

The Investigation Function  Evaluating Investigations  Creates considerable paperwork and is relatively inefficient in clearing cases  Improving Investigations  Patrol officers should have greater responsibility at the scene  Specialized units can bring expertise  Collection of physical evidence is important

Thinking Point Watch a show that currently runs on television (can be a show in re-runs) that deals with policing or detective work. What type of impression of policing or detective work do you get from the television show? How does this correspond with what you learned in this chapter? How can you explain the differences?

Community Policing  Community Policing  Consists of a return to an earlier style of policing in which officers on the beat had an intimate contact with the people they served  Can be a specific program or a philosophy  Key components:  Community partnerships  Organizational transformation  Problem solving

Community Policing  Important because it promotes interaction between officers and citizens  Gives officers the time to meet with local residents to talk about crime in the neighborhood and to use personal initiative to solve problems

The Challenges of Community Policing  Defining community  Defining roles  Changing supervisor attitudes  Reorienting police values  Revising training  Reorienting recruitment  Reaching out to every community

Thinking Point Look at the website of your community police department for evidence of community policing programs, or contact your local police department to inquire. What types of community policing initiatives do you believe are present in your community? Have you seen any evidence of such initiatives?

Problem Oriented Policing  A style of police management that stresses proactive problem solving instead of reactive crime fighting  Requires police agencies to identify particular long-term community problems and to develop strategies to eliminate them  Supported by the fact that a great deal of urban crime is concentrated in a few hot spots

Criminal Acts, Criminal Places  Combating auto theft  Use of technology to reduce car thefts  Reducing violence  Operation Ceasefire  Formed to reduce youth homicide and youth firearms violence in Boston

Intelligence-Led Policing  The collection and analysis of information to generate an “intelligence end product” designed to inform police decision making at both the tactical and the strategic level

Intelligence-Led Policing  Relies heavily on:  Confidential informants  Offender interviews  Careful analysis of crime reports and calls for service  Suspect surveillance  Community sources of information

Intelligence and the Intelligence Process  Tactical Intelligence  Gaining or developing information related to threats of terrorism or crime and using this information to apprehend offenders, harden targets, and use strategies that will eliminate or mitigate the threat  Strategic Intelligence  Information about the changing nature of certain problems and threats for the purpose of developing response strategies and reallocating resources

Intelligence-Led Policing  Fusion Centers  Support for a range of law enforcement activities  Help for major incident operations and support for units charged with interdiction and criminal investigations  Provide the means for community input, often through “tip lines”  Assistance to law enforcement executives

 Dispatch  Training  Citizen Police Interactions  Forensics  Planners  Personnel Service  Internal Affairs Division  Administration and Control of Budgets  Maintenance and Dissemination of Information Police Support Functions

 Multiple Tasking  Special Assignments  Differential Police Responses  Consolidation  Informal Arrangements  Sharing  Pooling  Contracting  Service Districts  Civilian Employees Improving Police Productivity