Lecture 2 - Police Organizations Flashcards
Police Organizations
- The structure that compromises modern police
- Police organizations are rigid (change slowly ad adapt slowly)
- Police organizations are often hierarchical (Chief, Deputy Chief, Superintendents, Inspectors etc.)
- Police departments are comprised of lots of moving parts (many divisions within; inspector in one division might never meet a traffic cop in same police force)
History of Police Organizations (TEST Q ASKING ORDER OF ERAS)
ERA 1: The Political Era
ERA 2: Professionalization Era
ERA 3: Bureaucratic Era
ERA 4: Community Policing Era
ERA 5: Still Being Defined
Timeline of Eras
ERA 1: The Political era
* Untrained Police Officers
* No structure in operating procedures
* People were fed up saying there was corruption
ERA 2: Professional Era
* Proper Training and thought operational procedures
* Other majors were valuable (biology, chemistry, etc.)
* Start of standards
ERA 3: Bureaucratic Era
* Police organizations need to resemble bureaucracies
* Police officers closely supervised
* No Officer Discretion
ERA 4: Community Policing Era
* Public no longer fine with “machines” as officers
* Wanted officer discretion, as they know the communities best and how to solve their problems
* Believed community-specific officers better suited their needs and desires
ERA 5: Present Era (Undefined)
* Centred around technology and AI
* Eliminates some manual responses of police and replaced them with automated responses
* Change can occur across space (changes around the world) and change over time
* More Diversity With Officers
6 Typological Approaches To Studying Policing (TEST Q - Describe Approaches & Explain What They Refer To)
-
Officer Diversity
- Gender &Race -
Community Policing
- Community-Oriented Police Strategies (i.e. bikes) -
Patrol Strategy
Diversity
- Inclusion of more community patrol strategies (walking patrol, bike patrol) -
Militancy
- Military Grade Weaponry (tanks, grenade launchers) -
Technology
- Implementation of Technology -
Staffing Rigor
- How much standardizations did police agencies enforce (rules, union, etc.)
Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) (TEST Q)
A typological approach to studying policing
Surveyed police organizations based on 6 typologies:
- Officer Diversity
- Community Policing
- Patrol Strategy Diversity
- Militancy
- Technology
- Staffing Rigor
Importance: Used to analyze trends, evaluate impact of policies, support development of police strategies.
Police Timeline
Heterogenic:
1993: Most States in The United States scored low on values in each of the 6 typologies (except Los Angeles)
Homogenic:
2013: All States were scoring high on values of each of the 6 typologies.
- This shows the change in police strategies over time, and their evolutions
- Also shows convergence in policing as they showed different levels in 1993, but now show similar levels in 2013
2 Changes that Explain Police Convergence (Test Q):
- Changes across Space
- Changes across Time
Article
READ
Performance Metrics
Report Cards for Police.
Sunshine and Taylor (2003) addressed 2 Questions regarding citizens’s perception of police performance:
- Assess whether police legitimacy has an influence on public support for the police?
- Evaluate the determinants of legitimacy: instrumental model versus procedural justice model
Legitimacy (TEST Q - Define Legitimacy)
Legitimacy In the article “ A property of an authority or institution that leads people to feel that (the) authority is entitled to be deferred to and obeyed
Public Support
- Behavioural Compliance with the law (Obeying the law)
- Behavioural Cooperation with the police
- Willingness to support police discretion
Instrumental Model
The police gain acceptance when they are viewed by the public as maintaining:
Risk: Creating credible, sanctioning threats for breaking laws (risk of ticket)
Performance: Effectively controlling crime and criminal behaviour
Distributive Fairness: Fairly Distributing Police Services across people and communities (Gain acceptance with unbiased policing)
Procedural Justice Model
“Legitimacy of the police is linked to public judgments about the fairness of the process through which the police make decisions and exercise authority”
* Focuses on treatment of people
* Police perceived as fair -> Legitimate -> Public cooperation
4 Components:
Voice: “Give public a voice”
Neutrility: Police consistently apply law and make unbiased decisions, transparent to how decisions are made (police give explanations with their decisions)
Dignity & Respect: Speak politely, show genuine respect regardless of social status, courteous
Trustworty Motives: Genuine and trustworthy motives, Clear concern about giving attentions to people’s needs
Does Police Legitimacy Have an Influence on Public Support of Police?
YES
* Legitimacy is the dominant predictor of citizen’s orientation toward police
Citizen’s evaluations of police legitimacy impact there:
- Compliance with law
- Behavioural Cooperation with the police
- Willingness to support police discretion
Instrumental Model Vs. Procedural Justice Model
Answer: PROCEDURAL JUSTICE
People are not primarily instrumental in their reactions to the police… instead, their reactions to the police are linked to their basic social values.
Advantages of Procedural Justice approach:
- Intrinsic Motivations
- No Alienation (nobody gets left out)
- Safe for citizens and officers
- Easy to Manipulate
