1. Chapter 6- Policing: Purpose and Styles

2. The Police Mission Enforcing the law Apprehending offenders
Preventing crime
Preserving the peace
Providing services

3. Enforcing the Law Enforce federal, state, and local criminal laws
Not only purpose; Most officers spend majority of time answering non-emergency public service calls, controlling traffic, writing tickets, etc.
Only 10-20% of calls to police actually requirement law enforcement response

4. Apprehending Offenders
Includes Investigation of Crime Scene, gathering information, witnesses, etc. to lead to arrest of potential offender (discussed in-depth at later time)

5. Preserving the Peace
Peacekeeping is virtually limitless police activity involving not only activities that violate the law, but also includes quality-of-life offenses and regulating events that could potentially disrupt the peace

6. Preserving the Peace- Supervising of Potential Events
Parades
Public Demonstrations
Strikes
Marches
(etc.)

7. Preserving the Peace- Quality of Life Offenses
Minor law violations (also known as petty crimes)
Some violations demoralize residents and creates disorder- offenses include:
Excessive Noise
Graffiti
Abandoned Cars
Vandalism

8. Preserving the Peace- Quality of Life Offenses
Other violations reflect social decay. This includes
Panhandling/ Aggressive Begging
Public Urination
Prostitution
Roaming Youth Gangs
Public Consumption of Alcohol
Street Level Substance Abuse

9. Preserving the Peace- Quality of Life Offenses
Homelessness is not technically a violation of the law unless it involves trespassing, but is typically addressed under quality-of-life programs

10. Preserving the Peace: Broken Window Model of Policing
Theory based on notion that physical decay in a community (litter, abandoned buildings, etc) can lead to crime by signaling that laws are not being enforced
Decay pushes law-abiding citizens to withdraw from streets, which then sends signals that criminals can operate freely.
Police will work with communities to encourage repairs, control behavior in public spaces, etc.

11. Preserving the Peace: Broken Window Model of Policing
Some people are against expanded peacekeeping involvement because:
Police should not be taking a law enforcement approach to social and economic problems
Liberties are infringed upon- where is the line?
Programs are funded through taxpayers, which could mean raise in taxes

12. Providing Services Police Resource are ready to assist as needed
Websites
911
311 (non-emergency)
Created due to high volume of non-emergency 911 calls; Ex. Hastings Police Dept Handled 12,895 calls for service in 2001; only 1, 837 related to serious crimes; 11,058 were for calls such as lost and found articles, minor traffic accidents, suspicious persons, barking dogs, etc.

13. 5 Operational Strategies:
Preventative Control
Routine Incident Response
Emergency Response
Criminal Investigation
Problem Solving

14. Preventative Control Deter and Interrupt Crimes in Process
Position officers for quick response to emergency situations
Increase the public’s feelings of safety and security
Patrol: Operational Mode uniformed officers are expected to work in w hen not otherwise involved in answering/responding to calls.

15. Routine Incident Response
Respond to minor traffic accidents, disruptions, etc.

16. Emergency Response
Emergency responses (aka critical responses) include crimes in progress, serious traffic accidents, natural disasters, incidents of terrorism, officer requests for back-up, and other situations in which human life is in jeopardy
Emergency response takes precedent to all other police matters at the time
Response to emergencies less than routine incidents

17. Emergency Response
Part of police training includes emergency response techniques:
First aid
Hostage rescue
Physical capture of suspects

18. Criminal Investigation
Process of discovering, collecting, preparing, identifying, and presenting evidence to determine what happened and who is responsible when a crime occurs.
Criminal Investigators are referred to as detectives; up to them to solve crimes and produce the evidence needed for prosecution

19. Criminal Investigation
Investigation is mostly reserved for detectives, any police officer can be involved in initial stages of investigative process
Secure crime scene
Talk to witnesses/recording statements
Arresting people (if necessary) during crime in process
Noting facts such as position of victims, unusual actions/activities, etc.

20. Problem Solving (least well-developed role of policing)
Police communicate with clients most affected by community problems
Information is acquires and analyzed to determine cause of problem
Solutions developed through community partnerships
Police respond with workable plan
After plan is implemented, police periodically assess the situation to ensure progress

21. Basic Structure of Police Departments
Divisions (specialties/tasks; i.e. juvenile justice, counter-terrorism, etc)
Authority
Chain of Command (hierarchy)
Roles
Line
Field activities (police officers, detective, etc)
Supervisory activities (Police Commissioner, Sergeant
Staff
Administration
Training

22. Styles of Policing Watchman Legalistic Service Order and maintenance
Liberal discretion of police officers
Legalistic
Enforce to the letter of the law
Don’t bother with community issues that do not break the law
Service
Helpers as opposed to soldiers in a war on crime
Empowerment, Rehabilitation is emphasized over punishment
(see handout for further descriptions)