What Are The Three Operational Styles Of Policing

Gaines, L. K., & Kappeler, V. E. (2014). Policing in america (8th ed.). (S. Decker-Lucke, Ed.) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America: Anderson Publishing. Retrieved January 2017

Lack of training and policing standards are closely linked to the myriad problems bedeviling police work, especially in small departments (Brodeur, 2010). All over the country, police departments report cases of officers being caught in uncompromising and unprofessional situations, resulting in disciplinary actions such as redeployment, suspension or sacking. These cases of unprofessionalism have led to questions being asked about policing, occasioned by recurring series of questionable and controversial encounters with police officers (Brodeur, 2010). The consequence of such encounters is increasing public distrust in law enforcement agencies.

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.

In the 1800s, America became extremely industrialized. Due to all of the new upbringings there was a need for organized policing. Policing in America went through many different stages beginning with organized American law enforcement, to formal policing. Michael Moore and George Kelling inferred that there were three eras of policing; political era, professional era, and community era. The political era came first along, as that era began to go downhill, the professional era arose. As the professional era began to take drawbacks, the community era started up and is still going on in present day. There are many positives and some negatives in today’s society living in the community era.

Community relations also play a major role in the modernization of policing. The interactions among different police departments and communities allow for effective policing. Many of Vollmer’s ideas came from his associates, from police experiences in other countries, and from academic sources. Vollmer recognized the potential of these ideas and unified them into a working whole, using his energy and dedication to set a pattern for police reform that continues to this day.

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

Community Oriented Policing was born in the late 1960’s. Between the 1930’s and the 1960’s law enforcement used a professional policing model that was based on hierarchical structures, efficient response times, standardization, and the

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

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

While the Reform Era worked to professionalize police, as society became more complex, so did the role of the police officer. The Community Policing Era was developed as a result of the need to develop cooperation and positive relationships between the police and public. What developed out of this era was an essential element of community policing – public accountability. Police officers became accountable to their supervisors who in turn became accountable to the community. Accountability can be seen as an honest evaluation of achievement based on clearly defined objectives. Many of these objectives are defined by complex community and social problems; as such police officers require the capacity and flexibility to work on them in a variety of styles and employing a variety of strategies.

During the 1960’s, police officers executed arrests and dealt with problems in a way that greatly differ from law enforcement of today. This time frame involved racial riots, women rights, civil rights and important court cases. Mapp v. Ohio was concluded in 1961, and concluded that the fourth amendment applied to state courts and not just federal. Women achieved major milestones in the 1960’s, and Civil Rights were one of the biggest topics of the times. In the criminal justice field, a law enforcement official is expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner on and off duty.

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,

In today’s society there are three types of policing styles and it tends to vary based on the community. According to Kuykendall (1974), states that the style used in a community by law enforcement is based on different expectations regarding role performance (Kuykendall, 1974). Each style is used to maintain and enforce law and order in the community. The three policing styles that are used in the community are legalistic, watchman, and service style. The legalistic style of policing is focused on enforcing the law and resolving disputes by the book. It is also considered a reactive form of policing. The watchman style policing focuses on maintaining order and preventing crime (Kuykendall, 1974). The service style policing is focused on helping those in the community, instead of enforcing the laws. The policing style that I believe is used in my community is the watchman and legalistic style. Both policing style is used to enforce the law and maintain order in a culturally and ethnically diverse community, by making arrest, keeping the peace and issuing citations.

Whisenand, P. M., & McCain, J. K. (2014). Managing Police Organizations. In P. M.Whisenand, & J. K. McCain, Managing Police Organizations (p. 33). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Lastly, the fact of the matter is the police behavior and the factors that are associated with them be it legal or extralegal cannot effectively explain certain types of decisions police make because the situation coupled with the degree of evidence ultimately dictates the officers response and or actions. with such issues alone, and must partner with members of the community who share a mutual responsibility for resolving problems. The phrase, a community gets the kind of policing it wants, provided by the evidence of previous and recent studies holds to be true because the more tolerant of a difference the community has, the more inclusive the style of policing that is manifested there. According to the findings of Wilson, strands of inclusion, exclusion and coercive inclusion have varying degrees within particular programs, policies, as well as practices of policing institutions. To an extent one can agree with the observations made by Wilson, Smith, and Sherman, although they do not directly state how community difference may yield behavior differences of police they make a valid point when stating that invoking the law and strength of evidence play a major role in police behavior.. To further elaborate, as mentioned in the findings of observational studies, police behavior also depends on both the local political structure as well as the community influence. In the community policing model/perspective officers are encouraged to spend considerable time and effort in