chap 15

EMERGING ISSUES CHAPTER FIFTEEN

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Changes in American Society • Generational differences

• Graying population • Accounts for 15% of the population • Vulnerable to victimization • Dependent on fixed budgets • 18-24 are the most crime-prone ages • Millennials have lower crime rates, drug use, etc.

• Why is this relevant? In what ways does this change affect policing?

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Changes in American Society • Cultural diversity

• By 2044, no racial or ethnic group will constitute a majority in the United States

• Cultural, religious, and gender identity issues • Importance of diversity in policing

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Changes in American Society • Immigration and migration

• Immigration • 98% of Americans are or are descended from immigrants • Immigration enforcement is primarily left to the federal government

• Moving from the cities and into rural areas • Later, migration to the southwestern U.S. • Unknown how future migration patterns will affect crime

• What issues are anticipated with changes in immigration and migration?

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Changes in American Society • Shifting economics

• Employment markets have gone global • possible serious unemployment challenges in the future

• Participation of women in employment • Unemployment rate • Poverty rate • Income inequality

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Modern Problems • Crime Trends

• Departments are continually reacting and adapting to changing trends and patterns in crime.

• Determining the amount of crime is important • falling crime has actually created some difficulties for police

• Shootings have been on the rise • Increasing theft of mobile devices • Cyber Crime

• Computer as a target • Computer as a tool for the commission of a crime • Computer as evidence

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Modern Problems § Mass Shootings § An increase in frequency since 2012 § Hate crime, mental health issues, bullying, and disgruntled

employees account for the vast majority of high-casualty mass murders

§ Active-shooter response training was implemented after the Columbine shooting

§ Support needed for both victims and officers after such events

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Modern Problems §Drugs §While tobacco and underage drinking have

declined, marijuana, cocaine, and opioid use have risen

§Two police responses §Police carry Narcan §Police are now more likely to collaborate with

treatment programs

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Modern Problems • Mental Health

• Deinstitutionalization has led to criminal justice challenges • Arrest • Deadly force

• Responses to dealing with the mentally ill • Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) • In some departments, all officers receive crisis intervention training • DUI

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Modern Technology • Crime Detection and Crime Solving

• Detect weapons and drugs • Fingerprints and DNA • Encryption

• Surveillance and Privacy • The federal government’s massive eavesdropping on telephone

and Internet communication is at the forefront of this conversation • CCTV is an example of local police involvement with surveillance • DNA and fingerprint registries • Heated debate currently surrounds unmanned aerial vehicle

(UAVs, drones, etc.)

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Modern Technology • Officer Safety and Accountability

• Body armor • Global positioning systems (GPS) • Body-worn cameras (BWC)

• Privacy considerations • Data storage issues • Difficulties in crafting guidelines for officers

• Social media • Facebook, Twitter, texting

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Long-Term Trends • Professionalization

• Four elements • Accountability • Legitimacy • Continuous innovation • National coherence

• Police need to embrace professionalism • How do each of these elements influence one another?

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Long-Term Trends • Privatization

• Private security • the police can only do so much • mass private property

• Dealing with privatization • Allowing the poor access to private security • Police must embrace community policing • Will police be able to deal effectively with privatization?

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Long-Term Trends • Federalization

• Federal laws increasing • Undercuts local and state police

• Militarization • Military involvement in domestic law enforcement • Civil unrest in Ferguson, MO • What effects will these have on municipal policing?

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Long-Term Trends • Terrorism and Homeland Security

• Importance of intelligence analysis and sharing among all levels of law enforcement

• COP and POP as useful police strategies in combatting terrorism • How can COP and POP decrease terrorist attacks?

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Summary • American society is always changing and police need to be

responsive to such changes to be most effective • e.g. aging population, increasing diversity, economic shifts

• There are numerous other salient issues that will remain • Crime trends, cybercrime, eyewitness identification, shrinking budgets

• Technology will continue to change and police to be ready to think critically about their various benefits and disadvantages

• Terrorism has and will continue to impact policing

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