Introduction to Criminal Justice

1
Introduction to Criminal Justice

• Chapter 6
• The Police, Organization, Role, and Function

2
Introduction

• Millions of people got to know Chief Charles
  Moose from Montgomery County Maryland when he
  became the point man in the investigation of the
  Washington area sniper attacks during Oct 2002.
  He is one of the most recognized top law
  enforcement agents in the nation. Chief Moose
  has a bachelors degree, a masters degree in
  Public Administration and a doctorate in Urban
  Studies. He served as chief of police for 6
  years over a department of 1000 men. He resigned
  as chief after the sniper incident because the
  ethics committee was unwilling to allow him to
  write a book and make a movie. He reached a
  settlement with the committee and has since been
  allowed to pursue a book and movie. This is proof
  that a police job can be very challenging.

3
Objectives

• Students will be able to describe a typical
  police department in terms of chain of command
• Know the difference in patrol and detective
  operations
• Describe and discuss the effectiveness of patrol
  to deter crime
• Know the difference in proactive and reactive
  policing
• Know what problem oriented policing is
• List and describe the duties of support and
  administrative positions in a typical police
  department

4
Police Organization

• Militaristic, hierarchical structure
• Chain of command
• Promotions based on the time-in-rank system

5
Police Organization Cont..

• Provides stability and cost savings to the
  department
• Frustrates the educated officer

6
The Police Role

• Media portrayal
• Fearless crime fighters
• Reality is the great bulk of police patrol
  efforts is devoted to order maintenance or
  peacekeeping
• Wilsons view of police as community problem
  solvers

7
Service vs. Enforcement

• Reality is a large number of calls for service
  handled each year
• Social-service and administrative tasks take up
  more than half the officers time
• Crime-related calls make up 5 to 20 percent of
  total activity

8
Law Enforcement Activity

• The average officer makes two arrests a month and
  less than one felony arrest every two months

9
The Changing Police Role

• Attention paid to special-needs population

10
Patrol Functions

• Patrol officers usually account for about 60
  percent of all personnel
• They are a highly visible component
• They work in beats
• They work shifts, 24 hours a day
• They practice a policy of selective enforcement

11
Purpose of Patrol

• Deter crime with a visible police presence
• Maintain public order
• Respond quickly to crime and emergencies
• Arrest criminals
• Provide aid to citizens in distress
• Facilitate the movement of people and traffic
• Create a sense of safety and security

12
Does Patrol Work?

• Research efforts questioned the basic assumptions
  that patrol deters crime
• The Kansas City Study
• Little difference in crime rates were found
  interactive, proactive, and normal patrol
  districts
• Variations in patrol had little effect on
  citizens attitudes toward the police and fear of
  crime

13
Proactive Patrol

• Wilson and Boland study finds that a proactive
  and aggressive style of law enforcement may
  reduce crime rates
• The downtown in urban crime rates has been linked
  to aggressive police work aimed at life-styles
  crimes

14
Making Arrest

• Research
• Arrest may have a specific deterrent effect
• Reduces likelihood that first time offenders will
  recidivate
• May help reduce overall crime rate

15
Controlling Domestic Violence

• The Sherman and Berk study in Minneapolis
• Random treatment of advice and mediation, removal
  of assailant from the home, or arrest
• Study shows that recidivism is lower, in the
  following six months, when the assailant was
  arrested

16
Can Arrests Control Domestic Violence?

• Personal characteristics, background of suspect
  and time spent in detention affect recidivism
• Deterrent effect of arrest seems to decay over
  time

17
Does Increasing Resources Help?

• Conflicting research on the relationship between
  the number of law enforcement officers and the
  crime rate

18
The Kansas City Gun Experiment

• Patrol directed at a specific problem may be an
  effective deterrent
• Extra patrol for gun crime in identified hot
  spots
• Searches and frisks net 1 gun per 84 hours of
  directed patrol

19
The Kansas City Gun Experiment Cont.

• 49 percent decrease in gun crimes
• Crime returns to normal after extra patrols are
  discontinued

20
Investigation Function

• First detective bureau established in London in
  1841
• Detectives are considered to be the elite of the
  police force
• They are paid more
• Wear civilian clothes
• Engage in interesting tasks
• Work under less departmental control

21
Detective Divisions May Be Divided Into Sections
or Bureaus

• Homicide
• Robbery
• Rape
• Vice

22
Wilson Describes Four Types of Detective Action

• When the suspect is already under arrest or
  positively identified, the detective gathers
  evidence of the crime
• When a crime has been committed but no suspect
  identified, the detective must begin the process
  of the criminal investigation

23
Wilson Describes Four Types of Detective Action
Cont.

• When a suspect is known but no crime has been
  committed, the detective maintains surveillance
• No suspect and no crime but the detective has a
  hunch that a possible crime is going to happen

24
Effectiveness of Investigation

• Rand study estimates that half of all detectives
  could be replaced without affecting clearance
  rates
• Subsequent research finds that most cases are
  solved because the suspect was positively
  identified at the scene of the crime
• PERF study finds that as time elapses so does the
  chance of arrest

25
Going Undercover

• Long agent infiltration into a criminal
  organization
• Officer may pose as a victim
• Sting operations

26
The Dangers of Undercover Work

• Deceit and encouragement of criminal activity
• Personal danger
• Committing illegal or immoral acts
• Personal and psychological problems

27
Improving Investigation Effectiveness

• Give patrol officers responsibility to conduct
  preliminary investigations
• Use of specialized units
• Technological advances
• PERF findings
• Unsolved cases
• Length of investigation
• Sources of information
• Effectiveness

28
PERF Suggestions

• Carefully gather evidence
• Screen cases and monitor flow
• Use targeted investigations

29
Changing Concepts of Policing Police and the
Public

• Role Conflicts
• Proactive crime fighters
• Reactive calls for service
• The social handyman
• The tainted occupation

30
Community Oriented Policing (COP)

• The first community programs were known as
  police-community relations (PCR)
• Team policing
• Instituted in the 1970s
• Officer teams were semi-autonomous units
• Assigned to particular neighborhoods
• These programs have since been discontinued

31
Broken Windows

• Social disorganization can explain high crime
  rates
• Abandoned buildings serve as a magnet for crime
• Kelling and Wilson paper
• Neighborhood disorder creates fear
• Neighborhoods give out crime-promoting signals
• Police need citizens cooperation

32
Broken Windows Cont.

• Citizens cooperation requires
• Change in core police role
• Community relations cannot be the sole
  responsibility of specialized unit
• Need to return to the beat and intimate citizen
  contact
• Need to maximize citizen confidence in the police

33
The Philosophy of Community Oriented Policing

• Themes
• Accountability
• Connection to community
• General problem solving

34
Decentralization

• Neighborhood policing
• Flexible and adaptive decision making
• Houstons Positive Interaction Program

35
Power Sharing

• Share power with local groups and individuals
• Active citizen participation

36
Redirecting the Police Role

• Community-organizing and problem-solving skills
  needed in new officers
• Urban and rural application

37
COP in Action

• The use of foot patrol
• First used in Michigan and New Jersey
• Did not reduce crime
• Improved attitudes towards police

38
Decentralized Neighborhood-Based Products

• Storefronts mini-stations
• Tempe, Arizona model

39
Victims of Crime

• Criticism that COP was insensitive to victims
  needs
• Interaction with social service agencies
• DIVIEP
• CPA

40
Problem-Oriented Policing (POP)

• A proactive orientation to policing
• Identify long-term community problems
• Develop strategies for problem elimination

41
Early Research Into Crime Hot Spots applies

• Minneapolis hot spots research
• Finds a significant number of police calls cone
  from a few locations

42
Application

• Congruent with community policing
• Also appropriate for traditional departments
• Innovative use of technology

43
Challenges To the Revolution

• The role of community police agents
• Police mistrust of the public
• Reluctance of police admistratives
• Revising the police role
• Police training
• Conflict with traditional police culture

44
Defining Community

• Often rely on existing patrol areas
• Overlooks the idea that communities are
  ecological areas that share common values and
  norms
• Different neighborhoods may require different
  styles of policing
• Some neighborhoods may not want intimate contact
  with the police

45
Police Support Functions

• Types of support functions
• Personnel
• Internal affairs
• Budget and finance
• Records and communication
• Training
• Community relations
• Crime prevention
• Laboratory
• Planning and research
• Property
• detention

46
Personnel

• Recruitment
• Design of police recruitment and promotion exams
• Promotion documentations
• transfers

47
Internal Affairs

• Process citizen complaints
• Investigate corruption and criminal activity in
  the department

48
Budget and Finance

• Payroll
• Equipment acquisition
• Budget design
• Auditing

49
Records and Communication

• Maintain files and records
• Dispatch patrol cards

50
Training

• Police academy
• In-service training programs
• Field-training officers
• Roll-call training

51
Detention

• Operation of temporary jail facilities

52
Issues in Police Administration and Management

• Some contributors to the reform movement
• O.W. Wilsons classic text Police
  Administration
• The IACP
• PERF
• The Police Foundation

53
Other Areas of Reform

• Civil service rules
• Advisory boards
• Democratization
• Police unions
• Management studies

54
Recruitment and Selection

• Political and social factors allow for increased
  recruitment of qualified candidates
• Selection criteria and means
• Entrance Exams
• Physical requirements
• Personality testing
• Predicting good performances

55
Entrance Exams

• Aptitude and basic intelligence exams
• Locally created exams
• Cultural bias problem
• Job-related exams
• Describe what you did exams
• Individual or group simulation models

56
Physical Requirement

• Height, weight, and physical ability requirements
• Body proportions, and agility standards

57
Personality Testing

• Prediction of performance in inconclusive

58
Predicting Good Performances

• Research shows varied results from test
  predictions

59
Improving Police Productivity

• Providing service without increasing cost
• Increased personnel and equipment costs
• Miscellaneous no criminal costs
• Field citation program

60
Productivity Measures

• Modern information and communication technology
• More responsibility for individual officers
• Shift from two-officer cars to one-officer cars

61
Consolidation, Sharing and Contracting

• Combine a number of smaller agencies into one
  super agency
• Mutual aid pacts
• Small communities contract with large agency for
  services

62
Police Service Districts and Civilian Employees

• Administrative support
• Supplement police services

63
Multiple Tasking, Special Assignments, Budget
Supplementation, and Differential Police Responses

• The public safety officer
• Fund raising