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Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction Thirteenth Edition

Chapter 4

Policing: Purpose and

Organization

Figure 4.1 The Basic Purposes of

Policing in Democratic Societies

Enforcing the Law

• Police operate under an official public mandate requiring

them to enforce the law

• This is not their only job

• The majority of police officer time is spent answering

nonemergency public service calls

• Only about 10% to 20% of all calls involve situations that

actually require a law enforcement response

• Police cannot enforce all the laws

• Police are also expected to support the law

Apprehending Offenders

• Some offenders are apprehended during the investigation

of a crime or during/immediately after its commission

• Many offenders are only caught as the result of extensive

police work involving investigation

• Criminal investigation

– The process of discovering, collecting, preparing,

identifying, and presenting evidence to determine what

happened and who is responsible when a crime occurs

Preventing Crime (1 of 2)

• Crime prevention

– A proactive approach to the problem of crime

– Anticipating, recognizing, and appraising a crime risk

and the initiation of action to eliminate or reduce it

• Techniques: access control, theft-deterrence devices, hot-

spot policing, predictive policing, etc.

• Programs: organized efforts that focus resources on

reducing a specific form of criminal threat

Preventing Crime (2 of 2)

• Police ability to prevent crimes relies in part on their ability

to predict when/where crimes will occur

• Effective prediction allows limited resources to be assigned

to the areas with the greatest need (“hot spots”)

• CompStat:

– A process of crime analysis and police management

developed by the NYPD in the mid-1990s

– A form of predictive policing

Preserving the Peace

• Virtually limitless police activity that does not only involve

activities that violate the law

• Focus on quality-of-life offenses as crime-reduction and

peacekeeping strategy

– Minor law violations that demoralize community

residents and businesspeople

– Acts that create physical disorder or reflect social

decay

• Broken windows theory of policing

Providing Services

• Anyone can mobilize the police simply by calling them

• 911 calls are prioritized and then relayed to patrol officers,

specialized field units, or other emergency personnel

• Some states have adopted nonemergency call numbers

(311) in addition to 911

American Policing Today

• The organization of American policing is the most complex

in the world

• Three major legislative and judicial jurisdictions

– Federal

– State

– Local

• Each has a variety of police agencies to enforce its laws

• Little uniformity among jurisdictions regarding naming,

function, or authority of enforcement agencies

Federal Agencies

• Federal law enforcement agencies are distributed among

14 U.S. government departments and 28 nondepartmental

entities

• Federal law enforcement officers are authorized to:

– Conduct criminal investigations

– Execute search warrants

– Make arrests

– Carry firearms

The FBI (1 of 2)

• Began in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation

• Primary mission:

– Protect and defend the U.S. against terrorist and foreign

intelligence threats

– Uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States

– Provide leadership and criminal justice services

• Currently has 13,500 special agents assigned to 56 field offices

and 400 satellite offices

• Legats—legal attaché offices operated by the FBI in major cities

around the world (London, Paris, etc.)

The FBI (2 of 2)

• Operates the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS)

– Computerized forensic database of DNA profiles of

offenders convicted of serious crimes

– Part of National DNA Index System (NDIS)

• FBI Laboratory Division

– One of the largest and most comprehensive crime labs

in the world

– Provides services throughout the United States

• National Academy Program

The FBI and Counterterrorism

• After attacks of 9-11, FBI priorities changed to focus on

preventing terrorist attacks

• FBI Counterterrorism Division collects, analyzes, shares

information and critical intelligence with federal, state, and

local law enforcement agencies

State Agencies (1 of 2)

• Most were created in late nineteenth and early twentieth

century to meet specific needs

• Wide diversity of state policing agencies exist

• Two main models of state policing—centralized and

decentralized

State Agencies (2 of 2)

• Centralized

– Assist local law enforcement in investigations

– Operate a centralized identification bureau

– Maintain criminal records repository

– Patrol state highways

– Provide select training

• Decentralized

– Two separate agencies to distinguish between traffic

enforcement and other state-level law enforcement functions

– Usually also have other state-level law enforcement agencies

Local Agencies (1 of 2)

• Includes city and county agencies

– Municipal departments, rural sheriff’s departments,

specialized groups (campus police, transit police, etc.)

• Every incorporated municipality has the authority to create

its own police force

• Approximately 12,000 municipal departments and over

3,000 sheriff’s departments

• About half employ fewer than ten full-time officers

Local Agencies (2 of 2)

• City police chiefs typically appointed by the major or

selected by the city council

• Sheriffs are elected public officials whose agencies are

responsible for law enforcement throughout the county

• Sheriff’s departments also have court-related

responsibility, including running county jails

Fusion Centers

• “Fuse” intelligence from participating agencies to create a

comprehensive threat picture

• A multiagency law enforcement facility designed to

enhance cooperative efforts through a coordinated process

for collecting, sharing, and analyzing information in order

to develop actionable intelligence

• Obtaining necessary security clearances a key problem

Private Protective Services

• Independent or proprietary commercial organizations that

provide protective services to employers on a contractual

basis

• Major reasons for recent growth in private security

– Increase in workplace crime

– Increased fear of crime/terrorism

– State fiscal crises

– Increased public awareness/use of private security

• May be in part responsible for recent drop in crime rates

Interpol

• International Criminal Police Organization

• Began operations in 1946—currently has 192 member

nations

• Main purpose: acts as a clearinghouse for information on

offenses and suspects believed to operate across national

boundaries

• No powers of arrest or search and seizure, no field

investigators

Europol

• European Police Office—began limited operations in 1994;

full operations began in 1999

• Integrated police intelligence-gathering and information

dissemination arm of the member nations of the E U

• Mission is to improve effectiveness and cooperation of law

enforcement agencies within EU member states

• Works with Interpol on international terrorism, drug

trafficking, and human trafficking

Police Administration (1 of 3)

• Police management

– Administrative activities that control, direct, and

coordinate police personnel, resources, and activities

• Police managers include sworn law enforcement personnel

with administrative authority and civilian personnel

Police Administration (2 of 3)

• Line operations

– Field or supervisory activities directly related to daily

police work

• Staff operations

– Activities providing support for line operations

(administration, training, etc.)

• Most police agencies include both line and staff operations

• Only the smallest departments have line operations

Figure 4.3 Typical Organizational

Chart of a Local Police Department

Police Administration (3 of 3)

• Chain of command

– Order of authority within a department—clarifies who

reports to whom

• Unity of command

– Every officer has only one supervisor

• Span of control

– The number of police personnel or the number of units

supervised by a particular officer

Policing Epochs and Styles (1 of 5)

• The Political Era (1840s–1930)

– Close ties between police and public officials

– Police tended to serve the interests of powerful

politicians and their cronies

• The Reform Era (1930–1970s)

– Pride in professional crime-fighting

– Focus on solving “traditional” crimes

Policing Epochs and Styles (2 of 5)

• The Community Policing Era (1970s–Today)

– Stresses the service role

– Envisions a partnership between the police and their

communities

• The New Era (2001–Today)

– Came about because of 9-11 terrorist attacks, still

evolving

– Homeland security, terrorism prevention, intelligence-

led policing, evidence-based policing (EBP)

Policing Epochs and Styles (3 of 5)

• Wilson’s three policing styles

– Watchman style—characteristic of political era

– Legalistic style—similar to professional crime fighting of

reform era

– Service style—common today

• Characterize nearly all municipal agencies in the United

States

• Some departments are a mixture of several styles

Policing Epochs and Styles (4 of 5)

• The Watchman Style of Policing

– Primarily concerned with order maintenance

– Focuses on controlling illegal and disruptive behavior

– Considerable use of discretion

Policing Epochs and Styles (5 of 5)

• The Legalistic Style of Policing

– Enforces the letter of the law

– Hands-off approach to behaviors that are simply

bothersome

• The Service Style of Policing

– Meets the needs of the community

– Police see themselves more as helpers than as

soldiers in a “war on crime”

Police–Community Relations

• Area of police activity that recognizes the need for the

community and the police to work together effectively

• Based on the notion that the police derive their legitimacy

from the community they serve

• Movement away from police emphasis on the

apprehension of law violators toward increasing the level

of positive police–citizen interaction

Team Policing

• The reorganization of conventional patrol strategies into

“an integrated and versatile police team assigned to a fixed

district”

• Concept some communities experimented with during the

1960s and 1970s

• Officers were given considerable authority in processing

complaints, from receipt through resolution

Strategic Policing

• Retains traditional crime-fighting goals but enlarges the

enforcement target to include nontraditional kinds of

criminals

• A holdover from the Reform Era

• Emphasizes increased capacity to deal with crimes that

are not well controlled by other methods

• Uses innovative enforcement techniques

Problem-Solving Policing

• Assumes many crimes are caused by existing social

conditions

• Controls crime by uncovering and addressing underlying

social problems

• Uses community resources

• Attempts to involve citizens in crime prevention through

education, negotiation, and conflict management

Community Policing (1 of 2)

• A philosophy that promotes organizational strategies which

support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-

solving techniques

• Partnership between the police and the community

• Also called community-oriented policing

Community Policing (2 of 2)

• Involves at least one of four key elements

– Community-based crime prevention

– Reorientation of patrol activities to emphasize the

importance of nonemergency services

– Increased police accountability to the public

– Decentralization of command, including greater use of

civilians at all levels of police decision-making

• Sheriffs’ departments often refer to these programs as

neighborhood-oriented policing

Community Policing and

Antiterrorism

• Community policing is a natural conduit for information

gathering and the development of counterterrorism

intelligence

• Information gathered by state/local departments can be

funneled to federal agencies that have been charged with

developing national security intelligence

Critique of Community Policing

• Community policing has become the major theme of police

reform

• Community policing plagued with problems

– Difficult to determine program effectiveness or citizen

satisfaction with the program

– Ambiguity surrounding the concept of community

– Not all police officers or managers are willing to accept

nontraditional images of police work.

– Efforts to promote community policing can demoralize

the department

Evidence-Based Policing (1 of 2)

• Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA)

– A now-defunct federal agency established under Title I

of the 1968 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets

Act to funnel federal funding to state and local

agencies

– LEAA funding led to research-rich years from1969 to

1982

– Established a tradition of program evaluation within

police-management circles

Evidence-Based Policing (2 of 2)

• LEAA established a tradition of program evaluation within

police management circles

• Scientific police management

– The application of social science techniques to the

study of police administration for the purpose of

increasing effectiveness, reducing the frequency of

citizen complaints, and enhancing the efficient use of

available resources

The Kansas City Experiment (1 of 2)

• The first large-scale scientific study of law enforcement

practices

• Focused on the practice of preventive patrol

• Study divided patrol beats into proactive, reactive, and

control zones

• Study found no significant differences in crime rate or

citizen fear of crime

• Second Kansas City study focused on response time

– Little effect on citizen satisfaction or arrest of suspects

The Kansas City Experiment (2 of 2)

• Although the study called into question some basic

assumptions about patrol, it remains the backbone of

police work

• Directed patrol

– New police-management strategy designed to increase

the productivity of patrol officers through the scientific

analysis and evaluation of patrol techniques

– Put the most officers on the street where and when

crime is most prevalent

Evidence-Based Policing Today

• Involves the use of the best available research on the

outcomes of police work to implement guidelines and

evaluate agencies, units, and officers.

• EBP uses research to evaluate current practices

• EBP model called the single “most powerful force for

change” in policing today

• Successful law enforcement executives must be

consumers and appliers of research

– Do not have to be researchers but must use research

in their everyday work

Discretion and the Individual Officer

• Police discretion

– The exercise of choice by law enforcement officers in

their daily activities

• Patrolling officers often decide against a strict enforcement

of the law, preferring instead to handle situations informally

• Widest exercise of discretion more likely in routine

situations involving relatively less serious violations of the

law

Figure 4.5 Discretion and the

Individual Officer