Critical Issues in Policing
 Background to Policing
Ethnocentric Bias to the invention of the police. Peel
thought it reasonable.
 American Model of Policing: not simply inherited from
England.
1.Violence
2. Pluralism
3. American Belief in the Law
Critical Issues in Policing
 American Model of Policing: not simply inherited from
England
4. Fascination with Technology
 Several Themes
1. Publicly defined role as violent
2.Technologically sophisticated
3. Crime related
4.Professionally oriented
5. Must be viewed by society that way
Critical Issues in Policing
 Peter Manning and Egon Bittner:
The police are not controlled by the law but use it to
gain public support for their actions.
 Manning’s Mandate
 Police have set out their mandate
1. Efficient
2. Apolitical
3. Professional enforcers of the law
Critical Issues in Policing
 Manning: mandate is unmanageable and as a result
of failure to meet expectations, manipulation of
appearances
1. Strategies
2. Tactics
 Police mandate in modern society determined by
publics
Excitement of police work: reinforce mandate and
used by org to define success
Critical Issues in Policing
 Factors Relating to the Police Mandate:
1. Ambiguity of the criminal law
2. Police work as peace keeping
3. Police in the political system
4. The efficient, symptom-oriented organization
 Major strategies of the police
1. The guise of professionalism
Critical Issues in Policing
 Major strategies of the police
1. The guise of professionalism
2. Technology, stats, and the crime rate
3. Styles of patrol
4. Secrecy and collaboration
5. Symbiosis and justice
 Bittner’s Function of Police in Society
 The Public’s Perception of the Police
Critical Issues in Policing
 The Police and the Media
Who are the Media? Entertainment vs. News
Consistent Themes about the police
A complicated relationship
 What are the functions of the police?
Crime Control
Social Services
Order Maint.
Critical Issues in Policing
 The Social Realities of Policing
What is the job of police officer like?
Public’s perception: it’s dangerous
Is it boring?
Does it require more action or compassion skills?
What kind of police do we want?
 Transition from citizen to officer: do we need it?
Critical Issues in Policing
 Transition from citizen to officer: do we need it? Are
police officers different from other citizens?
Military organization: is this good? Does it encourage
new ideas? Does it reinforce machismo?
 Inservice or FTO training: what does this do for status
quo?
Critical Issues in Policing
 Officer is on his/her own: what kinds of skills have we
instilled in them? Are their skills technical or more
subjective and cognitive?
Critical Issues in Policing
 From individuals to policing in general: a few things to
think about.
1. Police largest and most powerful component of cjs
2. Police are most complex and controversial of all
components of cjs
3. Police will, by nature of activities be unjust and
offensive to someone.
Critical Issues in Policing
 From individuals to policing in general: a few things to
think about.
4. Role in society means police power will be focused
on young, poor, minorities. Why? Bittner’s comments.
Corruption
 Three Important Issues in LE: Terrorism,
Ethics/Corruption, Recruitment
 Defining Morality and Ethics: Whose definition?
 Ethics of Process or Ethics of Results: Do the ends justify
the means?
 As a form of philosophy, ethics is a means of inquiry or
to evaluate behavior.
Corruption
 Utilitarianism=Consequentialism
Basically, actions should ensure the greatest happiness for
the greatest number of people. If consequences are
good=action is moral, if not….
Important question though: What is good and Who’s
good should we be concerned with?
Corruption
 Deonotological Ethics
Examines one’s duty to act. Duty
matters more than results. Hard to do
the right thing all the time for people.
 Immanuel Kant
Expanded duty to act by including
good will/intention.
Problem is that some can be
convinced it is a good idea when it is
not.
Corruption
 Source of Ethics Defining ethical
behavior often depends on the
context in which the decision is made
and the source from which the
decision makers draw perceptions of
right and wrong.
 Justice: what does that mean?
 Law
 Agency Policy
 Professional Code of Ethics
 Social Norms and Personal Values
Corruption
 Sherman’s identification of inappropriate
values that veteran officers teach rookies:
 Enforcement decisions
 Disrespect
 Use of Force
 Due Process
 Deception
 Responding to calls
 Rewards
 Loyalty
Corruption
 Crime, Corruption, Abuse and Illegal Behavior: Police
Crime, Occupational Deviance, Corruption, and
Abuse of Authority
Women in Policing
Why Would Women Want to Be Cops?
Three general experiences during careers
1. Acceptance problems
2. Career adjustments—catch 22
3. Abuse and harassment
Women in Policing
History of Women in Policing
1820s moral entrepeneurs
Post Civil War: WCTU and General Federation of
Women’s Clubs
NYC first to hire f/t police matrons
Women in Policing
Why did we see female officers outside prisons/jails in
the early 20th century?
Technological advances, intellectual changes, morality
shifts.
Women in Policing
Factors shaping the development of female policing in the US.
1.
Moral Basis
2.
Volunteers
3.
Proselytizing
4.
Opposition from senior officers
5.
Specialized police work
6.
Protect own sex
Why did we see female officers outside prisons/jails in the early 20th
century?
Technological advances, intellectual changes, morality shifts.
Women in Policing
Women who serve today: A profile
Numbers
Personal Characteristics
Race
Education
Previous work experience
Family background
Women in Policing
This is a Man’s Job
Reasons offered why women shouldn’t serve
1.
Can’t cope with danger
2.
Undermine male solidarity
3.
Can’t interact with males
4.
Physical size
Women in Policing
Comparison of Male and Female Job Performanceresearch findings- Females:
patrol equally effective
more restraint with firearms
more restraint in domestics
greater sensitivity to community
Women in Policing
Comparison of Male and Female Job Performanceresearch findings Females:
less use of sick time
less disciplinary action
assaulted more often
more vehicle collisions
more injuries
Women in Policing
Men:
better shooting ability
superior strength and agility
less assistance in making arrests
Women in Policing
A More Contemporary View: Women and Community
Policing
Familiarity w/ community
Decentralization of power
Prevention
Social Work
Success in a Difficult Career
POLICEwoman vs. PoliceWOMAN
Women in Policing
Stress-handle it better than men
Marriage-kids as a balance, but
divorce rate really high
Suicides
Deviant Behavior/Corruption
Harassment in the police culture:
survey of police chiefs: scenario
Minorities and the Police
Minorities in policing
African American Police Officers
Growing Acceptance?
Stephen Leinen’s study
Politicalization of AAPO
African American Women Officers
Minorities and the Police
Policing Minority Communities-What do we know?
Violent Crime
Arrests
Use of Force
Deadly Force
Minority Officers: Abusers too?
Minorities and the Police
Other forms of Abuse
DWB
Profiling
Stop and Frisks
Verbal abuse
Racial Profiling
Minorities and the Police
What to do? A “new breed” of Officer
How to ID candidates? Selecting In vs. Selecting Out
Minorities and the Police
Hate Crimes
Making Sense of Police-Minority Relations
Police/Minority Relations and Broken Windows
Minorities and the Police
Police/Minority Relations and
Broken Windows
Broken Windows and NYC
Broken Windows and the NYC
Mayoral Race
Broken Windows and Minority
Communities
The Problems with Broken Windows
Police Use of Force
 The Meaning of Excessive Force
 Tennessee v. Garner
 Patterns of Police Use of Force
 Use of Force Continuum
Physical presence
Soft-handed
Mace/CS
Hard Hands
Baton
Threat of Deadly Force/Use
Police Use of Force
 Research on Use of Force
 Police Pursuits and Force
A Closer Look at the Numbers
Should Officers Pursue?
 Use of Force by Off-Duty Officers
1. Generally occurs when out of uniform
2. ODOs involved where on duty do not
3. Shootings more likely to be in violation
of policy
Police Use of Force
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4. ODOs more likely to use Deadly
Force when drinking
So should we allow ODO to carry
weapons?
Early Warning Systems to ID Problem
Officers—Sam Walker’s work
Complaints
Use of Force
Reprimands
Discharge of Firearms
Police Use of Force

Assaults Against Police Officers—what does the data
tell us?

Suicide by Cop—what do we know?
Police Culture and Behavior
 The Police Personality
 The Psychological Perspective
 The Sociological Perspective
Police Culture and Behavior
 The Police Subculture
The Law and Police Culture
The Police Worldview
Police Ethos: bravery, autonomy, secrecy
Police Themes: Isolation and Solidarity
Police Postulates
Police Culture and Behavior
Police Stress
Life threatening stressors
Social isolation stressors
Organizational stressors
Functional stressors
Personal stressors
Physiological stressors
Psychological stressors
Police Culture and Behavior
Physiological stressors
Psychological stressors
Effects of Police Stress
PTSD
Cumulative stress
Stress Burnout Survey
Police Culture and Behavior
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Police Suicide
Alcoholism and Drug Abuse
Mortality and Health Problems
Reducing Police Stress
Critical Issues in Policing:
Education and the Police
 Two basic questions:
1. Are college educated officers better at their jobs
than non-college ones?
2. Does college make a person a better police
officer?
 Development of Police Programs
August Vollmer’s influence
Critical Issues in Policing:
Education and the Police
 Development of Police Programs
August Vollmer’s influence
2 events in mid/late 1960s
1. Perception that crime was out of control
2. Ghetto riots and clashes with the police: beginning
of “war on crime.”
 1967 President’s Commission on LE and the
Administration of Justice
Critical Issues in Policing:
Education and the Police
 1967 President’s Commission on LE and the
Administration of Justice
Task Force on Police: quality of police service can’t be
improved until higher education requirements were
established.
 Created LEAA poured billions of $ into the CJS,
focusing on the police. LEEP to provide financial
assistance to officers.
Critical Issues in Policing:
Education and the Police
 The Quality of Higher Education
Cop Shops/ courses had training orientation bc of lack
of qualified personnel to teach.
 Criminal Justice Ph.D. programs developed bc of
stagnant market in sociology
 Police Foundation study aka National Advisory
Commission on Higher Education for Police Officers:
recommendations
Critical Issues in Policing:
Education and the Police
 Police Foundation study aka National Advisory
Commission on Higher Education for Police Officers:
recommendations
 Advantages for colleges
 Advantages for police depts.
 So does education make for better officers?
Police Performance
 Incentive Programs for Higher Education
Critical Issues in Policing:
Education and the Police
 Incentive Programs for Higher Education
National Police Corps
Police Cadet Corps
 Are college educated officers more intelligent than
non-college educated ones?
 Does an officer’s intelligence matter?
 Are the officers of today more intelligent than they
were 50 years ago?
Critical Issues in Policing:
Education and the Police
 The Drive Towards Professionalism
Investigations
 Detective work: the elites of police work
Benefits from assignment to detective division
 RAND study of detective effectiveness
 Research on physical evidence
 Performance of Crime Labs
 Managing Criminal Investigations MCI
Investigations
 Managing Criminal Investigations MCI
Elements:
1. Lack of interest by patrol unless arrest.
2. Lag in time before invest. Arrives
3. Duplication of effort
MCI= specialists called only when unusual problem.
Detectives and patrol briefed together.
Investigations
 Did MCI work? Maybe.
 Sting Operations: considerable investment in
resources. Several problems of managing one.
 No evidence to show sting operations decrease in
rate of property crimes.
Investigations
 Undercover Operations
Second type of proactive investigative tool.
 Expanded role in LE, change in type as well.
 The “new” undercover work
 Issues for undercover operatives