1
ST. JEROME'S UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY 327 POLICING IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY
Dr. Frederick J. Desroches
Room 3024 St. Jerome's University
Office Hours: 2:30-3:30 M & W
September, 2013
Phone: 519-884-8110 X 28221
email: fjdesroc@uwaterloo.ca
You are welcome to speak to me before or after class, drop by my office during my office hours,
or make an appointment to discuss assignments etc.
Email etiquette: When emailing, please type in the course number in the subject heading so that
it is not mistakenly identified as SPAM. Please identify yourself and the course and keep your
messages/inquiries brief and to the point. Please do not ask for information that can be found on
the course outline (e.g., office hours, midterm date, reading assignments etc.). Please do not
forward essays by email. Please do not ask for your grades by email. If you have missed classes,
it is your responsibility to obtain notes from a fellow student. Please do not email me asking
what you have missed or for copies of my lecture notes.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
A critical examination of the role of police as social control agents in contemporary democratic
societies. Topics to be examined include: the historical evolution of policing; police recruitment,
training, and education; community policing; the police as a quasi-military and bureaucratic
organization; the occupational subculture of the police; patrol and detective work; the police use
of the polygraph in criminal investigations; police authority and discretion; policing morality;
racial profiling and the police; police deviance and criminality; the police and protest
movements; and police and the media.
Required Textbooks
Desroches, Frederick
2005 The Crime that Pays: Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in Canada. Toronto:
Canadian Scholars' Press.
1995 Force and Fear: Robbery in Canada.. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press.
2
Lecture Topics
1. A Historical Overview of Policing
The Metropolitan Police Act – 1829
2. Police Recruitment, Training, Education, and the Professional Model
Functions of Policing: Service, Order Maintenance, and Law Enforcement
3. The Occupational Subculture of Policing
Stress, Danger, Murder, and Suicide
4. Police Patrol Work – Reactive and Proactive Policing
5. Police Discretion – The Decision to Arrest
The Due Process vs. Crime Control Model
Racial Profiling and Discrimination
6. Patterns and Theories of Police Deviance
Police Corruption – Canada vs. Other Nations
Overzealous Policing The MacDonald Commission on RCMP Wrongdoing
Police Violence and The Morand Commission Report on the Metropolitan Toronto Police
Force and Fear: Robbery in Canada – The Hold-Up Squad’s Use of Force
The Special Investigative Unit (SIU) of Ontario
The Rodney King Case in the United States
7. The Role of the Police in Wrongful Conviction Cases
8. The Police Use of the Polygraph in Criminal Investigations
Strategies and Techniques of Interrogation
9. Policing Morality
The Police Surveillance of Public Washrooms in Ontario (Tearoms)
The Crime Control vs. Order Maintenance Model
10. The RCMP Drug Branch – Investigating High Level Drug Traffickers
Undercover and Surveillance Work
Informants and Agents
Proceeds of Crime Legislation
The Use of Conspiracy Laws
Money Laundering Stings
Drug Usage, Drug Trafficking, and Social Policy
3
11. Domestic Violence and Police Response
Spousal Abuse and the Mandatory Arrest Policy
Elder Abuse
12. Policing Protest Movements, Crowds, and Hooligans
13. Community Based Policing
Underlying Principles
Community Based Policing Programs
Required Readings from The Crime that Pays
Chapter 7
Police Investigations of Higher-Level Drug Traffickers
Chapter 8
Higher-Level Drug Trafficking in Canada: Social Policy Implications
Required Readings from Force and Fear
Chapter 6
The Police and Judicial Response to Robbery
Required Readings E-Reserves
Desroches, F.
The OPAPA Human Trafficking Case. With Inspector Steve Martin. RCMP Gazette,
2012 Vol. 74, No. 4, pp. 30-31.
Desroches, F.
The Use of Organized Crime and Conspiracy Laws in the Investigation and Prosecution
of Criminal Organizations. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice. Oxford
University Press. Volume 7. doi. 10.1093 Online Feb 4, 2013.
Desroches, F.
Tearoom Trade: A Law Enforcement Problem. Canadian Journal of Criminology,
Volume 33, No. 1, January 1991, pp. 1-21.
Desroches, F.
The Police Use of the Polygraph in Criminal Investigations. With Alfred Thomas.
Canadian Journal of Criminology, Vol. 27, No. 1, January 1985, pp. 43-66.
Nassiah v. Peel, [2007] HRTO 14 (Ontario Human Rights Tribunal).
Additional E-Reserves readings will be assigned throughout the course.
4
Course Requirements
There will be an essay requirement and a final examination valued as follows:
1. Essay Assignment
2. Final take-home Examination
40% November 6, 2013
60% To be announced
Students also have the option of writing a 100% final take-home examination in lieu of the essay.
The final examination will consist of several essay questions and cover the entire course.
Essay Requirements Value 40%. Due Date November 6, 2013.
Write a brief sociological essay analyzing theory and research on any one component of policing
in a democratic society.
The essay must be no longer than four typed pages double spaced (one inch margins, & size 12
font). The essay should be well written and fully documented.
Examples of appropriate topics include: policing domestic violence; enforcing traffic laws;
preventing impaired driving offences; investigation drug trafficking or other consensual illicit
activities; police patrol work; criminal investigations; reactive vs proactive policing; police
discretion; police deviance; policing minority communities; policing public protests; policing
morality offences; community based policing.
Please consult with me regarding the appropriateness of your topic if you have any doubt.
In your essay, please make reference to at least one of the following:
1.
The crime control and/or the order maintenance model of policing.
2.
Limitations of policing because of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
3.
Research on the effectiveness of police strategies.
4.
Policing and feminist issues/critiques.
Do not ignore length restrictions, use a minimum of three paragraphs per page, use one inch
margins, use size 12 font, and please ensure that the essay is double spaced (not 1.5 etc.). Essays
that not follow these requirements will be returned ungraded. Your title page, references, and
appendices do not count towards the seven page limit.
5
Each essay should incorporate a minimum of eight academic sources including at least four
journal articles. You must also attempt to include a sociological perspective. You may include
magazine and newspaper articles but these will not be counted as part of the minimum required
sources.
The essay will be graded in part by the variety and quality of the references used, their relevance
to the topic, how current they are, and their application to the problems discussed in the paper.
Your essay may require some brief description but the focus should be analytical. In other words,
you are required to apply sociological theory to your topic and offer critical evaluations of theory
and research on policing. An analytical paper is one in which you attempt to make connections,
explain, evaluate, illustrate, compare, contrast, criticize, and apply theory to the issues discussed.
Please avoid using a psychological or social work perspective.
The essay should also include Canadian data or a focus on Canadian policing if possible.
Statistics Canada provides relevant up-to-date information related to crime and policing. If your
topic deals with legal issues, please include a reference to relevant legislation dealing with the
particular topic your essay covers.
Number each page, staple the pages together, and please do not use plastic binders. Please use
APA style http://www.apastyle.org/elecre.html for references and bibliography. Do not use
footnotes but instead, refer to your sources by the author's last name, year of publication, and
page number(s) e.g., (Desroches, 2005:102). Please ensure that all references are fully cited in
your bibliography. Journal articles should include the author(s), title of the article, title of the
journal, year, volume number, and page numbers. Do not use websites as references in the body
of your essay.
Internet materials may only be used if the sources are from academic journals and government
publications typically found in university libraries. You may use internet sources as long as you
include a copy of the first page of the article (with author, journal, title, volume, page numbers
etc.) in an appendix.
Please make sure of the following:
The essay must deal primarily with policing and not a criminal activity, social policy, the law
etc.
Your introductory paragraph must tell the reader precisely what the essay is about.
Do not use vague concepts or theories.
If you choose to write on police deviance, choose either police corruption or overzealous
policing.
6
Ensure that your concepts are clearly explained and applied consistently throughout the essay.
Include research studies in your essay, discuss the findings, and apply theory to the findings.
Offer critical analysis of research, theory, concepts, etc.
Do not make unsubstantiated or vague assertions even if they come from a source.
Be certain that journal articles are from academic journals (and include the author, title of the
article and title of the journal, year, volume, and page numbers).
UW POLICY REGARDING ILLNESS AND MISSED TESTS
The University of Waterloo Examination Regulations
(www.registrar.uwaterloo.ca/exams/ExamRegs.pdf) state that:

A medical certificate presented in support of an official petition for relief from normal
academic requirements must provide all of the information requested on the “University of
Waterloo Verification of Illness” form or it will not be accepted. This form can be obtained
from Health Services or at
www.healthservices.uwaterloo.ca/Health_Services/verification.html.

If a student has a test/examination deferred with medical evidence, he/she normally will write
the test/examination at a mutually convenient time, to be determined by the course instructor.
 If a student misses an exam you must contact the instructor within 8 hours of the exam to
let me know that you have an acceptable medical reason for missing the test, or you will
not be able to re-write.
 If a re-write is scheduled and you do not attend, you will not be given another chance.
 A student must also advise the instructor if they wish to hand in an assignment late.
Penalties will be given to the assignment at a rate of 5% per business day.
 Please advise if you intent to hand in an assignment late.

The University acknowledges that, because of the pluralistic nature of the University
community, some students may on religious grounds require alternative times to write tests
and examinations.

Elective arrangements (such as travel plans) are not considered acceptable grounds for
granting an alternative examination time.
A NOTE ON THE AVOIDANCE OF ACADEMIC OFFENCES
7
Academic Integrity:
Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of
Waterloo are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.
Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing
academic offences, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an
action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism,
cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course
professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found
to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 – Student Discipline. For
information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student
Discipline.
Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has
been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student
Petitions and Grievances, Section 4.
Appeals: A student may appeal the finding and/or penalty in a decision made under Policy 70 - Student
Petitions and Grievances (other than regarding a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline if a ground for
an appeal can be established. Read Policy 72 - Student Appeals.
Other sources of information for students:
Academic Integrity website (Arts) Academic Integrity Office (uWaterloo)
Accommodation for Students with Disabilities:
Note for students with disabilities: The AccessAbility Services office, located in Needles Hall Room
1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students
with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic
accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the AS office at the
beginning of each academic term.