Since taking office in 2011, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, has continually made promises to put additional police officers on the streets to help reduce the number of violent crimes plaguing the city. Many of those officers, he promised, would come from desk positions within the department which could then be filled by civilians. During his quest for re-election in 2015, he asserted that his administration had kept his vow of putting 1,000 additional officers on the street, with many of them coming from desk positions. However last month, while introducing his 2018 budget, the mayor surprisingly repeated his original pledge. Recent records obtained by ProPublica Illinois show the reason for the mayor’s repeated pledge. Over the last four …show more content…
It appears that they did not understand the importance of organizational structure, which, if done correctly, could have provided the mayor and more importantly, his voting constituents, the police services Chicago so badly needs, while saving tens of millions of dollars in the process. Analyzing a problem and implementing a solution are both part of the decision-making process. Starling (2011) states, “Simon maintains that the ‘task of deciding pervades the entire administrative organization quite as much as does the task of doing’ – indeed, it is integrally tied up with latter’” (p. 252). Obviously, the City of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department’s administration did not adequately address the steps necessary in effective decision making regarding this situation. When analyzing and identifying the problem, symptoms and root causes need to be identified. Citizens might wonder if the administration did not recognize that violent crime was rising because more patrol officers were moving to desk jobs. Several questions that remain unanswered include: Why are officers moving to desk jobs? Are desk jobs more desirable than street patrol? Are they a reward from middle management to favored employees? Are promotions as easy, or easier, from a desk position? Certainly, to get to the root of the problem, the underlying reasons for these actions must be determined. Management must analyze these reasons as they gather facts to
The field of police work is constantly being forced to develop and improve its protocols, procedures, and practices in an effort to keep pace with the ever-changing society in which it operates and criminal behavior it seeks to eradicate. While the history of policing has been marked by substantial changes throughout time, the work of modern-day police officers and officials demonstrate some of the most substantial adaptations to its surrounding environment that the field has ever seen. In order to understand where the future of policing is heading, it is important to first understand these current trends that are affecting the current landscape of the profession. By
The reason some officers have resisted implementing problem-solving strategies is because problem solving has a dual focus. According to the course text, the first focus, is that it requires incidents to be linked to problems. The second focus, is time devoted to “preventive” patrol is required to be spent proactively, which determines problems in the community and their causes (Miller, Hess, & Orthmann, 2014). Although problem-solving is ideal, unfortunately officers cannot ignore specific incidents. For example, when call come in, officer respond as quickly as possible. In addition, even if officers respond to incidents, seek symptoms of problem, or both, the public can help or hinder their efforts (Miller, Hess, & Orthmann, 2014).
In the Bronx, there are countless of unsolved crime at the police department precinct, just waiting to be solved. However, due to the shortage of policeman power in the precincts located in the Bronx, and with many detectives with a caseload of about 300 to 400 cases per year, it’s impossible for the detectives to keep-up. According to the deployment analysis obtained by The New York Times most of the detective have a caseload of twice as the recommended for precincts with such high violence rate with the department. “The Times's deployment analysis grew out of a series of articles about murder in the 40th Precinct, a two-square-mile section of the South Bronx, where three detectives last year carried more than 400 cases and many others had loads in the high 300's, markedly more than the 150 cases per year the department recommends for precincts with high rates of violent crime.”
The International Association of Chiefs of Police Research Center Board of executives, Smaller Law Enforcement Agencies Technical Assistance Program developed a New Police Chief Mentoring Project (IACP, 2013). Supported by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, the focus is to make available official support to newer law enforcement leaders in the first three years of appointment, who are serving in smaller populations less than 50,000 citizens. As cities expand geographically and demographically, police departments face additional challenges determining efficient and effective ways to make use of officers and resources (Roberts, 2000).
How would you feel if your race represented a sigma- one of such that is viewed negatively upon-causing government officials to provide the bare minimum of resources for you to function just below the poverty threshold? Chicago, the 3rd largest populated city in the U.S followed by it having the 3rd largest black population in the U.S according to the 2010 U.S census report is a city that raises many questions. The murder rate in Chicago has inclined rapidly over the past 10 years “A total of 510 Chicagoans were murdered in 2008, compared to 445 in 2007” according to The University of Chicago Crime
Although the worst of the fiscal challenge is over, managers need to recognize that there will not be a return to the way things were prior to 2007. As Generation X'ers move into management roles, the advancement of technology makes public safety more efficient, the service model will begin to change. The philosophy of doing more with less will start to emerge. “In the paper “Making Policing More Affordable: Managing Costs and Measuring Value in Policing,” published by the National Institute of Justice, authors George Gascon and Todd Foglesong suggest that the police model should be more like a medical model. In year’s past, when visiting the doctor's office, a physician performed virtually all of the testing, taking temperatures, measuring blood pressure, and so forth”(Matarese,
As a police officer, the major objectives are to maintain order, enforce the law, protect one’s property, and to save lives. In addition, police are divided into two roles based on how they perform their duties. The two roles of a police officer are a public servant and a crime fighter. A police officer whose role as a public servant is to serve all types of people, as well as criminals. Public servants regularly provide advice and make judgments as to the degree of risk they should take with the public. Many decisions involving risk are relatively easy to make, but others are complex and significant consequences (Kernaghan and Langford, 2016). These risks may involve using force and the consequences could be media backlash or a potential termination. Public servants abide by the oath and uphold the integrity and honor of the organization as an officer. Also, public servant officers like to play it safe because they like to be known as ordinary citizens who like to go home to their
The field of police work is constantly being forced to develop and improve its protocols, procedures, and practices in an effort to keep pace with the ever-changing society in which it operates and criminal behavior it seeks to eradicate. While the history of policing has been marked by substantial changes throughout time, the work of modern-day police officers and officials demonstrate some of the most substantial adaptations to its surrounding environment that the field has ever seen. In order to understand where the future of policing is heading, it is important to first understand these current trends that are affecting the current landscape of the profession. By
A St. Louis Police officer has been ambushed and killed by a gunman. The officer was ambushed during a shooting on Sunday. Around 7:30 p.m. Sunday night, a gunman pulled up in a silver car next to a marked Chevy Tahoe and opened fire. One of the officers who was involved in the shooting was a 46 year old man (no name given), who has served in the police force for over 20 years. He was shot twice in the head, but is expected to live. The officer who was killed was not trying to pull over the suspect, rather he was just driving down the road in his police vehicle. Also, evidence has concluded that the officer’s gun was never drawn. Once the suspect had shot the officer, he fled the crime. Search for the victim had involved the SWAT team, and
Police Agencies in modern society are a part of the American fabric to serve and protect the American public. The United States currently have more than 15,000 police agencies, (Walker & Katz, 2011). Police Departments across the United States face similar critical issues policing. All police officers face dangers in the job of policing the dangers can emanate from internal and external origins. Police officers have continued to evolve to serve communities by finding better less than lethal alternatives to weapons used. In addition, police departments have continued to keep up with
Very interesting report, and I do have a few questions, and the first one is do you think that they can strictly enforce the gun laws? I ask that question because, I do not believe this can happen. There are way too many ways to buy an unregister weapon, be it online, a friend of a friend or sealing it from an owner who never reported owning a weapon in the first place, and that is just for starters.
The Mollen Commission report noted that "police unions and fraternal organizations can do much to increase professionalism of our police officers....Unfortunately, based on our own observations and on information received from prosecutors, corruption investigators, and high-ranking police officials, police unions sometimes fuel the insularity that characterizes the police culture."(Local Political Culture) The report found a difference of concern for the unions, which protected the interests of individual officers and support the larger interests of their members, finding that, ironically, the PBA "does a great disservice to the vast majority of its members who would be happy to see corrupt cops prosecuted for their crimes and removed from their
Police leadership uses standardization and procedure as a way to create consistency and predict¬ability in law enforcement operations (Batts, Smoot, & Scrivner, 2012). The San Diego Police Department, like nearly all law enforcement agencies uses leadership models mimicking the United States military. Paramilitary organizations use highly structured framing to conduct business operations. The structural frame creates compartmentalized specialization, and predictable, uniform task performance desired by police executives. The tightly designed rank-and-file structure delineates locus power and control based on position (Bolman & Deal, 1991). Power rests at the top. Contained with this structure is top-down control of personnel,
“The average police response time not including the time between placing and answering calls in New York City was 9.1 minutes in 2012, compared to 6.9 minutes in 2007, an increase of 31 percent” (Bowen, 2012)(Kemp, 2013). The massive increase in response time is threatening the safety of the residents of New York City, and while the government is introducing new plans to help alleviate the problem, results have been largely unsatisfactory so far.
Over the last several years, most police departments have been facing numerous financial challenges. The main reason is law enforcement agencies are expected to do more with less and the stagnant economy. The combination of these factors has been placing pressure on many departments to begin imposing budget cuts. Evidence of this can be seen with a survey that was conducted by the University of North Carolina. They found that 67% of police departments made some kind of budget cuts for 2011. The most severe reductions were occurring in large police departments such as Los Angeles, Atlanta and Detroit. (Delfem, 2011, pp. 199 - 205) This is illustrating one of the most pressing issues affecting a wide variety of police departments across the country. To fully understand what is happening requires: examining the situation, how they are able to interact with other agencies (i.e. state / federal) and recommending the way this relationship can be improved. Together, these elements will offer specific insights about how police departments can effectively address this problem.