POLICE & ARREST
The Roles of the Police
• What Americans expect from the police depends on
how we view their role in society.
• Different people have different role expectations
for the local police.
• When the public’s expectation’s differ from the
official police role, officers may suffer role conflict.
The Roles of the Police
Not everyone views the role of the police in the same
way. The majority of perspectives consider that the
police:
1. are community leaders in public safety.
2. possess broad discretion.
3. solve sociological and technological problems for people
on a short-term basis.
4. occasionally serve in a hostile or dangerous environment.
http://www.detroitmi.gov/Departments/PoliceDepartment/tabid/141/defa
ult.aspx
Characteristics of Police Work
Police work requires a combination of special
characteristics. Police work involves:
• Quick decision-making
• Working independently
• “Dirty work”
• Danger
OPERATIONAL STYLES
After police officers are trained and begin to gain
experience, it is believed they develop
OPERATIONAL STYLES.
OPERATIONAL STYLES
• Legalistic: an emphasis on violations of law, and the
use of threats or actual arrests to solve disputes.
• Watchman: an emphasis on informal means of
resolving disputes.
• Service: an emphasis on helping the
community, as opposed to enforcing the law.
continued…
Police Functions
The list of functions that police are
expected to carry out is long and varies
from place to place. There are some
similarities in police departments though.
Patrol
Patrol is called the backbone of the
department by administrators. It is the most
time-consuming and resource-intensive
task officers undertake.
Patrol
Patrol duties include:
• Responding to burglar alarms
• Investigating traffic accidents
• Caring for injured people
• Trying to resolve domestic disputes
• Responding to radio calls
Preventive Patrol
Traditionally, police officers use the time
between radio calls to participate in
preventive patrol.
In the 1960s, people began
to question the usefulness of
preventive patrol.
Directed Patrol
• Another strategy is directed patrol. Evidence shows
directed patrol can reduce the incidence of targeted
crimes such as thefts from autos and robberies.
• Directed patrol can be aided by crime
mapping.
Aggressive Patrol
• A strategy that can result in arrests for both minor
and serious offenses is aggressive patrol.
• This strategy has drawbacks:
 Innocent citizen are inconvenienced by random traffic
stops and field interrogations.
 It is often difficult to get all officers motivated to use
aggressive tactics.
Foot Patrol
The practice of having officers patrol their beats on
foot has regained popularity recently.
While foot patrols have not been proven to
be a significant deterrent to crime, they
have significantly improved relationships
between citizens and officers.
Investigation
Detectives may be the most glorified police
officers, but they are only one unit. There
are many forms of investigation in any
police department, from hit-and-run
accidents, to undercover vice
investigations, to background checks on
potential police officers.
What is Criminal Investigation?
Criminal investigation has been defined as a lawful
search for people and things to reconstruct the
circumstances of an illegal act, apprehend or
determine the guilty party, and aid in the state’s
prosecution of the offender.
What is Criminal Investigation?
The criminal investigation PROCESS has two parts:
• Preliminary investigation: usually by patrol officers
(except in the case of homicide, or other complex
investigations).
• Follow-up investigation: usually by plainclothes
detectives.
INVESTIGATIVE FUNCTIONS
In any type of investigation, INVESTIGATORS must:
•
•
•
•
Locate witnesses and suspects
Arrest criminals
Collect, preserve, and analyze evidence
Interview witnesses
continued…
INVESTIGATIVE FUNCTIONS
• Interrogate suspects
• Write reports
• Recover stolen property
• Seize contraband
• Prepare cases and testify in
court
The Role of the Detective
Detectives enjoy several advantages over
patrol officers:
• They do not have to wear uniforms.
• They have anonymity during work hours if they
choose it.
• They have steady work hours, often during
daytime hours with weekends off.
• They have offices and desks.
continued…
THE ROLE OF THE DETECTIVE
• They enjoy the prestige associated with the
position.
• In many agencies, detectives receive higher
compensation and hold a higher rank.
• They have more freedom than patrol officers.
PRODUCTIVITY
DESPITE THE ADVANTAGES, DETECTIVES OFTEN
FACE INSURMOUNTABLE OBSTACLES AND
STRESSFUL WORK CONDITIONS:
• Crimes can be very difficult to solve.
• Witnesses who could help often don’t want to
get involved.
• Even with hard work, the success rate can be
very low.
Traffic
Each year, nearly twice as many people are killed in
automobile accidents on the streets and highways of
America as are murdered.
• Many deaths are alcohol-related.
• Traffic enforcement and accident investigation is so
important some agencies have traffic accident
investigation crews.
COMMUNITY POLICING
Recently, the effectiveness of the professional model
of policing has been questioned:
• Preventive patrol
• Quick response
• Follow-up investigation
Was shown not to reduce the
incidence of crime.
Rarely leads to quick
arrest.
Is not as important as the
investigation done by the officer
on the scene.
COMMUNITY POLICING
The “broken windows” theory states
that those minor annoyances are
“signs of crime” and that if they are
not dealt with early, more serious
problems are likely to occur.
The Philosophy and Components of
Community Policing
Citizens and the police work
collectively to:
• Identify problems
• Propose solutions
• Implement actions
• Evaluate the results
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP
The first component of community
policing is establishing and
maintaining mutual trust between
citizens of a community and the
police.
PROBLEM SOLVING
For problem solving to work
effectively, the police need to devote
time and attention to discovering a
community’s concerns, and they need
to recognize the validity of those
concerns.
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP
BUILDING POLICE-COMMUNITY
PARTNERSHIPS INVOLVES:
•
•
•
•
Talking to local business owners
Visiting residents in their homes
Supporting neighborhood watch groups
Ongoing communication with residents
PROBLEM SOLVING
IN COMMUNITY POLICING, A FOUR-STEP
PROCESS KNOWN AS SARA IS OFTEN USED:
• Scanning—identifying problems
• Analysis—understanding underlying problems
• Response—developing and implementing
solutions
• Assessment—determining the solutions’ effect
THE ROLES OF THE
POLICE
• What Americans expect from the police depends on
how we view their role in society.
• Different people have different role expectations
for the local police.
• When the public’s expectation’s differ from the
official police role, officers may suffer role conflict.
Seizure of a Person
“when a reasonable person
would not feel free to
leave”
Arrest
Detain
Requirement: a seizure must be
reasonable
Person’s
Consent
Warrant
Presumed
Reasonable
Probable
Cause
Police can
still seize someoneArrest
without
a warrant or consent
Enough facts that a reasonable police officer would be strongly
suspicious that a particular person committed a particular crime
Reasonable
Suspicion
Detain
Temporarily
The officer knows several minor facts or a larger fact that points to a
particular person engaging in some criminal activity.
Reasonable
HowSuspicion
much do
Probable
the police
know?
Cause
_________________________________________________________________________________
No
Hunch
Suspicion
Beyond a
Info
Reasonable
Doubt