Obie Lee Dubose III
CJUS 315- Perspectives in Policing
January 5, 2014
Professor: Eduardo Lopez
Journal Entry
Obie Lee Dubose III
CJUS 315 – Perspective in Policing
January 7, 2014
Professor: Eduardo Lopez
Southwestern College Professional Studies
Obie Lee Dubose III
CJUS 315- Perspectives in Policing
January 5, 2014
Professor: Eduardo Lopez
The police forces in America place their lives on the line every day to ensure the safety
and protection of its people from threats foreign and domestic. The statement that, “Police work
is primarily social work, rather than crime-fighting,” is completely inaccurate. Officers in
different locations engage in threats that save the lives of many, and thinking that their secondary
goals and duties substitute them as social workers is unacceptable. The two primary goals, six
secondary, and management of an officers time will aid you in understanding why police officer
serve a crime fighting role over that of a social worker.
The two primary goals and objectives of police departments, according to Sheehan and
Cordner, are maintaining order and protecting life and property (Dempsey & Forst, 2012). If
there wasn’t a police force within the United States, terrorist attack such as 9/11 or the shooting
of elementary school students and teachers could continue to happen through the country as it
does in other countries that do not have a well-established and training reaction force. This is
where the maintenance of order linked with protecting life and property comes into play. Officer
patrol the streets looking for any signs of threats, emergences, or responding to calls. Imagine the
country without a police force just a call away when you are in a burning building; your child has
been kidnapped; a burglary in progress and so on and so forth. Crime fighting is the primary
work of police officer no matter where they reside at.
The six secondary of policing involves preventing crime, arresting and prosecuting
offenders, recovering stolen and missing property, assisting the sick and injured, enforcing
noncriminal regulations, delivering services not available elsewhere in the community (Dempsey
& Forst, 2012). These goals are not all exercised on a daily bases however, all officers will
experience them at some point in time in their career. These goals helped towards the crime
fighting by taking care of the business that no one else can do. If you left the judgment and
Obie Lee Dubose III
CJUS 315- Perspectives in Policing
January 5, 2014
Professor: Eduardo Lopez
prosecutions to the public, there will be nothing but chaos on the streets. Police officers serves as
the medium between the public and the government, yes they have to do what is right and set the
example at all times, however, there are only a handful of people in the country who want to take
the challenge of protecting our nation.
I do not think that officer spend more time on their secondary goals than that of their
primary goals because the functions that they execute within their secondary goal ultimately
enhances their two primary ones of maintaining order, and protecting life and property. Working
with people to get them the proper medical attention because they were shot, injured in a vehicle
accident or something to these effect or even something as significant as a building coming down
in the middle of a heavily populated city, then the response from police officer would greatly be
needed in crowd control and coordination of getting people out of the incident zone.
Lastly, the structure of the police department is complicated to understand for those who
do not have the experience or the knowledge of how they operate. The complexity is shared
throughout the ranks however, with the proper training and experience society can certainly
benefit from police officers. The primary and secondary goals of the police force goes hand in
hand with there over all mission to protect and serve, and they have been doing so since the
creation of your great country. Anything less I think we would be in the same situation as many
countries in the Middle East as well as in Africa and North Korea.
Obie Lee Dubose III
CJUS 315- Perspectives in Policing
January 5, 2014
Professor: Eduardo Lopez
References:
Dempsey, J. S., & Forst, L. S. (2012). An introduction to policing. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar
Cengage Learning.