Department of Criminal Justice
California State University - Bakersfield
CRJU 100
Introduction to Criminal Justice
Dr. Abu-Lughod, Reem Ali
Enforcing The Law
Intro:

Police Discretion (pros and cons)

Kenneth Culp Davis Police Discretion: positive
because they use common sense, example

Problems with racial biases, racial profiling

Losing faith in police

POLICING STYLES:
1.
Interx with public
2.
Different orgs
3.
Diversity, community
4.
Different crime categories
JAMES Q. WILSON in Varieties of Police Behavior identifies 3 styles of
policing:
1) Watchman Style: a) to maintain order (discretion, verbal warnings) and
b) law enforcement (law violators)
Primarily working out disputes between citizens informally
2) Legalistic Style: little discretion required, enforcing law, focus on crime
committed, extralegal factors less influential
3) Service Style: serve community and citizens, goal not to
arrest…..diversion programs, warnings, increase use of discretionary
powers but evaluated and acts may be altered
NOTE: OTHER STYLES OR COMBINATION OF STYLES MAY BE PRESENT
POLICE SUBCULTURE AND POLICE CORRUPTION

Style adopted also depends on personality of police
officers and their interactions

Police may feel isolated because of the nature of work
they engage in

Jerome Skolnick coined that as the “policeman’s working
personality”

It’s their sub\culture and values, etc…
1) The Symbolic Assailant

The individual is an assailant until they can prove that
they are not a threat to soc

Always on guard to identify people’s behavior (clothes,
language, etc...)
2) Danger:
 The nature of work can be dangerous
 May be victims
3) Social Isolation:
 Citizens treat officers differently?
 Limit social interactions
4) Solidarity:
 Combinations of danger and isolation
 “us against them” mentality
 Police protect people but people do not participate
in fighting crime
POLICE CORRUPTION






Knapp Commission
1972 issued on police corruption in NYC
Meat eaters and grass eaters?
Manning & Redlinger introduce 7 different ways in
which police corruption can take place:
1) bribes 2) using drugs 3) buying & selling narcotics
4) arrogation of seized property 5) illegal searches &
seizures (claim probably cause: flaking, dropsey,
padding) 6) protection of informants 7) violence
Search:

Police trained in procedural law to make judgment between
reasonable and unreasonable searches

1) Trespass doctrine: physical intrusions into a constitutionally
protected area (persons, houses, papers, etc…)4th Amendment


2) Privacy Doctrine: replaced trespass that people NOT places
are protected from government intrusion. Police have more
latitude to deal with people on streets where privacy is not
expected
3) Plain view Doctrine: for it to be lawful and not contradict 4th
Amendment, 3 factors must result: 1) officers lawfully present
when and where evidence discovered, 2) detection occurs
without advanced technology, 3) detection is not planned



4) Open fields doctrine
5) Public places
6) Abandoned property
WARRANTS:
very complex, must have warrant by judge
What about warrantless searches:
1) Searches incident to arrest: grabbable area




2) Consent searches: with suspect’s permission
3) Exigent circumstances or emergency searches:
after a chase
4) Vehicle searches
SPECIAL NEEDS SEARCHES: inventory,
students, airport searches, probationers






STOP (seizure) & FRISK (search)
To stop suspects: 1) physical restraint, 2) show
badge
Arrests: taking someone into custody
Arresting someone at home:
1) crime is a felony, 2) knock and announce
3) arrest in daylight, 4) probable cause