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De’Shiona Johnson
Laurie Bonventre
English 101 10:30am
11-5-13
Community Oriented policing
Administration of Community Oriented Policing can be a very dangerous and difficult
job. “In the case of important decisions, these procedures may involve many minor decisions taken at
various stages in the decision-making process.” (Swanson, Territo, Taylor 309). Administration of
community oriented policing is a difficult task. “COP is the development of police strategies and
programs in partnership with communities in order to deliver custom-tailored police services and
solutions to problems, as well as a renewed focus on crime prevention rather than crime direction.”
(Swanson, Territo, Taylor 36). Community Oriented Policing takes a lot of work and integrity. They have
a wide variety of complex problems to deal with, they are held accountable for different things such as
the budget of policing as far as pay, supplies, every procedure and policy officers follow, etc. For an
example in the city of Flint, Michigan “The budgets for police and fire currently consume 55.5% of the
City’s General Fund” (“City,”pg.3). There is always a need of reliable, honest, trained, and well educated
leaders in law enforcement in order to have a successful and trustworthy administration. “Decision
making also involves the application of our knowledge, our experience, and our mental and moral skills
and powers to determine what actions should be taken to deal with a variety of problem situations.”
(Swanson, Territo, Taylor 309).
After WWII women were given equal rights. Soon another civil service act was passed. In 1964
the Equal Employment Act was passed. August Vollmer (1876-1955) wanted to improve policing. “He
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mobilized officers, moving them first to bicycles and then to patrol cars, introduced a police signal
system to dispatch calls, established a moder record system, used crime analysis to establish and staff
geographical beats, created the first scientific crime laboratory in the United States in 1916, and the first
lie detection machine used in investigation was built in the BPD in1921.” (Swanson, Territo, Taylor 15).
Back then there was a grate matter of corruption in our police administration, and there were a lot of
thing that needed to be worked out. This was a police force that people did not believe in, because
people felt as if they could not trust them.
Police are heroic men and women. They risk their lives to save others. For an example in the
bombings on 9-11, there were many deaths. Police fight against these threats to and human being. Such
as Charles Whitman whom opened fired on a college campus in Texas. “…he fired almost unimpeded for
96 minutes” (Macleod 1) this man shot and killed many men and women that day. He set up his
belongings in a matter as if he planned to be there for days! This was until an off duty officer, went up in
the tower Charles Whitman had been sitting in, and shot and killed Charles. Since then police have made
changes in there policies and procedures to deal with situations like this. “Technological advances in
policing have also played a large role in the development of new strategies in policing…community
oriented policing was the fastest and the most transformative to policing, having an important impact
on not only police operations (such as patrol and investigations), but also on the structure and culture of
the police organization” (Swanson, Territo, Taylor 36).
Police are also very important to citizens. They are here for our protection! Without those men
and women there would be a great deal of corruption, there is no doubt crime would increase! For an
example “Montrealers discovered what it is like to live in a city without police and fireman. The lesson
was costly: six banks were robbed, more than 100 shops were looted, and there were twelve fires.
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Property damage came close to $3,000,000; at least 40 carloads of glass will be needed to replace
shattered storefronts. Two men were shot dead. At that, Montreal was probably lucky to escape as
lightly as it did.” (“Canada”1). This is exactly why law enforcement and their administration are
important. Although administration can be stressful and extremely important for the police
departments, it is needed. The administration has to think of was to maintain their department, keep up
with policies, keep the community safe, and provide their officers with vehicles, weapons, etc. It takes a
make-up of important people with the city with politically powerful people to administrate a community
police department.
“Certainly, policing has dramatically changed since the days of August Vollmer and O.W. Wilson;
policing has become much more proactive, focused on preventing not only crime but terrorism as well.”
(Swanson, Territo, Taylor 36). This increase and improvement on law enforcement training and
education is good because it gives citizens a group of men and women they can trust and believe in. It
makes citizens feel safe and relived when they know they have officers they can depend on. Although
this makes it harder for men and women to serve their community it is better for the law enforcement
officers and department. It helps the officers because it prepares them for the things they are going to
face when obtain the position which they desire. They have made a lot of improvements, although their
jobs haven’t gotten any easier. There will always be things that administrators need to change or
improve and the changes will always take time and need adjustments. However, I believe that the
people who contribute to these agencies need to be congratulated for their efforts. It all takes effort
and it takes an enormous amount of it from a verity of heroic individuals. Someday I will be one of those
individuals who protects and serves my community.
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Work Cited
“Canada: City Without Cops.” Times Magazine October 17, 1969
“City of Flint Police and Fir Budget 2012-2017 Securing Stable Funding.” Cityofflint.com
Macleod, Marlee. “Charles Whitman: The Texas Bell Tower Sniper” Turner Entertainment
Networks Crime library. 2013. 19 Oct 2013
Swanson, Charles, Leonard Territo, and Robert W. Taylor. Police Administration Structures,
Processes, and Behaviors. New York, 2012. Print.