This lecture examines the first core component of the Criminal Justice System, the law enforcement component. The purpose of this lecture is to familiarize the Professional Crime Fighter with the variety of police agencies and the often conflicting expectations placed upon the police in our society. The student is expected to gain a basic understanding of:
Many have difficulty understanding the role of Policing In America. The Police must be viewed from within the total context of their functions, structure, composition, and Society as a whole. This seems a daunting task to the beginning student; however, initial appearances are often misleading. Do not be afraid to grab as much knowledge as you possibly can about Policing In America! Once you get started, you will find yourself drawn into the rich plethora of literature that exists within the Field of Policing In America!
There are a large number of independent police agencies in The United States. Estimates of the number of existing police agencies tend to range from 40,000 to 75,000. However, it is difficult to determine exactly how many policing agencies actually exist.
The latest report of data on Police Agency Organizations indicated that there are approximately 13,500 local and municipal police agencies here in The United States. That is a rather conservative number. A fuller picture of the distributive count of police agencies in The United States must include more than local or municipal agencies, though; to that number, one must add the state and federal police agencies, as well as the many special purpose police departments and investigative units that populate the country!
Police in the United States serve several functions for the Society who created them. The police are called upon to provide a variety of services, including what are known as last resort functions. Last Resort refers to the fact that The Police are often required to deal with difficult social problems for which no other mechanism of intervention exists. Continuous, jurisdiction-wide availability means that the police are always expected to respond to complaints, often regardless o the nature of those complaints!
In involving The Police in the resolution of poblems of social coexistence, the majority of which are not criminal in nature, the police possess a number of problem-solving tools. The criminal law is but one of these tools, and the decision to employ the criminal law is often discretionary with the responding officers. This means that the police use the criminal law against society, while at the same time serving society.
The
History Of Law Enforcement
is filled with fascinating facts and inforamtion. The Professional Crime Fighter
is strongly encouraged to learn as much about this fascinating topic as possible. Below,
you will find a few of the more interesting and pertinent issues that have developed
throughout the historical development of modern Policing Science.
The idea of Policing In America is relatively new. Police in The United States can trace their origins to Engalnd. Prior to the nineteenth century, the English expiremented with a number of strategies to ensure crime control and to maintain the peace. Most of these strategies involved the assignment of peacekeeping obligations to average citizens through voluntary watch systems. Eventually, the development of towns and cities and a related decrease in personal relationships among citizens led to the specification of a Police Role.
In 1829, the English Parliament created the Metropolitan Police Force in London. This force was the first formal police institution with general-purpose law enforcement duties. Parliament was hesitant to empower the police to intervene in the freedoms of citizens, but a realizaion of the need for the maintenance of order in an increasingly complex society led to the creation of a separate police organization.
Americans initially relied upon the traditional English models of law enforcement, including the offices of sheriff and constable. Similarly to that which was done in England, as American society became more complex and urbanized, these traditional roles proved inadequate. They were incapable of meeting the need for regulating behavior and for providing order in society.
Beginning with New York City, American cities began creating Uniformed Police Agencies. These agencies were vested with general crime control duties and crime prevention obligations as recently as the middle part of the nineteenth century. These new police departments were typically American.
Reflecting values of local autonomy and federalism, early American Police Forces were not given strong centralized administrations. This was a social design whose intent was to control the threat posed by police to Civil Liberty. Police Officers were drawn from the ranks of those to be policed, a further safeguard against misuse of police power. They were also given broad mandate of Order Maintenance. In effect, their ability to control or prevent crime was hindered by the very society whom they were created to protect.
Over time, the lack of central administration and clear role definition proved to be socially detrimental, however. Calls for reform to control corruption and political influence in policing could be heard rising up out of the populace on a monthly, then weekly, and even a daily basis. These cries for help were eventually heard by those with the power and authority to exact changes upon Police Organizations...THE PEOPLE!
A primary goal of reform, especially Police Reform, has always been Proffessionalization. This goal was expected to produce police who strictly enforced criminal laws, and who would be better able to withstand improper influences such as graft and extortion. One of the chief proponents of Police Professionalism was August Vollmer, who sought:
Unfortunately, the tradition of local police who were responsive to local needs and values had long been established. Vollmer was met with very little initial support for his Nationally Centralized Professional Police Force. Professioalism stressed the Crime Control function of policing. Eventually, however, the idea of Police Professinalism which maintains decentralized organizational structures and local chains of command, did gain popularity and support.
Professionalism did have a negative effect upon policing though, despite its many marked benefits. Professionalism helped separate the police from the public. At the same time, the public continued to rely upon the police for a variety of services which now lay well outside of the realm of Law Enforcement Duty. The pulbic's continued expectation of The Police to serve locally defined needs, while at the same time expecting them to Professionalize, produced a conflicting set of goals. That led to misunderstandings, frustrations, and administrative and procedural problems of all sorts. Indeed, part of the Public Trust was damaged by this conflicting set of goals and perceptions.
Currently, modern police departments are expected to serve three primary functions:
While the three goals of
Modern Policing
often overlap, they can be viewed as separate tasks. Services Provision
by the police range from assisting stranded motorists to locating lost
children. The Crime Control function of police involves both law enforcement
and crime prevention. Peace Keeping duties of the police entail the maintenance
of order within society by resolving and preventing conflicts among citizens.
The Police are a Human Services Organization as well. Much police work is composed of service delivery. The police exhibit the traits of human service agencies, including service integration, accessibility, suicidal clients, generic helping activities, and accontability to a higher authority. Indeed, service activities of the Police constitute a vital part of the Police Role.
Police Crime Control activities are the main focus for most criminal justice textbooks. This is due to the invested interest which the Criminal Justice System has in controling crime. The Pllice perform crime control through two basic implementation of strategy:
Reactive Policing occurs when the Law Enforcement Agency responds to calls from the citizenry as a crime is being committed or after it has been committed. Reactive Models of Policing rely upon the citizenry for definitions of Crime Problems. They tend to be more Democratic in nature. American Police Agencies tend to be largely Reactive in their general Crime Control Strategies.
Proactive Policing entails the Police taking iniative, making command decisions, and detecting crime and enforcing laws even before a crime has been committed. Proactive Policing is much less Democratic in nature. It stresses prevention of future crime through active identification of potential criminals. Thus, a person who has done nothing wrong may still be treated like a criminal suspect. An example of this is the United States--Mexico Border Check Point, where people's Liberties are infringed on a daily basis through illegal search and seizure, due to the pressing need identified by Democratic Legislators for the repression of illegal immigration.
Peace Keeping functions of American Police agencies involve the maintenance of order in social relationships. In order for society to function properly, interactions among citizens must be predictable. Peace Keeping activities include such Dutiy Assignments as Traffic Control, Building Security, and Dispute Resolution. The purpose of Police Peace Keeping is to prevent disorder amongst the citizenry. Peace Keeping is often done on the fringes of the criminal law and is the most troublesome and complex of Police Duties. For example, resolving a dispute between a husband and wife or between neighbors to prevent an altercation involves discretionary decisions by the officer--and often includes the threat of criminal processing. Peace Keeping is probably the most common police activity. As the function least likely to satisfy all parties involved in a dispute, the Peace Keeping Role is also the one most likely to generate citizen complaints about Police Performance.
Over the past two decades, the role of the police has been redefined as that of Crime Control Through Order Maintenance. Because disorder is linked to crime, a major task of he police under this new definition is the development and support of communities. The current emphasis on Crime Control Through Order Maintenance is based on a broken windows theory of crime. It is called Community Policing. The role of the police has been expanded to that of general-purpose problem-solvers.
To accomplish these
primary functions,
Ameican police are typically organized as bureaucracies.
The tradiional, paramilitary structure with a chain of command
and ranks in the organization stems from The History Of Policing. At the time
police forces were created, the miliary model was the best available for
organizing large numbers of agents. More recently, police agencies have
experimented with different approaches, including Team Policing and Quality
Management Units.
The training of Police Officers and their Specialization of tasks within departments have complemented the structure of Police Bureaucracies. The majority of officers in typical local police departments are assigned to patrol duties to provide general policing service. In larger departmetns, generalist patrol officers are supplemented with specialist units for traffic control, investigation and other tasks. The tradition of local policing in America hsa meant that most police agencies are relatively small.
The information contained within this lecture sets the stage for
a more
in-depth analysis of the Police Role In Criminal Justice.
While the focus of this lecture has been more toward Crime Control, it is very important
fo the Professional Crime Fighter to remember that Crime Control is a part-time
duty of Policing. It is also imporant to remember that Criminal Law is as
much a tool of the police as it is a guide to police action. Much Police
Decision-Making is discretionary. The officers, their training, and
organizational and community characteristics all help determine how Police
Officers go about the business of
enforcing the Criminal Law.