Policing: Roles, Styles, and
Functions
What Makes a Good/Bad Cop?
Good
Bad
Have Your Interactions Been Like This?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PKtGny
GuKM (2:44-4:12)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZkKsGtr
W88
Roles of the Police
Our expectation of police behavior depend on where we
live and when we consider the question. What we
expect from the police depends on how we view their
role in society.
When the public’s expectations differ from the official
police role, the public may become disenchanted and
sometimes hostile toward law enforcement officers.
A common source of role conflict for the police is the
expectation that they should be social or helping
agents at the same time they are expected to be
control agents by arresting law violators.
Characteristics of Police Work
Police work requires a combination of special characteristics:
• Quick Decision Making: must make on-the-spot decisions
• The Independent Nature of Police Work: The position of
peace officer in all states is a position of honor and trust.
They virtually work unsupervised until the end of their
tour of duty. The independence nature of police work
increases the chances of corruption.
• “Dirty Work”: Police work is sometimes distasteful.
Oftentimes, the police must deal with people at their
worst.
• Danger: Police officers in the United States spend a
substantial amount of their time trying to resolve conflicts,
frequently in hostile environments. From 1972 through
2003, 4,644 law enforcement officers were killed in the
line of duty.
Operational Styles
After police officers are trained and begin to
gain experience and wisdom from their
encounters with veteran police officers and
citizens on the street, it is believed that they
develop operational styles that characterize
their overall approach to the police job.
James Q. Wilson
Legalistic Style: The emphasis is on violations of law and
the use of threats or actual arrest to solve disputes in
the community.
Watchman Style: The emphasis is on informal means of
resolving disputes and problems in a community.
Keeping the peace is the concern, and arrest is used
only as a last resort to resolve any kind of disturbance
of the peace.
Service Style: The emphasis is on helping in the
community, as opposed to enforcing the law. Referrals
and diversion to community treatment agencies are
more common than arrest and formal court action.
Police Functions
Patrol
Police administrators have long referred to patrol
as the backbone of the department. It is
unquestionably the most time-consuming and
resource intensive task of any police agency.
More than half of the sworn personnel in any
police department are assigned to patrol.
Type of Patrol
• Preventive Patrol: Police Officers patrol the streets with
little direction. Between their responses to radio calls,
they are told to be “systematically unsystematic” and
observant in an attempt to both prevent and ferret out
crime.
• Directed Patrol: Officers are given guidance or orders on
how to use their patrol time. The guidance is often based
on the results of crime analysis that identify problem
areas.
• Aggressive Patrol: When the entire patrol section is
instructed to make numerous traffic stops and field
interrogations. Such procedures have been found to
reduce crime in targeted areas. At least 2 problems can
occur:
– Inconvenience to innocent citizens
– Often difficult to get all officers on board
Investigations
Criminal investigations 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.
Types of Investigators
Investigators work in a variety of capacities in a
police agency:
1. Traffic investigators
2. Undercover investigators – narcotics, vice, gangs
3. Internal Affairs investigators – crimes by police
4. Uniformed Patrol investigators – investigating
crimes they have been dispatched too
5. Detectives – conduct investigations on reports
made by patrol officers
Parts of the Criminal Investigation
1. Preliminary (Initial) Investigation: conducted
by patrol officers [unless they discover a
suspect during the preliminary investigation
then chances are low of them solving the
crime]
2. Continuing (Follow-Up) Investigation:
conducted by plain clothes detectives
Functions of Criminal Investigations
In any type of investigation, all investigators share
responsibility for a number of critical functions:
1. Locate witnesses and suspects
2. Arrest criminals
3. Collect, preserve, and analyze evidence
4. Interview witnesses
5. Interrogate suspects
6. Write reports
7. Recover Stolen Property
8. Seize Contraband
9. Prepare Cases and testify in court
Advantages of being a detective
1. They do not have to wear uniforms.
2. They have anonymity during working hours if they
choose it.
3. They have steady work hours, often daytimes with
weekends off.
4. They have offices and desk.
5. They enjoy the prestige associated with the
position.
6. In many agencies, detectives receive a higher rank
and pay.
7. Perhaps the most important, they enjoy more
freedom from the police radio, geographical
boundaries, and close supervision.
Recent Developments
• DNA Profiling – A unique genetic profile can be
derived from blood, hair, semen, or other bodily
substances found at the scene of a crime or on a
victim.
– Links or eliminates identified suspects to a crime
– Identify “cold hits”
– Clear a convicted offender
(most complete database is CODIS managed by the FBI)
• Automated Fingerprint Identification – allows
investigators to sort through thousands of sets of
fingerprints to match with those suspected of a
crime
(world’s largest is the FBI’s with 47 million prints on
file)
Drug Enforcement
An increasingly important responsibility of police departments across the
nation at ALL levels.
Types of Investigations:
• Street-Level Enforcement
• Mid-Level Investigations
• Major Investigations
Tactics Used:
• Crop Eradication
• Smuggling Interdiction
• Community Policing
• Drug Demand Reduction
• Asset Forfeiture
Criticism of War on Drugs
• Government has exaggerated the dangers.
• Drug war is racist.
• Money involved has corrupted many law
enforcement personnel.
• Diverts resources from more important
projects.