The Legalistic Style of Policing Enforces the letter of the law

The Legalistic Style of Policing

Enforces the letter of the law

Don't use plagiarized sources. Get Your Custom Essay on

Just from $13/Page

Order Essay

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 (L E A A)

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

L E A A 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.

E B P 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

The Legalistic Style of Policing Enforces the letter of the law

About us

WHY US

Our Writing services