The Police Mission The purposes of policing in democratic societies is to: Enforce and support the laws Investigate crimes/apprehend offenders Prevent crime Ensure domestic peace and tranquility Provide the community with enforcement–related services

Enforcing the Law Only about 10–20% of all calls to the police require a law enforcement response. Police cannot enforce all of the laws. Resources are limited. Law enforcement priorities are significantly affected by community needs. Individual discretion also impacts them. Police are expected to support the laws they enforce.

Apprehending Offenders Offenders may be apprehended: While committing a crime Shortly after committing a crime After an extensive investigation

Preventing Crime Crime prevention is proactive. It aims to: Reduce crime and criminal opportunities Lower the rewards of crime Lessen the fear of crime Law enforcement’s ability to prevent crimes relies in part on their ability to predict crime. Determining when and where crimes will occur Allocating resources accordingly Crime mapping, as with CompStat, helps

Preserving the Peace Law enforcement do a number of activities to help ensure domestic peace and tranquility. Officers may focus on quality-of-life offenses, acts that create physical disorder or reflect social decay or that could lead to further deterioration (broken windows theory). Examples: Vandalism, excessive noise.

Providing Services About 70% of the millions of daily 9-1-1 calls are directed to the police. Police handle emergency and non-emergency calls, such as: Barking dogs Lost and found items Minor accidents

Operational Strategies There are five core operational strategies, each with unique features: Preventive patrol Routine incident response Emergency response Criminal investigation Problem solving Additionally, there is an ancillary operational strategy: support services.

Preventive Patrol The dominant operational policing strategy is preventive patrol, which places uniformed officers on the street in the midst of the public. The backbone of police work. It consumes most of the resources of local and state-level agencies.

Emergency Response Emergency responses (or critical incidents) occur in response to crimes in progress, serious injuries, natural disasters, and other situations in which human lives may be in jeopardy.

Criminal Investigation Criminal investigations dominate media attention but constitute a relatively small proportion of police work. An investigation involves discovering, collecting, preparing, identifying, and presenting evidence to determine what happened and who is responsible.

Criminal Investigation First responding officers: Provide assistance to the injured and in capturing suspects. Secure the crime scene. Conduct the preliminary investigation. Follow-up investigations are based on solvability factors.

Problem Solving Historically, it is the least well-developed by the police profession. The methodology is known by acronyms such as SARA or CAPRA.

Problem Solving Problem solving policing requires: Gathering knowledge of problem causes Developing solutions in partnership with the community Responding with a workable plan Assessing the progress

Support Services Support services are ancillary services such as dispatch, training, personnel, property control, and record-keeping that keep agencies running.

Managing Police Departments Police management refers to the administrative activities of controlling, directing, and coordinating police personnel, resources, and activities in order to: Prevent crime Apprehend criminals Recover stolen property Perform regulatory and helping services

Police Organization and Structure Line Operations Field activities or supervisory activities directly related to day-to-day police work Staff Operations Include support roles, such as administration

Chain of Command The organizational chart of any police agency shows a hierarchical chain of command. Represents order of authority Quasi-military structure Span of control—the number of personnel or unites supervised by a particular commander.

Policing Styles History helps shape policing styles, how agencies see their purpose, and choose to fulfill it. There are three basic policing styles: Watchman Legalistic Service

Historical Eras in American Policing FIGURE 6–3 Historical eras in American policing.

The Watchman Style of Policing The watchman style of policing are typically in lower- or lower-middle class areas that have a lot of crime. This style is marked by: Order maintenance Controlling illegal and disruptive behavior Considerable use of discretion

The Legalistic Style of Policing Legalistic style police departments are committed to enforcing the letter of the law and take a “laissez faire” stance on behaviors that are simply bothersome.

The Service Style of Policing Service style police departments strive to meet community needs. They are: Concerned with helping rather than strictly enforcing the laws. More likely to supplement law enforcement activities with community resources. Popular today.

Police-Community Relations (PCR) Movement began in the 1960s and 1970s. This movement recognizes the need for the police and the community to work together. Store-front auxiliary police offices Neighborhood watch Drug awareness programs Project ID

Team Policing Team policing is an extension of the PCR movement. With team policing, conventional patrol strategies are reorganized and police teams are assigned to fixed districts. Police become more familiar with the people of their districts and their problems and concerns.

Community Policing as Corporate Strategy Some suggest that police departments operate like corporations, and that community policing is the newest strategy. Other strategies are strategic policing and problem-oriented policing.

Community Policing Strategic policing Problem-solving policing Enlarges the enforcement target to include nontraditional kinds of criminals Problem-solving policing Takes the view that many crimes are caused by existing social conditions

Community Policing Consistent with service policing, community policing emphasizes the idea that police must partner with the community to help fulfill the community needs. Police actively work with citizens and with social services to help solve problems.

Community Policing Community policing involves at least one of four elements: Community-based crime prevention Reorientation of patrol activities to emphasize nonemergency services Increased police accountability to the public A decentralization of command, including greater use of civilians at all levels of police decision making

Critique of Community Policing Some criticize community policing, citing problems such as: Too abstract of a concept Hard-to-measure success Difficult to conceptualize and quantify “citizen success” Not readily accepted by all police officers or managers Difficulty coming to a consensus with regard to what’s considered a “community problem”

Terrorism’s Impact on Policing The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks changed the role of police departments. The core mission has not changed, but all police departments now devote much more resources to preparing for a possible terrorist attack and intelligence gathering. Local police departments play an especially important role in responding to the challenges of terrorism.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Approach The IACP identified five key principles behind an effective homeland security policy. Proposals must be developed in local context. Prevention is a key part of any strategy. State and local law enforcement can help identify, investigate, and apprehend terrorist suspects. Strategies must be coordinated nationally, not federally. There cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach.

Field Intelligence Groups Field Intelligence Groups (FIGs) represent another FBI counterterrorism effort. FIGS work closely with Joint Terrorism Task Forces to provide information to state and local law enforcement personnel. They help generate intelligence and disseminate information.

Intelligence-Led Policing and Antiterrorism Intelligence-Led Policing (ILP) is a technique involving the use of criminal intelligence to guide policing in the fight against terrorism. Police should be able to collect and/or analyze intelligence information and form an effective response to credible threat.

Information Sharing and Antiterrorism Sharing information across jurisdictions is crucial to effective antiterrorism plans and creating a fully integrated criminal justice information system. Such efforts are called boundaryless policing. Examples of information sharing: Law Enforcement Online (LEO) NLETS

Fusion Centers A new concept in policing, pool and analyze information from law enforcement agencies at all levels. Information sharing is the central purpose.

Discretion and the Individual Officer Even as police agencies adapt to threats posed by terrorism, individual officers still retain a considerable amount of discretion. discretion = choice

Factors that Influence Discretion Officer’s background Suspect’s characteristics Department policy Community interest Pressure from victim Disagreement with the law

Professionalism and Ethics Today’s demands for police professionalism require that police officers have specialized knowledge and they adhere to professional standards and police ethics. Accreditation is a step toward greater professionalism. Ethics training is integrated into most basic training programs.

Education and Training Modern police education programs involve training in areas like: Human relations Firearms Communications Legal issues Patrol Investigations Report writing

Education and Training Federal law enforcement agents training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). American Society for Law Enforcement Training (ASLET) A post-academy field training program (PTO) is a recent development in police training.

Formal Education Formal education is not required by all police departments, though for decades it has been recommended by several Commissions and groups. Departments vary with regard to hiring requirements. Some require no college; others require a four-year degree. Most federal agencies require college degrees.

Benefits and Problems Associated with Hiring Educated Police Officers Better written reports Enhanced public communication skills More effective job performance Fewer citizen complaints Greater initiative Wiser use of discretion Heightened sensitivity to racial and ethnic issues Fewer disciplinary problems Problems More likely to leave police work More likely to question orders More likely to request reassignments

Recruitment and Selection Law enforcement agencies use a variety of applicant screening methods, including: Personal interviews Basic skills tests Physical agility measures Medical exams Drug tests Background investigations Psychological testing

Percentage of Local Police Departments Using Various Recruit-Screening Methods, (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2006) FIGURE 6–4 Percentage of local police departments using various recruit-screening methods.

Ethnic and Gender Diversity in Policing Opportunities for women and minorities in policing are expanding. Although ethnic minorities are now employed in policing in significant numbers, women are still significantly underrepresented, especially in top command positions.

Women as Effective Police Officers Some women have integrated well into the role of police officer. Others feel strain and isolation. Strain caused by family roles and parenting, underutilization, uncooperative attitudes of male officers.

Increasing the Number of Minorities and Women in Police Work The Police Foundation recommends: Involving underrepresented groups in departmental affirmative action and long-term planning programs. Encouraging the development of an open promotion system. Periodic audits to make sure that female officers are not being underutilized by ineffective tracking into clerical and support positions.