Intro to Policing Flashcards
What is Discretion
Individual choices and judgements
What is Police Discretion
The decision-making power afforded to police officers that allows them to decide if they want to pursue police procedure or simply let someone off with a warning
Jerome Skolnick’s Justice without Trial
Decisions on what to do with suspects can be made without Trial at all
Symbolic Assailant
a person a police officer thinks is potentially dangerous
James Wilson Watchman style
-Main concern is achieving “order maintenance” through control of illegal and disruptive behavior
-Use discretion liberally
-Informal police intervention
James Wilson’s Legalistic Style
-Enforce the letter of the law
-Avoid community disputes arising from violations of social norms that for not break the law
-Laissez-faire policing
-Policy or attitude of letting things take their own course, without interfering
James Wilson’s Service Style
-Meet the needs of the community and serve its members
-Officers see themselves as helpers
-Cooperation with other agencies such as social services (counseling) for crime prevention
Broken Windows Theory
-Stanford psychologist Phillip Zimbardo’s experiment
-Focusing on low-level and quality-olf-life offenses
-Prevention of more serious crimes
-Stop and frisk became unconstitutional
Pros of Police discretion
-Promotes job satisfaction
-Promotes autonomy
-Promotes realistic goals
-Promotes humanitarian principles
Cons of police discretion
-Potential for abuse
-Potential for corruption
-Possible citizen complaints
-Lawsuits when things go wrong
Discretion and Seniority
As an officer’s rank increases, he or she is able to make fewer discretionary decisions
Police Decision Making - Neighborhood factors
-Racial composition; socioeconomic status
-Police officers who patrol affluent communities vs poor communities
-Different policing strategies used depending on the problems faced by neighborhoods
-Police tend to make more arrests in poor communities (broken windows policing)
Police Decision Making- Situational Factors
Offense seriousness
-probable cause to arrest is more likely to be present in cases of serious crime
Location and Bystanders
-When they are in plain view and watched by people, officers are more likely to follow proper policies
Relationship between parties
-Mandatory Arrest Policy
Police Decision Making- Officer
Education, Age, and Experience
-younger officers with less experience tend to be more aggressive
Gender
-female officers tend to be less aggressive
Ambition and Attitudes
-performance and promotion
Police Decision Making- Organizational Factors
Bureaucratic structure
-chain of command
-Hierarchy
-Rules and regulations
-Mandatory Arrest Policy
Beats and scheduling
-Larger patrol areas usually equate to impersonal relationships
-Smaller areas usually see service styles of policing
The Police Mission
-To enforce and support the law
-To investigate crimes and apprehend offenders
-To prevent crime
-To ensure domestic peace and tranquility
-To provide local communities, states, and the nation as a whole with needed enforcement-related services
Types of Patrol: Preventative
-Patrolling neighborhoods in an effort to discourage people from committing crime
-Deterrence theory
-getting caught outweighs the benefits of committing the crime
Types of Patrol: Directed
-Concentrating the police presence in areas where certain crimes are a significant problem
Hot spots and hot times
-When and where crime is likely to occur
-Pin maps
-Crime mapping
Patrol Methods and Techniques
-Strip malls, shopping districts, tourist destinations
Limits officer’s ability to give chase if the need arises
-Provides mobility
-Patrol vehicles, bikes, motorcycles, foot patrol, etc.
Kansas City (Missouri) Preventative Patrol Experiment
-Proactive beats: 2-3 times the normal level of patrol
-Reactive beats: no patrol, only responses to calls for service
-Control beats: patrol levels same as normal
Findings show that the level of patrol has no impact on crimes suppressible by patrol
Public safety was neither improved nor decreased in either of the 3 beats
How effective is patrol based on Kansas City experiment
-Police simply are not deterrent factors
-People may not be aware of the presence of the police and there are other factors that deter would-be criminals
A mere increase in police officers may not be the solution to crime
The Response Role
Routine responses
-Minor traffic accidents
-Collect information and file a written report
Emergency Responses
-Critical incident response
-Traffic accidents with serious injuries, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, etc.
Traffic Function
-Enforcing laws pertaining to motor vehicles and their operation
-Involves te relief of congestion and the reduction of accidents
-Sobriety checkpoints, license and safety checks, direct traffic, etc.
Traffic Function cont’d
-Officers can stop cars based on the belief that a crime as been committed, including any traffic violation
-Once stopped, the officer can ask the driver to step outside of the vehicle
Searching the vehicle
-Probable cause
-Consent
Items that are in plain view can be seized
