Professional Policing Flashcards
What concepts in policing are rooted in European Methods?
i. County
ii. Sheriff
iii. Common law
iv. English “bobby” foot patrol methods
What was the Development of Policing From 1900 through the 1940s?
i. The use of the automobile provided a more rapid response to police calls for service.
a. Many officers were reassigned from walking beats to radio cars.
ii. The advent of radio communications allowed calls for service to be dispatched to officers in the field.
a. The assignment of officers from walking beats initiated the distancing of the police from the individual citizens through increased mobility.
iii. The police performance level increased due to rapid response, while actual communications with citizens decreased.
iv. The absence of quality evaluation was prevalent throughout the period.
v. During this era, law enforcement personnel (especially the “beat officers”) were known by the citizens in the areas in which they worked.
a. This relationship created a bond that made the officer feel an ownership of his work area. The community also felt a more personal relationship with their officer(s).
vi. American policing went through a “reform” era marked by the contributions of such men as August Vollmer, whose goal was to bring professionalism to the
police. This age also saw the emergence of the present federal law enforcement system and the contributions of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI.
vii. The National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (Wickersham
Commission) reported in 1931 “the greatest promise for the future of policing is the college or university.”
What was the Development of Policing From 1950 through the 1970s?
i. Technology continued to improve, with computers and communications gradually becoming commonplace.
ii. The use of automobiles improved response time to calls for service.
a. The increased use of automobile travel and technology created a fast paced service style, which further removed peace officers from constant citizen contact.
iii. The professional police model developed with emphasis on accountability and increased standards. Success measures such as response time, crime statistics, and citizen complaints became common indicators of police performance.
iv. Police professionalism was again an issue in the late 60s when the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice stated in 1967 that, in their opinion, police personnel should have two or four years of college education. This Commission indicated that the ultimate aim of all police
departments was for personnel with general enforcement powers to have baccalaureate degrees.
v. The National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals (NAC) reported in 1973 that the police still had low educational requirements. The NAC cited the recommendations of the 1967 commission and established minimum entry-level requirements. The immediate educational standard was to
be one year of college. The educational standard increase was to continue by requiring two years of college by 1975, three years of college by 1978, and a baccalaureate degree by 1982. A study was done in 1986 of entry-level educational requirements to determine which of the NAC’s goals had been met. The responding 289 agencies reported that 0.9% had no minimum educational
requirement, 84.8% had a high school or G.E.D. requirement, and 0.6% required a four-year baccalaureate degree.
vi. Evaluation research became a tool for success measurement.
vii. The Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) funded numerous
projects to speed up the criminal justice process.
viii. The development and use of numerous specialized units resulted in the removal of patrol officers from most follow-up activities.
ix. The patrol system became an incident-driven approach in which police officers often became little more than report takers in most communities.
x. During this era, the police became controlled by the radio system. As a result of officers being required to answer calls for police services in a larger area, the peace officer lost much of the positive relationship and communications with the community.
What was the Development of Policing From 1980 through the Present?
i. Technology continues to improve with computers, mobile devices, and weapons.
ii. There is increased interest in evaluation research. Interest in other styles of police service led to considerable interest in new methods and experimentations.
iii. The development of community- or problem-oriented policing has opened new potential for progressive policing in agencies using both the traditional model and the problem-oriented model.
iv. The implementation of community or problem-oriented policing projects. Ironically, professionalization of policing has resulted, very often, in emphasis on walking beats and citizens interaction.
Describe the Evolution of Policing in Texas:
A. During Texas’ 100 years as a province of Mexico, Mexican governors reigned over the territory that would later become Texas. Policing was handled by the Spanish military. This ended when Texas became a free and independent republic after the Battle of San
Jacinto in 1836.
i. Texas Rangers
a. Stephen F. Austin employed a militia group to protect the settlers from Indian and bandit raids. This group later became known as the Texas Rangers. The watch/ward system of police did not evolve in Texas because of its large territory and absence of large cities/urban areas.
ii. Elected County Law Enforcement
a. Constables: Texas Constitution Article 5, Section 18
b. Sheriffs: Texas Constitution Article 5, Section 23
iii. Municipal Law Enforcement
a. Police Force of a Type A General-law Municipality: Local Government Code 341.001
b. Police Force of a Type C General-law Municipality: Local Government Code 341.002
c. Police Force of Home-Rule Municipality: Local Government Code 341.003
What are the concepts of the “Traditional Police Service Model?”
A. Reactive Response
Most of the workload of patrol officers and detectives consists of handling
crimes that have already been committed, disturbances in progress, traffic violations, and such. Exceptions include crime prevention and narcotics investigations.
B. Incident Driven
This relies on limited information, mostly from victims, witnesses, and suspects. Focus tends to be on one “incident” which is resolved before moving to the next “incident.”
C. Use of the criminal justice system
The primary means of resolving incidents is to involve the criminal justice process. It is critical to consider and utilize all elements of the criminal justice system, both sworn and civilian personnel.
D. Use of aggregate statistics
The department’s performance is largely measured by statistical comparisons. The department is doing a good job when the citywide crime rate is low, or the citywide arrest rate is high. The best officers are those who make many arrests or service many calls. Statistics can be affected by a number of factors.
E. Lack of community and employee involvement in the decision-making process
Most decisions are made at the management and mid-management level with little citizen involvement.
F. Citizen and employee expectations
The expectations of both the community and agency employees are often not met due to the expectation that peace officers will have a high impact on crime in the community.
G. The use of specialized units
The traditional model has used specialized units with a high degree of effectiveness. Directed patrol, traffic, investigative, and other related approaches have had a large degree of success in many police agencies.
What is the definition of “Community Policing?”
A new philosophy of policing, based on the concept that police officers and private citizens working together in creative ways can help solve contemporary community problems related to crime, fear of crime, social and physical disorder, and neighborhood decay.
What is “Community Policing?”
ii. The philosophy is expressed in a new organizational strategy that allows police departments to put theory into practice.
a. This requires freeing some patrol officers from the isolation of the patrol car and the incessant demands of the police radio, so that these officers can maintain direct, face-to-face contact with people in the same defined geographic area (beat) every day.
b. This new “community policing officer” (CPO) serves as a generalist: an officer whose mission includes developing imaginative, new ways to address the broad spectrum of community concerns embraced by the community policing philosophy.
c. The goal is to allow CPOs to own their beat areas, so that they can develop the rapport and trust that is vital in encouraging people to become involved in efforts to address the problems in their
neighborhoods. The CPO acts as the police department’s outreach to the community, serving as the people’s link to other public and private agencies that can help. The CPO not only enforces the law but supports and supervises community-based efforts aimed at local concerns. The CPO allows people direct input in setting day-to-day, local police priorities in exchange for their cooperation and participation in efforts to police themselves.
iii. Community policing requires both a philosophical shift in the way that police departments think about their mission and a commitment to the structural changes this new form of policing demands. Community policing provides a new way for the police to provide decentralized and personalized police service that offers every law-abiding citizen an opportunity to become active in the police process.
What are the principles of “Community Policing?”
B. Principles of Community Oriented Policing
i. Both a philosophy and an organizational strategy that allows the police and community residents to work closely together in new ways to solve the problems of crime, fear of crime, physical and social disorder, and neighborhood decay.
a. The philosophy rests on the belief that law-abiding people in the community deserve input into the police process, in exchange for their participation and support.
b. It also rests on the belief that solutions to contemporary community problems demand freeing both people and the police to explore creative, new ways to address neighborhood concerns beyond a narrow focus on in individual crime incidents.
ii. Community policing organizational strategy first demands that everyone in the department, including both civilian and sworn personnel, must investigate ways to translate the philosophy into practice.
a. This demand makes a subtle but sophisticated shift so that everyone in the department understands the need to focus on solving community problems in creative, new ways that can include challenging and enlisting people in the process of policing themselves.
b. Community policing also implies a shift within the department that grants greater autonomy to line officers, which implies enhanced respect for their judgment as police professionals.
iii. To implement true community policing, police departments must also create and develop a new breed of line officer, the “community policing officer” (CPO)
a. acts as the direct link between the police and people in the community.
b. As the department’s community outreach specialists, CPOs must be freed from the isolation of the patrol car and the demands of the police radio, so that they can maintain daily, direct, face-to-face contact with the
people they serve in a clearly defined beat area.
c. The CPO’s broad role demands continuous, sustained contact with the law-abiding people in the community, so that together they can explore creative new solutions to local concerns involving crime, fear of crime, disorder, and decay, with private citizens serving as unpaid volunteers.
d. As full-fledged law enforcement officers, CPOs respond to calls for service and make arrests, but they also go beyond this narrow focus to develop and monitor broad-based, long-term initiatives that can involve
community residents in efforts to improve the overall quality of life in the area over time.
e. As the community’s ombudsman, the CPO also links individuals and groups in the community to the public and private agencies that offer help.
iv. Implies a new contract between the police and the citizens it serves - one that offers the hope of overcoming widespread apathy, while restraining any impulse to vigilantism.
a. This new relationship based on mutual trust also suggests that the police serve as a catalyst, that challenge people to accept both their share of the responsibility for solving their own individual problems and their share of the responsibility for the overall quality of life in the community.
b. The shift to community policing also means a slower response time for non-emergency calls, and that citizens themselves will be asked to handle more of their minor concerns; but in exchange this will free the department to work with people on developing long-term solutions for pressing community concerns.
v. Adds a vital proactive element to the traditional reactive role of the police, resulting in full-spectrum police service.
a. As the only agency of social control open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the police must maintain the ability to respond to immediate crises and crime incidents.
b. However, community policing broadens the police role so that they can make a greater impact on making changes today that hold the promise of making communities safer and more attractive places to live tomorrow.
vi. Stresses exploring new ways to protect and enhance lives of those who are most vulnerable:
a. Juveniles
b. LGBTQIA+
c. Elderly people
d. People of color
e. People with a disability
f. Undocumented people
g. People who are economically disadvantaged
h. People experiencing homelessness
i. It both assimilates and broadens the scope of previous outreach efforts such as crime prevention and police/community relations units, by involving the entire department in efforts to prevent and control crime in ways that encourage the police and law-abiding people to work together with mutual respect and accountability.
vii. Promotes the judicious use of technology, but it also rests on the belief that nothing surpasses what dedicated human beings, talking and working together, can achieve.
a. It invests trust in those who are on the front lines together on the street, relying on their combined judgment, wisdom, and expertise to fashion creative new approaches to contemporary community concerns.
viii. Must be a fully integrated approach that involves everyone in the department,
with the CPOs as specialists in bridging the gap between the police and the
people they serve.
a. The community policing approach plays a crucial role internally, within the police department, by providing information and assistance about the community and its problems, and by enlisting broad-based community support for the department’s overall objectives.
ix. Community policing provides decentralized, personalized police service to the community.
d. It recognizes that the police cannot impose order on the community from outside: people must be encouraged to think of the police as a resource they can use in helping to solve contemporary community concerns.
e. It is not a tactic to be applied and then abandoned, but an entirely new way of thinking about the police role in society
f. A philosophy that also offers a coherent and cohesive organizational plan that police departments can modify to suit their specific needs.
What are professionals in the community that Police rely on?
i. Private Attorneys/ Bail Bondsmen
ii. Legal Services
iii. Social Services
iv. Texas Department of Health and Human Services
v. Local Crisis Centers
vi. Sexual Assault Response Teams (SART)
vii. Multidisciplinary Teams (MDTs)
viii. Domestic Violence High Risk Teams (DVHRTs)
ix. Care Coordination Teams – Commercially Sexually Exploited Youth (CSEY)
x. Child Fatality Review Teams
What is the importance of involving the community in all policing activities that directly affect the quality of community life?
a. Reducing fear by addressing problem of crime in the community.
b. Establishing trust and harmony between the community residents and the peace officer.
c. Exchanging information to strengthen rapport and enhance community safety.
d. Assisting in identifying and resolving community problems.
e. Clarifying responsibilities on behalf of citizens and peace officers.
f. Helping define service needs.
What are the philosophical differences between community-based policing and traditional approaches?
a. Traditional model is incident driven, i.e., reactive.
b. Officer activity is based on calls for service (CFS).
c. CPOs are pro-active and co-active.
d. New role is more complex:
i. Law Enforcer - CFS, incident driven and reactive
ii. Planner - information gatherer and analyst
iii. Problem Solver - strategist, critical thinker
iv. Community organizer - co-active role in resolving community problems through joint efforts
For whom do we work?
The peace officer works for and services the citizen of the community in which (s) they are employed. It is the police officer’s duty to protect and serve their community even to the point of placing their life at risk.
To whom are we responsible?
The peace officer is responsible to the citizens of the community through the chain of command in the organization.
Whose standards do we attempt to meet?
The officer and their agency must meet numerous standards that
determine how (s) they are to do the job. All levels of government, the agency, our family, and the community set these standards.
