1. The text describes four different operational strategies; problem oriented policing, "broken windows" thesis, Compstat, and intelligence-led policing. Compare and contrast them, giving reasons why some aspects should be retained and others discarded as policing evolves during the 21st century.
These four operational strategies are all proactive approaches to strive away from the traditional reactive methods. Unlike Compstat and intelligence-led policing, problem-oriented policing (POP) and broken windows policing focuses on the community. POP focuses on eliminating the underlying problem which calls for service are being generated from. This benefits the department by reducing officer’s workload and helps citizens with the issues they are having in their community. Through POP, police can improve their effectiveness by focusing on preventative solutions. (Sidebottom & Tilley, 2011). Herman Goldstein who developed this approach argues that police officers must engage the community to begin to police itself (Fritsch, Liederbach, Taylor, & Caeti, 2009). This strategy is a good way to improve community relations and should be implemented across police departments.
Like POP, the broken windows thesis is a proactive strategy that includes the community. According to Fritsch et al. (2009), “Police officers work with residents in the community to define acceptable standards of behavior that conform to community norms” (p. 102). In communities where residents show a lack of care for their neighborhood, physical disorder is typically present. When informal social control decreases, fear of crime in the resident’s increases. To reduce the spiral decline toward serious crime, police officers use tactics against minor crimes. This strategy can prevent crimes especially among neighborhoods that display weak informal social control mechanisms. Although the goal is too help citizens, many may be reluctant to work with officers. The broken window thesis should be used, but officers must have proper training and should act in a professional manner when encountering citizens (Fritsch et al., 2009).
The Compstat model is based on a computerized information system that displays maps and produces crime data. Compstat focuses more with statistics and less on specific indicators, which could hamper the department’s effectiveness. Unlike POP and the broken windows thesis, Compstat does not show concern for problem solving to reduce non-crime problems in communities. There is also less citizen interaction with this strategy (Fritsch et al., 2009). Although there has been reduction in crime within agencies that have used this strategy, due to the lack of attention this strategy has on community policing I feel it is not appropriate to be used in today’s departments.
After the terrorist attacks that occurred on 9/11, intelligence-led policing has been making an entry into police departments across the nation. This strategy uses some of the same structures that are used by POP. Both POP and intelligence-led strategies use the model SARA to help scan the problem area, analyze the problem, find a solution, and then evaluate the outcome. This is a proactive approach to eliminating the problem (Fritsch et al., 2009). Using traditional strategies is not enough to preventing terrorist attacks and additional training should be considered among police departments. In today’s society, terror attacks are a real threat that will continue and having proper training to prevent the war on terror should used at least within larger city police departments.
2. If you were in charge of a mid-size city police department, what would your priorities be and why? Keep in mind the reality of shrinking budgets and fewer resources are available than in the last decade so cuts have to be made. What areas would receive 10% to 20% less funding next year in your department?
The priorities I would focus on would include ensuring citizens in the community are satisfied with my police services and making sure my officers are satisfied with their job. Having citizens trust the police and know that their efforts are intended to help citizens directly enables police departments to be effective. We can rely on them for information and they can rely on us for help. It is a mutual relationship where both sides will benefit. Having officers satisfied with their job can also make the department more effective. Officers will willingly come into work with a positive attitude. Since patrol officers might be the only form of police contact that a citizen experiences, we want it to be positive. As long as these two objectives are met I feel everyone in the community will be happy.
With low budgets I would move to a 3-10 shift schedule. Overlapping shifts would not occur saving the department money. Also having only two shifts, officers can establish better ties with citizens. To save money I would hire volunteer officers that would be responsible for handling less serious calls for service. Also foot patrols and assigning two officers per squad car would go into effect. This would both save on costs and has the potential for officers to interact with citizens more.
Resources
Fritsch, E. J., Liederbach, J., Taylor, R. W., & Caeti, M. (2009). Police patrol allocation and deployment. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Sidebottom, A., & Tilley, N. (2011). Improving problem-oriented policing: The need for a new model? Crime Prevention and Community Safety, 13(2). Retrieved from doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/cpcs.2010.21
dqbnez
cmjr1.docx
0
