police role

(order management)

-maintain a social boundary

-relieve unpleasant situations

-counterpunching

-obtain an emergency service

most common type of order maintanence

-police depts and citizens influence traffic enforcement policies

-source of friction between police and citizens

- crackdowns (drunk driving)

disturbance between 2+ people engaged in an intimate relationship that has escalated to a degree involving actual or threatening violence

*decreased 1993-2004

* many victims don't call

* non-white, low-income people call more frequent

* middle-class women turn toward private sectors for help

* arrest

* mediation

* separation of parties

* referral to social services

* no action

factores influencing arrest

for domestic violence

* mandatory arrest policy

* preference of victim for arrest

* relationship between victim and suspect

* disrespect to police

* "victimless crimes" with no complaining party

* police must investigate on their own

* involves business many regard as legitimate or private

* conflicting public attitudes

* enforcement is selective, arbitrary, and inconcsistent

* reactive, addressing complainant conserns

*other dept transfer to shelters, treatment programs, & financial assistance services

* 7-10% contact is w/ mentally ill

* hospitalization, arrest, or informal disruption

* old problems/new programs

* high level of contact

* express more negative attitude toward police

* represent significant aspect of crime problem

proactive v reactive

(crime control)

* proactive: anticrime strategies initiated by the police themselves, not citizens in need

* reactive: anticrime strategies used by police when responding o a civilian request

general v specific

(crime control)

* citizens are co-producers

* police & other social institutions are interdependent

* measuring effectiveness requires meaningful definitions and reliable data

* routine patrol is primary

* specialized units

~ meet w/ citizens

~ work alongside neighborhood groups

~ educate youth about crime, drugs, & gangs

* 2nd major crime fighting responsibility

* citizens report crimes

~ citizens = gatekeepers

~ patrol rarely discover crime in progress

~ victim doesn't report bc "it's not important"

* "unfounding" no official report when citizen calls

~ reasons: citizen doesn't understand criminal law, insufficient evidence, abuse of discretion

* work is exciting and dangerous

* detectives are heroic, courageous, & skillful

~ these create unreasonable public expectations

* located in separate unit

* considered high-status assignment

* great opportunity to control work & exercise initiative

1. ID & arrest suspect

2. provide aid to victim(s)

3. secure crime scene & prevent loss of evidence

4. collect relevant physical evidence

5. prepare preliminary report

1. interview witness(es)

2. canvass crime scene

3. discuss case with patrol officer(s)

4. interview suspect(s)

5. check record & NCIC files

based on:

1. strength of evidence

2. seriousness of crime

3. victim request of arrest

4. victim and suspect reationship

5. suspect is hostile

* based on seriousness of crime and strength of evidence

* case solvability factors

* caseloads

1. case structural factors

*related to crime committed

2. organizational factors

*lack of resources doesn't keep clearance rates low

3. environmental factors

*characteristic of community working in

*officers have no control over these

* some officers make more arrests than others

*quality of arrests differs

~ many dont lead to conviction

~only 1/2 of Felonies lead to conviction

*least reliable

*problems with humane perception and memory

* deliberate deception that may promote habit of lying

* befriending criminals

* less supervision

* used most in victimless crime

* criminals who possess special knowledge

* potential problems bc police must give something in return for access to info

* people believed to be committing a high rate of offenses

* repeat offender program

~ targeted for surveillance & arrest

~those w/ outstanding warrants

~ provide info about offenders history

* vicitms most likely black, Am. indian, & hispanic

* men twice as likely to be victims

* gun suppression:

~project safe neighborhood

KC gun experiment

*bias motivated

* 50.8% racial

18.4% religious

16.6% sexual orientation

13.2% ethnic/national origin

* police create special units

*Dept of homeland security

*increase National Guard & Customs personnel

*FBI office of intelligence

*FBI counterterrorism watch

*local police 1st to respond

*info sharing

* police depts isolated & alienated from important segments of commnunity

* research undermined traditional police management & reform

* recognition that police role is complex

* recognition that citizens are important as co-producers

developed by James Q. Wilson & George Kelling; 

argues that police should focus their resources on disorder problems that create fear of crime and lead to neighborhood decay

form of societal neglect resultign from physical decay within a neighborhood

*vandalism, dilapidation & abandonment, and trash buildup