Modern Policing Vs. Traditional Policing
Today when people see police officers out on patrol, they believe that police officers have been patrolling the streets since the beginning of time. However, little do people actually know that the way police officers perform their duties have significantly changed from traditional methods of policing, to the modern-day methods of policing. Even though, these changes have created many improvements in a police department’s relationship with the community, there are also areas that have been greatly caused people to resist the modern-day approaches to policing.
Traditional Policing
In traditional policing, police department's will normally be divided into multiple units such as, traffic unit, S.W.A.T unit,
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Today, many police officers are out performing patrols on foot and on bike, interacting with the public through meet and greets, and participating in community service projects to help make the city a great place to live (Roufta, n.d.). Furthermore, this method of policing also allows the community to get involved with their local law enforcement. Through initiatives such as block watches, police officers can now answer calls from the neighborhood. Overall, today’s policing has created a method of policing known as Community Oriented Policing. Community Oriented Policing is a style of policing that involves police officers partnering with their communities to help solve problems and to attack the core problems that lead to crime in the first place (“Law Enforcement and Community Relations,” (n.d.), para. 24). For instance, say a local neighborhood park has very poor lighting. The police department notices this and decides to hire someone to fix the light. This is an example of Community Oriented Policing since the police department took initiative to improve the lighting in the …show more content…
The first similarity involves shifts. In today’s law enforcement, people normally see police officers at all hours of the day. However, even though one police officer may be patrolling during the daytime shift, another police officer may only work at night (“Law Enforcement and Community Relations,” (n.d.), para. 16). Another similarity can be seen in a department’s ethics. In both styles of policing, police officers are often required to remain impartial in their decisions. In both approaches to policing, the officer is usually required to stay out of politics while they are out on patrol (“Law Enforcement and Community Relations,” (n.d.), para.
Are we headed backwards with our policing today? A question I have asked myself frequently while preparing this paper. Of the three eras of policing I will discuss the Community Era and the Political Era. The political era lasted about 90 years, starting from 1840 going through 1930. The purpose during this era was to protect and serve the public in the safest, and most productive way known, kind of like today, but a different style. Let us look at this style resembling todays era. Officers familiarize themselves with the community by the way they patrolled, they did a style by foot, called a beat. While patrolling by foot they did things to give back to the community like taking out garbage, helping to keep the community nice and clean and getting to know the local business owners.
The history of policing in the United States has undergone significant changes over the centuries that have ultimately shaped the US police system into the system society has today. There are three eras of policing that have had a great impact on society, the Political Era, the Reform Era and the Contemporary Era, which is the one that is present today in everyone’s life. As shown in numerous cases, the earlier eras of policing were not very effective and efficient. There were a series of factors that were involved in policing that kept police officers from doing their job effectively and preventing crimes. For instance, corruption, politics, racism, not having enough resources to get in contact with police officers, enough money funds and
Policing today consists of three eras. These three eras have adapted and built off one another through history (Parr, 2014). The first era started around 1840 to 1930, and is known as the Political Era. The second Era is known as the Reform Era and lasted from 1930 to 1970. The last era is called the Community-Problem Solving Era and is still being adapted and used today. The Political Era emphasizes on meeting the needs of politicians. The police were given power through the local government and the community had very little say in what happened. The police and politicians worked together to control the city and neighborhoods (Palmiotto, 2000). This was often referred to as a ward. The ward politician controlled all the police in their neighborhood. The police officers tasks included not only crime prevention and order but a lot of social service activities that involved their neighborhoods. The officers resembled the ethnic backgrounds of the neighborhoods they lived and worked in and performed their patrols gaining trust from their community (Palmiotto, 2000). This allowed positive integration of police officers leading to more public service, and the trust of the officers to stop crime when is starts.
Numerous police agency’s and police officials work on a distinctive local, state, and federal level and role. It has its individual area, sectors, and function, and work according to local streets parts inside policing. In order for any local, state, and federal police division to work successfully it must hire chiefs, deputy’s, and sheriffs who retain leadership and who uses creative thinking skills to teach comprehensive, and aggressive instruction to make the police division a tougher department by holding all its workers tasks for doing his or her job according to its agency’s guidelines and procedures known as code of conduct. “Municipal police work for municipalities such as towns or cities, county police and deputy sheriffs work for counties, state police work for states, and federal police work for the federal government. Some have the same duties as one another or very similar duties, and some have different or additional duties. Their jurisdiction is sometimes the main difference. For example, a municipal police officer normally has primary
The result and opportunities agencies seek through community policing is to prevent, identify, and intervene in criminal issues that poses a threat to the neighborhood. It serve as a deterrence against crimes in the community, helps officers gain the public’s trust and cooperation in order to efficiently aid their
Community Policing is a value system which infuses a police department, in which the main organizational goal is working helpfully with individual citizens, groups of citizens, and both public and private organizations to identify and resolve issues which possibly effect the livability of specific neighborhoods, areas, or the city as a whole. Community policing can be beneficial to communities. Community policing can help prevent crimes from occurring. As officers get to know a community, they also get to know what is right and wrong with it. Typically, officers remain entitled to an area where crime happens often and as such they are left with fighting it as it is going or after it happened. In community policing neighborhoods, the officers are able to tell what might happen and as
Community oriented policing is a policing strategy based on the notion that community interaction and support can help control crime and reduce fear, with community members helping to identify suspects, detain vandals and bring problems to the attention of police. It is a philosophy that combines traditional aspects of law enforcement with prevention measures, problem-solving, community engagement, and community partnerships (Ref. 1).
Since the founding of this country, to the wild west, and up to the present, the agenda of the policing bodies have been clear: to uphold and enforce the laws of our society. Of course the way they do this today had undergone changes from the first police forces of early America, law enforcement has seen trends come and go.
Approaches to Policing The world we live in has seen many changes in styles of policing. Whether it is strategic, community, and problem oriented, all three forms of policing have provided proven benefits for law enforcement and communities. When we look at all three approaches and effectiveness each have displayed we will be able to understand which approach works better in different locations across the United States. Law enforcement is not a one size fits all.
Community oriented policing can be described as police agencies interacting and involving the residents of their community on how to deter or diminish crime within their neighborhoods. The goal for community oriented policing is to develop strong bonds of trust between police officers and the residents of the city. Some
The current landscape of Law Enforcement is as volatile as it has ever been. Police brutality and racism is being highlighted in media coverage daily. In the past year, numerous cases of police brutality have been the central focus of news agencies. The death of Freddy Grey, and the shooting of Michael Brown have put Law Enforcement Officials under a microscope. This has caused officers to second guess their first instincts and resulted in officers being injured, also it has forced officers to be more aware, and in some cases work with a partner when their patrol normally would not be a partnered patrol. This is due to the fact that in some areas, police officers are now the target of violent crimes. There is a disconnect between community and Law Enforcement, the local population does not trust their police force to protect them and be fair and uncorrupt, while the police force is currently trying to figure out the best course of action to rebuild the relationships with the communities they serve. Community policing is an effective tool in accomplishing that goal. Community Policing aims at solving local crime problems at the lowest level, and with the help and input from the community. Community policing is proactive and strives to eliminate the
In contemporary policing, there are five broad organizational approaches which are: Community Policing, Problem Oriented Policing, Comp-stat poling, Intelligence-led Policing, and Evidence Based Policing. Community policing emphasizes a problem-solving relationship between the police and the residents. The goal is to reach a healthy, crime-free environment. Community policing is also referred to as Neighborhood Policing since the officers must fully immerse themselves into the community. In the approach, the police are looked at as guardians of the people, their main job is the project the citizens. An example of this type of partnership between the community and officer is a neighborhood watch program. Which is a program of vigilance by residents of a neighborhood to discourage crime while also working with the police. Community policing focuses on developing protocols and effective practice that will help build a solid foundation of serving the community, thus affecting the community’s perception of the police department.
Community-Oriented Policing is when police involve themselves in working together with the community to build relationships and develop possible programs in the hopes of decreasing crime. There are many advantages to Community Oriented Policing. First, it would allow officers to become more familiar with the community, and its residents. Working with the residents closely could possibly result in the residents becoming less fearful of the police. In building relationships within the community, the Police may gain the residents trust, leading residents to become more forthright
How does this approach compare to the traditional model of law enforcement? This innovative aspect of policing is allowing the large community to accept policing on a different level by engaging more with the people within the community. Community- oriented policing creates and relies solely one effective partnership within the community and other law enforcement agencies alike, problem-solving tactics and the transformation of police organization and culture to support this philosophical shift. This new initiative will not only get the communities members to be more comfortable by will prevent numerous crimes such as drug trafficking either within a state or country or across the borders. In light of these new
Community policing is a partnership between the police and community. The goal is to work together to come up with solutions for problems that arise in the community. Police know that they need the help from the citizens of the community because the police cannot solve safety problems on their own. In several cities around the U.S. today community policing has become a positive practice in many communities. Community policing has become the new paradigm for the profession. (article 8) A decline in crime rates has been seen in communities who made a shift from traditional policing to community policing.