INTRODUCTION
Problem/Background
The attacks of police officers in the workplace is becoming a larger issue across America. Intruders are walking into police stations armed with weapons and attacking officers more every year. A lot of these attacks are due to the lack of security within the police facilities. The police stations, while designed with state of the art equipment, are being designed to create a friendly warm space for citizens, which in result provides less security for officers while working in these facilities.
According to Atlas (2008), Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is a multidisciplinary approach to prevent criminal behavior through environmental design. CPTED strategies have been created to rely on
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The primary focus of this research is on the physical and personal security of police officers while in the workplace. Does the design of police buildings promote the safety and security of officers? A combination of academic references found in books, journal articles, interviews, newspaper reports and web-based articles were used to unpack this research. In addition to these texts, a survey was conducted of randomly selected police officers to provide data on personal experiences.
Research Questions
The following are the research questions for this study:
• Question 1: Are police facilities safe?
• Question 2: Can crime be prevented through the design of police facilities?
Limitations
The study was restricted in terms of its choice of literature reviewed. The researcher does not imply in this study that this literature is 100% representative of the US population, so for the purposes of this study, the researcher did not broadly state the results were indicative of the US population
Significance of Study
A survey was conducted with 10 off-duty police officers. Seven out of the 10 officers surveyed were found to not feel secure when working in the police stations, as opposed to officers feeling secured. This is an important finding because it is just as valuable, if not more so, for an officer to feel secure in the workplace to perform daily duties at its full potential. Four of the 10 surveyed were
Society in general have showed the distrust, protests and many questions for the like hood of the police profession. The reputation of the police profession is that of the 6 pillars of policing in the modern world as outlined by the President’s Task Force on the 21st Century Policing, which sought to recommend steps forward. Under the banners of ‘Building Trust and Legitimacy’, ‘Policy and Oversight’, ‘Technology and Social Media’, ‘Community Policing and Crime Reduction’, ‘Officer Training and Education’, and ‘Officer Safety and Wellness’ – here are concise definitions for each one and what they mean for American policing ("Final report of the resident’s task force on 21st century policing," 2015).
Routine activity theory states that for a crime to be committed, three important factors need to be present including: a motivated offender, an accessible target, and the absence of a capable guardian against a violation. Marcus Felson and Lawrence E. Cohen introduced the routine activity theory in 1979, where they believed that an individual who has these three characteristics gives them a greater possibility of committing a crime. Moreover, situational crime prevention is known as strategies of ways for preventing or reducing the opportunities for criminals to commit crimes that derive from the routines of an individual’s everyday life. Ronald V. Clarke introduced situational crime prevention theory in 1983, where he believed that removing the situation instead of removing the criminal could prevent crime. In this paper, I will be discussing what routine activity/situational crime prevention theory is, and apply two peer-reviewed articles from Google Scholar that test the routine activity/situational crime prevention theory by discussing what the authors are trying to figure out and discuss their findings, and lastly, tie the routine activity/situational crime prevention theory articles to our textbook in hopes to fully understand in depth what the theory encompasses.
It is easy to take a look across the occupational spectrum and see that Law Enforcement is a very emotional and dangerous job. Law enforcement officials come in contact with homicides, street violence, and other tragedies while “protecting and serving”. They
Skolnick begins by concentrating and analyzing certain elements pertaining to the law enforcement profession. The elements Skolnick identifies are danger, authority, and efficiency in the eyes of the public, which all produces unique cognitive and behavioral responses as officers. To Skolnick this is the working personality aforementioned. Understanding this, Skolnick begins the discussion of how police culture plays into a policeman’s working personality. First it is important to realize that police officers are required to respond to assaults against citizens of the community, as well as the properties and possessions of those people. This has several implications. First, “The policeman, because his work requires him to be occupied continually with potential violence, developed perpetual shorthand’s identify certain kinds of people and symbolic assailants, that is, as persons who use gesture, language, and attire that the policeman has come to recognize as a prelude to violence,” (Skolnick, 143). This concept can be trouble to some, as it seems to have a discriminatory feeling
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
Choosing the job occupation of being a police officer inherently has its own risks and dangers that come with the title. A routine traffic is one of the many dangers that can lead to tragedy by sometimes not taking the correct precautions for the officer when dealing with a dangerous situation. One of the many options that an officer can take to be proactive in reducing these situations from going south, is actually, keeping more space between a suspect and the officer. “In the 30 years between 1985 and 2014, the trend rose slightly higher. During this period 69.7 percent of officers killed with firearms in the line of
As crime coexists with humanity, the presence of the police force ensures the suppression of crime and the safety for our society. Every occupation has its own work stress. What is unique is all the different stress found in one job. Aside from the heroic services police officers perform in their duty, they experience overwhelming stress in their daily duty. Police stress refers to the negative pressures related to police work (Police Stress, n.d.). In order to maintain peace and order, there must be an effective police force up and running. For that to happen, departments need to be aware and deal with the negative effects caused by police stress. Whereas, police officers must conquer their stress in order to work at their
The history of policing can be traced back to the beginning of time. When looking at the subject of police work there is a large culture and history that follows along with it. There are many topics that can be analyzed when identifying, and describing the elements and the significances that are associated with policing. A large element of the police job that plays a large factor in the work and attributes to the policing culture is the amount of stress that an office will face while performing on the job. Another part of the job that plays a large part in the culture
This study was limited due to the small sample size. Although the conclusions are valid, more research with a
Grant funding was made available through The Safe Streets Act of 1968, for the study of new crime-prevention efforts. C. Ray Jeffery and Oscar Newman’s were credited with the initial foundation efforts that defined how physical space alone should be devised in efforts to reducing crime (Paynich, n.d.). Our text (Paynich) suggests that CPTED (Crime Prevention through Environmental Design) indicate that this particular design technique is important in the understanding of criminal behavior.
Friederich Nietzsche wrote, “Whoever fights monsters should seek to it that in the process he does not become a monster”. This aptly applies to police officers who face unexpected and potentially dangerous situations every day. Police officers are confronted with destructive and negative behavior on a regular basis. Law enforcement is one of the most stressful and demanding professions in the United States. Characteristics of police work are stressful because a situation can change at any time. An FBI report shows that approximately twelve out of every one hundred or 60,000 police officers are assaulted each year (Stevens, p. 587). Combined with many other factors,
CTPED or Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design is defined as “The prevention strategy which outlines how the physical environments can be designed in order to lessen the opportunity for crime.” (Queensland Police Department.) CPTED not only is defined by this definition, but it focuses on four more characteristics that help to make this design work effectively, and smoothly. These four characteristics are: maximizing the risk that offenders face, maximizing the effort required by offenders to commit crimes, minimizing the benefits that offenders can gain from committing crimes, and finally minimizing the excuses for opportunities toward offenders. COP is defined as “Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies, which support the systematic use of partnerships and problem solving techniques, to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues, such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime.” (Community Policing Defined." Community Policing Dispatch). CPTED and COP are methods that promote strong communities to deter crime, and provide the community with alternatives to stop crime from ever happening in the first place. As well as these definitions, the strategies of COP, and CPTED, these strategies are based off of the broken windows theory. The broken windows theory is the theory that states once criminals see an area that is under-patrolled, they will commit more crimes
The focus of this paper will be based upon different crime prevention strategies implemented by members of the communities, local and government authorities.
Police use of force policies are used by all types of law enforcement officers. There is a concern for a balance of ethical decisions. There are mutual concerns for the rights and lives of civilians and the wellbeing and lives of officers. Upholding excessive stress-free standards for employed law enforcement is detrimental to police use of force mandates. Police organizations can reduce some of the scenarios that cause use of force outcomes. There is a need to find what process can identify potential issues prior to events or actions that cause criminal misconduct by law enforcement. Police training and development needs reassessment. There needs to be an administration of logic and reasoning prior to the use of any force, especially deadly force. Most of the police operations that incite these negative outcomes are avoidable with the implementation of proper training.