Police Typologies
Katie Lovisolo
3/27/12
Intro to Policing-Paper The relationship between police officers and the community they work in is often over-looked and undermined. A good relationship is detrimental to how effectively the police officers can protect and serve the community for many reasons. Improved police-community relations not only improved the trust in the police, but can also lead to a safer community with less tension and conflict. Police-community relations can be traced back first to Sir Robert Peel, the “father” of law enforcement. Peel focused on nine principles of policing, one in particular states: police at all times should maintain a relationship with the public as with cooperation from the community, the necessity of the use of force is often diminished. By decreasing the necessity of use of force, police can focus on ways to reduce crime and social disorder by using problem-solving tactics through relations with the community. It is found that “people with a greater fear of crime are less likely to be satisfied with the performance of law enforcement”, media that we are surrounded with lead to the idea that police brutality is common and violent offenders are around every corner (Raffel, 2005). Community-relation programs such as neighborhood watch, citizens police academy and civilian review boards not only help increase communication but also gives the community an inside look at what police officers roles which has been found to help everyday citizens understand much of police work is non-violent. Citizens police academy, as noted above is a common community-relation program that is becoming even more popular across the United States. This program is offered by 69 percent of police departments serving populations of 50,000-249,999 and by 86 percent of all departments serving more than a million (Raffel, 2005). The focus of this program is to give citizens a better understanding of law enforcement by educating the community of “criminal law,
3/27/12
Intro to Policing-Paper The relationship between police officers and the community they work in is often over-looked and undermined. A good relationship is detrimental to how effectively the police officers can protect and serve the community for many reasons. Improved police-community relations not only improved the trust in the police, but can also lead to a safer community with less tension and conflict. Police-community relations can be traced back first to Sir Robert Peel, the “father” of law enforcement. Peel focused on nine principles of policing, one in particular states: police at all times should maintain a relationship with the public as with cooperation from the community, the necessity of the use of force is often diminished. By decreasing the necessity of use of force, police can focus on ways to reduce crime and social disorder by using problem-solving tactics through relations with the community. It is found that “people with a greater fear of crime are less likely to be satisfied with the performance of law enforcement”, media that we are surrounded with lead to the idea that police brutality is common and violent offenders are around every corner (Raffel, 2005). Community-relation programs such as neighborhood watch, citizens police academy and civilian review boards not only help increase communication but also gives the community an inside look at what police officers roles which has been found to help everyday citizens understand much of police work is non-violent. Citizens police academy, as noted above is a common community-relation program that is becoming even more popular across the United States. This program is offered by 69 percent of police departments serving populations of 50,000-249,999 and by 86 percent of all departments serving more than a million (Raffel, 2005). The focus of this program is to give citizens a better understanding of law enforcement by educating the community of “criminal law,
Bibliography: William E. Raffel, (2005) "Citizen police academies: the importance of communication", Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Vol. 28 Iss: 1, pp.84 - 97 Worden, Robert E. (1995). Police Officers’ Belief Systems: A Framework for Analysis. American Journal of Police, 15, 49-82.