Police And Community Relations In America

Policing is a very difficult, complex and dynamic field of endeavor that is always evolves as hard lessons teach us what we need to know about what works and what don’t work. There are three different Era’s in America’s policing: The Political Era, The Reform Era, and The Community Problem Solving Era. A lot has changed in the way that policing works over the years in the United States.

Without police, the safety of the community is jeopardized. Without community support, police are dispossessed of their legitimacy and robbed of their effectiveness. This three-element definition of police makes it easy to understand why abuse of force by police is of such great concern. First, there is the humanitarian concern that police are capable of inflicting serious, even lethal, harm on the public. Second, there is the philosophical dilemma that in "protecting" the whole of society, some of its constituent parts, meaning its citizens, may be injured. Third, there is the political irony that police, who stand apart from society in terms of authority, law, and responsibility, also are part of society and act on its behalf. Thus, rogue actions by a few police, if condoned by the public, may become perceived as actions of the citizenry. Recent developments in policing have elevated concerns about police use of force beyond ordinarily high levels. In particular, community policing, which is becoming widespread as a result of financial incentives by the Federal Government, and "aggressive" policing, which is becoming widely adopted as a solution to serious crime problems, have come to the fore as perspectives of choice by policing experts. Community policing emphasizes

Since the beginning of police work in America, the system has changed from disorganized chaos into a well structured and rather complex network of communication, response efforts, and detection of lawless behavior. From the creation of the town watch to the transformation of the first police force in the colonies to the lawlessness of the old west and the efforts to revive efficient police work, America has been ever advancing its protection of those who live in the White House, the suburbs, the slums, and even those struggling on the streets. The History of Policing in America is not derived from one origin of time but rather taking the highest qualities of protection from within itself and countries of both friend and foe.

The United States of America has evolved over time with its policing methods and bringing order to the society. The whole idea of policing has also evolved from political, economic, and social norms. In order to better understand the role of police officers and their place in society, we have learned about the history of policing in class. The history of policing has been already split into three different categories- The Political Era (1840- 1930), The Reform/Professional Era (1930-1980), and The Community Era (1980-Present). These three eras have shaped the history of policing to what it is now.

Members of the community as well as law enforcement have a mutual influence on one another. The ability of the police to function as an effective service is often predicated on the positive image they maintain with the general public (Wentz & Schlimgen, 2012). In order for police to function in the most efficient way a positive relationship with the community is of the up most Importance.

Beginning in the 1980’s, Community Policing, heavily relying upon a partnership from law enforcement agencies and public partnership, grew in popularity. The researchers theorize the policing initiative was developed to strengthen community relations, specifically those with underprivileged minority communities. The idea was to re-humanize the police force from the

It has been consistently shown in research that minorities are more likely to be mistreated by the police compared to other people (Dunnaville, 2000). Recent incidents have seen the police use excessive force on people and mistreat minorities. As such, the legitimacy of the police has been put under scrutiny and questioned. Many communities in the United States have demonstrated in reaction to recent incidents of police misconduct and excessive use of force. The people have lost trust in the police because of these issues. The police force has been accused of mistreating people, sexual harassment, violent and careless arrests among people particularly the minorities. As demonstrated in the movie ‘Policing the Police’ police officers are seen mistreating people for instance the scene where the police sexually harassed a teenager by touching sensitive areas. Community members are not willing to trust or work with the police to fight crime. As such, it is critical for the police agencies and department to make improving police-community relationship a top police priority. Policies should be developed that will strengthen the mutual trust between the police and the community. This relationship is critical because the police depend on information from the community to fight crime in the society.

Community policing plays a huge role in community in the United States. Community policing really focuses on getting to know the people in the community and working closely with them. Being able to get to know the people in the community the police force is able to build a relationship with the community through programs that will be helpful to the community. Show the community the strategies they plan to use to reduce crime and disorder in their community (Plant & Scott, 2009). The main targets for community policing usually targets low-level crime. It is up to the leader of the police force and the officers patrolling the community to encourage the people to help prevent crime. This can be done by giving advice to the people of the community. Having

According to Rukus, Warner, and Zhang, Community policing strategies were designed to give residents greater empowerment by allowing them to participate in deliberations on policing and work more closely with officers on the street (Community Oriented Policing Services, 2014). In order for officers’ ethics to be shown, they must communicate and bond with the citizens in the communities that they serve. Today, many people just believe that police officers are bad because officers have been portrayed as individuals who just arrest and shoot people. Police officers should communicate with people every day, not just when they are arresting someone or serving warrants. Overall, the article by Rukus was very informative. It highlighted the pros of law enforcement agencies, building community relationships and the citizen’s roles in establishing those relationships.

The relationship between the police and the communities they serve hasn’t always been the most productive. Against the backdrop of the tumultuous era of the 1960s when the nation’s collective unrest regarding various then current events ranging from the social upheaval of the civil rights movement to the broadly unpopular and deepening conflict in Vietnam spilled onto the streets of American cities seemingly everywhere, local police forces, lacking in experience with crowd control, often found themselves in violent encounters with these various groups, earning them a reputation of being oppressive organizations (Schmalleger, 2014, p. 112). This reputation works against the police even to this day by causing a deep distrust of law

During such embattled times when the public’s confidence in our nation’s law enforcement officers is being sensationalized by media outlets, it is only prudent to embrace a sense of responsibility of refuting these negative stereotypes. By having constructive relations outside of typical police/public investigative encounters, police officers will enjoy an increased sense of trust and standing within the communities they police (President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 2015). In applying this principle, the Seymour Police Department will see improvements in community relations. By implementing S.O.L.V.E., statistically the number of citizen contacts for the department will compound exponentially revealing a positive outcome for all involved. In committing to this community policing initiative, the Seymour Police Department will serve as a model for other agencies to emulate. The S.O.L.V.E. initiative is a tremendous step toward remaining dedicated to the mission of the Seymour Police Department while providing the highest quality policing service possible to the residents of

The definition of human relations is everything done with each other as human beings in all kinds of relationships. An example of this is would be treating others with respect and dignity and following the Golden Rule; acting toward others as you would want others to act toward you. Public relations are activities performed by police agencies designed to create a favorable image of themselves. An example of police public relations is a law enforcement agency seeking developing a program to help strengthen the opinion that their community has on them. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that police are operating a pilot program that seeks to more easily resolve complaints such as whether an officer was rude, displayed a bad attitude or was speeding unnecessarily. Police-community relations is the relationships involved in both human relations and public relations between the police and the community. Programs such as National Night Out are a great example of police-community relations. They target specific efforts needed to make connections to underrepresented communities and ethnic communities. Building relationships within all populations is critical for achieving the goals of community outreach.

The effectiveness of law enforcement within communities is mediated by the type of relationships that exist between the police and community members. There should be harmony between the police and the citizens for there to be any meaningful law enforcement. The United States is a highly diversified nation consisting of individuals from different cultures, races, social classes, etc. who live together in harmony. However, there is a problem with regard to policing with some ethnic and social groups enjoying positive relationships with the

In this respect, gaining public support and involvement is critical for successful police services. (Yuksel & Tepe 29). Improving relationships with communities and the police is important towards gaining public support and involvement. Building trust and support through cultural competency, diversity, education, and accountability can help improve these relationships. Much of the issues in a lot of communities where there are bad community-police relationships extend beyond the actions of law enforcement, and as for crime, is often due to the failures of the criminal justice system as a whole. Unfortunately, police officers are much more visible with community and have direct contact with members

The policing system in the USA has changed quite significantly from the time immemorial when the work of controlling crime was left to the police alone. There was no touch with the community though the community knew that there was a police department in the USA. There are several reasons for the absence in community involvement at the initial stages and the subsequent need for change in the policing system in the USA.