Quiz #1 Flashcards
Police Officer
- non-military
- employed by Government
- Legal status of Peace officer
Peace Officer
- Status granted to individual
- Certain powers not available to ordinary citizens
- Provide certain legal protection
- Can be police, probation, parole or corrections
“Crime fighter” myth
- Enforce law
- Investigate crimes
- Arrest criminals
Perpetuating the “crime fighter” image? eg. Batman
- Entertainment media
- News media
- Police themselves
- CSI effect
- Unreasonable jurors
Some consequences of “Crime Fighter” image?
- Distorted picture of what police actually do
- Roles and responsibilities are complex
- Vague and conflicting tasks
Factors that shape the police role?
Anomaly of policing (Goldstein)
- Police are expected to protect society
- Apply coercive force when necessary
- Protect individuals’ freedoms
- Tension between FREEDOM and CONSTRAINT
According to Westly police do…
…society’s “dirty work”
The authority to use force…
- Helped shape the police role
- Differentiates police from other professions
Egon Bittner argues that…
…coercive force is the defining feature of police
The capacity to use force is limited by:
- Law
- Used only while on duty
- Can’t be used maliciously
(FINAL) Social control?
The capacity of a society to regulate itself according to desired principles and values
Police are also known as?
“Gate Keepers” to the criminal justice and social welfare systems
Street corner psychiatrists
Police have this job to do as well, dealing with mentally ill, while also being a police officer
What is PSS (a study)?
- PSS (Police Service Study)
- Only 19% of calls received involve crime, only 2% are violent
Police Roles and Responsibilities
- Identify criminal offenders and activity, apprehend and deal with court proceedings
- Reduce crime through preventative patrol
- Aid individuals who are in danger
- Protect constitutional rights
- Facilitate movement of people and vehicles
- Assist those who can’t care for themselves
- Resolve conflict
- Identify problems that are serious law or government problems
- Create and maintain security in community
- Promote and preserve civil order
- Provide other services when there’s an emergency
*** (final) Problem Oriented Policing (POP)
- Involves planning and research, proactive approach
- Different strategies for different problems
- **Herman Goldstein argued for identification of recurring problems
- 1st experiments in POP occurred in Newport News, focused on burglaries in low-income housing units
- Today, many police agencies practice some form of POP
***(final) Community Policing
- Most contemporary approach to policing
- Encourages working together closely with residents to solve problems using a crime-prevention strategy
***(final) Zero-tolerance Policing
- Began in NYC in 1990s.
- Focuses on minor quality-of-life issues, such as urinating in public.
- Tough enforcement on minor crimes reduces serious crimes.
Implications of change
- Mission
- Patrol Operations
- Calls for Service
- Discretion
- Police community relations
- Corruption
- Accountability
- Personnel (How professional they are)
- Organization
The study of police history can:
- Dramatize the fact of change
- Put current problems into perspective
- Helps us understand what reforms have worked
- Alerts us to the unintended consequences
The English Heritage
- *Sir Robert Peel** - He created London Metro Police with a MISSION and ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
- Constable, Sheriff and Justice of the Peace
- The WATCH system - started with night watch against fires, crime and disorder, then towns grew larger so had day watch.
Thanks to Sir Robert Peel, the police system came to the US…
- Limited police authority for individual respect and liberty
- Local control of law enforcement, wasn’t federal control
The English Heritage
- Common Law
- Individual Rights
- Court System
- Various forms of punishment
FINAL 3 Enduring traditions to American Policing
- Limited Police Authority
- Local Control
- Decentralized and Fragmented police system
FINAL 1st Modern America Policing
- New York first police department with a day and night shift
- Did not wear uniforms, just hat and badge
- Did not carry firearms
3 Eras of American Policing
Political, Professional, and Era of Conflicting Pressures
- Also the Reform Era
- Presently “2nd Generation Reforms” due to “I.T. Era”
Law Enforcement in Colonial America
- Came about because of what people were doing, thus officers then had titles*
- Sheriff, Watch, Constable and Slave Patrol
- *Had a lot of corruption and political influence in law enforcement.
Sheriff
- Appointed by Governor
- Chief of local govt official
- law enforcement, collect taxes, conduct elections, maintain roads.
Constable
- Some responsibility enforcing law and maintain order
- Elected then appointed
Watch
- Patrolled to guard against fire, crime and disorder
- Originally only worked at night
- All males had to serve
Slave Patrol
- Only American
- Guard against slave. Revolts and capture runaway slaves
(Generally 3 men on horses, elites could avoid service by paying someone else to do it)
American Policing in the 19th Century
Establishment of modern police forces
- urbanization, industrialization, immigration
- break down in law and order
POLITICAL ERA
- Political closeness meant officers were required to enforce unpopular laws, such as in immigrant neighborhoods
- Selection based on political connection
- During this era there were no patrol cars, officers walked the Beat.
Patrol work
- Foot patrol, very inefficient then
- No communications system, but call boxes emerged
- Weak supervision, corruption
***(final) PROFESSIONAL ERA
American Policing in 20th Century
- August Vollmer “Father of American Police Professionalism”
- Advocated higher EDUCATION for officers
- He was Chief of Police, Berkley, CA
- Wrote Wickersham Commission Report
- He was against policing of drug use, said it led to corruption.
***(FINAL) O.W. Wilson
- Vollmer’s protege
- He wrote textbook, major influence in American policing, eg. how to do line-up
- He was the Police Commissioner in Chicago
Professionalization Movement
Reformers sought to:
- Define policing as a profession
- Eliminate the influence of politicians
- Hire qualified police chiefs
- Raise standards for police officers
- Apply modern management principles
- Create specialized units such as, traffic, vice
(FINAL) New Communication Technologies
- Patrol car just before WW1
- Two-way radio, late 1930s
- Telephone for citizens to call police
2 Types of National Commissions
2 National Commissions
- President’s Crime Commission
- Kerner Commission
What took place during the Police in the National Spotlight??
- Praised the progress made by the Professionalization Movement
- Found deep hostility between police and minorities
- Recommendations for changes in police operations were made
- During this time, William H. Parker, dramatically changed the LAPD into one of the most professional police departments in the country
FINAL The Police Crisis in the 1960s
- A lot of research was being done on policing
- *The Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment** (1972-1973)
- tested different levels of patrol
- experiment found that increased patrol didn’t reduce crime or have an effect on public awareness about police presence
The RAND study
- Most crimes are solved through information obtained by the first officer on scene
New Developments
- Changing police officer
- -race and gender
- Control of police discretion
- policies and SOP (Standard Operations Procedures)
- Lawsuits
- Unions
- Significant improvement in pay and benefits
- Community Policing and POP (Problem-oriented Policing)
Kelling & Moore do not address the complete history of policing, avoiding issues of:
- “underpolicing” and “overpolicing”
- Unequal protection from the law
- Unequal enforcement from the law
(ie. police on behalf of minorities)
Boston first state to?
Introduce probation officer
WW1
- War to end political, racial and religious oppression
- Racism in armed forces
- –northern blacks situated in south
- – again from returning from overseas experienced racism
WW2
Role of Police
- Use verbal persuasion with whites, force with others
- Isaac Woodward (black) was removed from bus by white officers 3 hours after honorable discharge. Was beaten, blinded, and left in jail.
- Prisoners were killed while in jail/custody
WW2
Role of Legal System
- Uphold caste etiquette
- South Carolina, 28 members of lynch mob acquitted
Civil Rights Movement
- Police enforce unjust local laws than US constitution
- Fail to enforce laws to protect human rights
- Had legal authority to act differently
Civil Rights Movement Supreme Court Decisions
- Brown V. Board of Education “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”
Plessy v. Ferguson
- Upholds separate but equal
- Plessy was 1/8 black and 1/7 white
- He was considered black in Louisiana Law and required to sit in “colored” car
Civil Rights Movement Local Police
- Use force against peaceful protests (sit-ins)
- ## Use tear gas, fire hoses, and dogs
Freedom Riders and Civil Rights Workers
- Were beaten and arrested
- After released from jail, Goodman, Schwener and Chaney seized by KK, led by Deputy Sheriff Cecil
May 3, 1963 in Brimingham, Alabama
12,000 Federal forces must restore order in south
- Local whites agree to desegregate and have them employed, but not in police or government
Civil Rights Movement SNCC
Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee
- James Meredith’s march against fear
- was first AA to attend Mississippi University
- Walked across state to encourage voter registration among AA
- 2nd day he was shot and killed by FBI
Civil Rights Movement Orangeburg Massacre
- 3 AA students murdered, 27 wounded
- FBI falsified evidence to help state troopers charged with murder
Civil Rights Movement Supreme Court Decisions
Powell v. Alabama
- “The Scottsboro Brothers”
- Defendant must be given access to counsel upon request in capital trial (due process)
Civil Rights Movement Supreme Court Decisions
Gideon v. Wainwright
- He wrote notes while in prison
- Requires state courts to provide counsel in criminal cases to defendants who can’t afford attorney
- Led to creation of public defender system
Mapp v. Ohio
- The exclusionary rule
Miranda v. Arizona
- Prosecution must show that police informed suspect of rights before questioning
Terry v. Ohio
- Police may stop person if there is reasonable suspicion, and can frisk person if there is reasonable suspicion, without violating the 14th Amendment.
The “industry” perspective
Provides a consumer perspective on policing
The “International” Perspective
Other countries has less fragmented systems
- England only has 43 law enforcement agencies and Japan has 47
- Their national govt provides local agencies’ budgets
- -However, the state of Nebraska alone has 93 police departments–
Private Security
- Private security firms and security personnel
Government agencies
Local, State, Federal and Special District Police (eg.transit police)
The Fragmentation issue diagram
- lack of coordination/communication
- crime displacement
- duplication of services
- inconsistent standards
Types of Consolidation (7 total)
- Functional –(two or more agencies combine functions such as dispatch)
- Overlapping jurisdictions
- Public safety – (police, fire, ambulance under one umbrella)
- Local merger – (two police agencies become one)
- Regional – number of agencies combine jurisdiction
- Metropolitan – two or more agencies serve an entire metropolitan area
- Government – adjoining a city and county to create “metro”
Contracting?
Giving contracts to jail/communications (911)
Municipal police percent?
7%
County police percent?
1%
(FINAL) Sheriffs are…
…elected
- responsibilities defined in state constitution
- serve all 3 components (law enforcement, courts and corrections)
FINAL The constable
Role defined by state constitution
FINAL The Coroner/medical examiner
- Investigate 20% of deaths in US
- Coroners are not trained as physicians
