Test Bank For Police Administration: Structures, Processes, and Behavior, 9th Edition

CHAPTER 2 The Crime Picture CHAPTER OVERVIEW Chapter 2, “The Crime Picture,” examines in greater detail the shifts in operational philosophies identified in the previous chapter. More specifically, as police departments came to grips with the limitations of the traditional strategies of random patrol and responding to incidents, it opened the door to new ways of delivering law enforcement services, such as community policing and evidence based policing. This chapter provides a strong understanding of the use and limitations of these different operational philosophies and strategies aimed at lowering crime and providing better police services to our communities. CHAPTER OBJECTIVES After reading this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Define Community Policing. 2. Describe the four-step problem-solving model called SARA. 3. Describe CompStat. 4. Discuss new police strategies, including evidence-based policing, hot-spots policing, intelligence-led policing, and predictive policing. 5. List and briefly describe some of the more common crime analysis techniques. 6. Describe geographic information systems and explain how such a system would enhance police service. 7. Explain the impact of information technology on policing. 8. Describe how distrust between police and citizens can affect police strategies. LECTURE OUTLINE I. Introduction • In the past decade, our society has changed measurably. Economic downturns have, arguably, widened income disparities; politics have become increasingly divisive; and issues of race and equality are at the forefront of the national consciousness in a way that hasn’t been seen since the 1960s. Throughout it all, crime levels have largely been on the decline—police departments across the country have enjoyed the lowest crime rates in decades. • Inevitably, these rates will increase and we have started to see this in the early months of 2016. Many urban areas are beginning to see huge increases in both violent crime and property offenses, causing law enforcement agencies to reexamine their strategies and reallocate resources. • The failure of traditional law enforcement methods to curb rising crime rates during the 1970s and 1980s and to reintegrate the police with society gave rise to a new movement, generally referred to as community-oriented policing(COP) or community policing. Instructional Cue Discuss Wilson and Kelling’s “broken windows” thesis emerged as a dominant theme in American policing debate. Arguing that crime seemed to increase dramatically in neighborhoods where visible signs of social decay and disorder were present (e.g., graffiti on bridge structures, unkept lots with overgrown weeds, visible drug and prostitution activities, and warehouses with broken windows). Wilson and Kelling argued that areas with these types of crimes are signs of decaying neighborhoods and therefore a breeding ground for more serious crimes. Have students compare and contrast this theory by looking at the society in the 1970s and present day. Are there similarities? What are some of the differences? II. Zero-tolerance policing: philosophy of zero-tolerance policing (ZTP) focuses on targeting police responses to less serious crimes in these areas, addressing the counterintuitive argument that disorder may elicit more fear than actual crime.. • Some policy makers continue to adopt ZTP, which can be used as the dominant strategy in an agency or within the framework of other policing strategies such as communityoriented policing. Others maintain the two strategies are incompatible and that working closely with the community can achieve ZTP results without generating increases in complainants and lawsuits • Kelling and Coles argue that the broken window theory needed fixing. They believe police should focus more on a service orientation, building key partnerships with churches, youth centers, and other neighborhood groups in an effort to forge new alliances with the community. Crime was seen not as the sole purview of the police but rather as an entire community responsibility. III. Community Policing • Although precise definitions of community policing are hard to find and also vary, it is generally an operational and management philosophy that can be quickly identified. Community policing is characterized by ongoing attempts to promote greater community involvement in the police function. For the most part, the movement focused on programs that fostered five elements: (1) a commitment to crime prevention (2) public scrutiny of the police (3) accountability of police actions to the public (4) customized police service (5) community organization • Community policing advocates argue that traditional policing is a system of response; that is, the police respond to calls for services after the activity occurs. • In present practice, COP is a proactive approach to crime control with three complimentary elements: (1) Community partnerships (2) Problem solving, using the Scanning, Analysis, Response, and Assessment (SARA) model (3) Organizational transformation • Evaluation Research on Community Policing: Since the 1980s, considerable empirical data has been generated regarding the effectiveness of community policing. Few, however, actually show positive effectiveness of the policing paradigm as a successful methodology to reduce crime and disorder. • It is generally accepted that community policing helps community members feel safer and reduces the levels of fear of crime, in reality, actual crime incidents in several test communities reveals no significant changes. • In some research findings, favorable decreases in disorder offenses as a result of community policing are clear and consistent evidence that COP improves community relations. • And, it appears that community policing models benefit individual police officer attitudes toward both their work and the community. It’s not as certain, however, whether community policing actually reduces calls for service or whether it significantly changes police officer behavior. * Discuss with students why there is no standard definition of what a community policing model should look like. Why does implementation vary wildly across agencies? Does this compound the problems relating to evaluation of the community policing model?* IV. Community Policing and ComStat: • Although community policing has not had the drastic effects its supporters had hoped, the premise behind the philosophy has in turn led to the quality movement within policing: making the police be more efficient and effective. • Today, most ambitious police methodology focuses on precisely that concept— CompStat. The word CompStat is derived from “comp,”stemming from the word “computer,” and “stat,” which originates from “statistics.” The process was originally developed in New York City by the then Commissioner William Bratton in the mid1990s,16 and continues in some form today in most major cities. • CompStat is a process that looks at the individual needs of the community and then designs proactive strategies to stop or prevent crime. To accomplish this goal, Bratton required his department (New York in the 1990s and Los Angeles in the 2000s) to analyze crime data weekly and required police administrators to meet regularly to share information between divisions and precincts. • A key component of Comp- Stat is to force police commanders to address crime and social problems in their areas of responsibility and to address them immediately. • Essentially, CompStat is a collection of modern management practices, military-like deployment efforts, and strong enforcement strategies all based on the availability of accurate and timely statistical crime data. Four core principles highlight a police department’s model of CompStat: (1) Accurate and timely intelligence and statistical crime information based on geographical settings and/or areas. (2) Rapid deployment of resources, particularly combining the immediate presence of uniform patrol working in concert with directed undercover operations. (3) Effective tactics and strategies of enforcement that focus on visible street crimes or “quality-of-life” crimes, such as loitering, drinking in public, street prostitution, or even jumping subway turnstiles. (4) Relentless follow-up and assessment, which include placing accountability and responsibility not only on the individual police officer on the beat but also on individual police managers of traditionally defined areas, such as division heads, precinct captains, or shift commanders. • CompStat focuses on using the most accurate and timely information and data available to the police, opening lines of communication both horizontally and vertically within the organization, activating the community at large, and improving the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the police. • Today’s CompStat meetings are much lighter in tone than in Bratton’s version—and many agencies now include outside stakeholders who contribute alongside of commanders, patrol officers, and crime analysts. • Depending on the problem, outside stakeholders might include key representatives from a variety of institutions, including public health, the chamber of commerce, public housing, and even private security agencies. V. Community Policing Models: • Community policing has evolved greatly in the years since its implementation, and as mentioned previously, it takes many different forms across agencies. A. Newport News, Virginia In 1983, under the direction of a new chief, Darrel Stephens, the Newport News Police Department developed a “problem-oriented” approach to policing. Known as problem-oriented policing, this innovative style of community policy focused on the department’s traditional response to major, recurring problems. • Its goal was to reassess the traditional, incident-driven aspects of police work, and fundamentally change the way the Newport News Police Department viewed its mission. • Concept known as SARA, Scanning Analysis, Response and Assess (1) Scanning: Instead of relying on broad, law-related concepts, such as robbery, burglary, and auto theft, officers are encouraged to group individual, related incidents that come to their attention as “problems” and define these problems in more precise and useful terms. (2) Analysis: Officers working on a well-defined problem then collect information from a variety of public and private sources, not just traditional police data, such as criminal records and past offense reports. (3) Response: The knowledge gained in the analysis stage is then used to develop and implement solutions. Officers seek the assistance of citizens, businesses, other police units, other public and private organizations, and anyone else who can help develop a program of action. (4) Assessment: Finally, officers evaluate the impact and the effectiveness of their responses. Were the original problems actually solved or alleviated? What went right and just as importantly, what didn’t work and why. • The accuracy and timeliness of such information becomes a necessity for the department. However, the ultimate challenge in problem-oriented policing is not the identification of problems but rather the integration of the community with the police in developing effective ways of dealing with them B. Chicago, Illinois In January 1993, Mayor Richard Daley and the then Police Superintendent Matt L. Rodriguez announced the first major operational changes to use community policing in the city of Chicago. • • The new program, the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS), was designed to move the department from a traditional, reactive, incident-driven agency to a more proactive and community-oriented department. As in many large cities implementing community policing, Chicago developed five prototype districts to serve as “laboratories” for testing new police ideas, innovations, and strategies. • Most cities, and particularly large metropolitan communities, realized that the implementation of community policing demanded dramatic modification in the existing philosophy, structure, operation, and deployment of police. The gradual evolution toward full-scale adoption essentially continued to redefine both the means and ends of community policing. • These key features included the following: (1) Crime control and prevention—CAPS emphasizes both crime control and crime prevention. Vigorous and impartial enforcement of the law, rapid response to serious crimes and life-threatening emergencies, and proactive problem solving with the community are the foundations of the city’s policing strategy. (2) Neighborhood orientation—CAPS gives special attention to the residents and problems of specific neighborhoods, which demands that officers know their beats (i.e., crime trends, hot-spots, and community organizations and resources that are within the geographical areas in which they are assigned) and develop partnerships with the community to solve problems. (3) Increased geographic responsibility—CAPS involves organizing police services so that officers are responsible for crime control in a specific area or beat. (4) Structured response to calls for police service—CAPS system of differential responses to citizen calls frees beat team officers from the continuous demands of 911 calls. (5) Proactive, problem-solving approach—CAPS focuses on the causes of neighborhood problems rather than on discrete/individual incidents of crime or disturbances. (6) Combined community and city resources for crime prevention and control—CAPS assumes that police alone cannot solve the crime problem and that they depend on the community and other city agencies to achieve success. (7) Emphasis on crime and problem analysis through the CompStat process— CAPS requires more efficient data collection and analysis to identify crime patterns and target areas that demand police attention. Emphasis is placed on crime analysis at the district level, and beat information is recorded and shared among officers and across watches or shifts. (8) Training—The Chicago Police Department has made a significant commitment to training police personnel and the community in the CAPS philosophy and program been developed. (9) Communication and marketing—The Chicago Police Department is dedicated to communicating the CAPS philosophy to all members of the department and the community. (10) Evaluation, strategic planning, and organizational change—The CAPS program is undergoing one of the most thorough evaluations of any community policing initiative in the United States. • CAPS represents one of the largest and most comprehensive community policing initiatives in the country. During its first 10 years of operation, evaluation findings indicated that major crime and neighborhood problems were reduced, drug and gang problems were reduced, and public perception of the quality of police services was improved. C. Minneapolis, Minnesota • In Minneapolis, the CompStat program was referred to as CODEFOR (Computer Optimized DEployment—Focus On Results). This strategy was designed specifically to reduce crime and involves every geographical and structural unit within the Minneapolis Police Department. • CODEFOR combined the latest technology in computer applications and geographical mapping with field-proven police techniques. Computer-generated maps identify high-intensity crime areas, and police resources are coordinated to such locations in a timely manner. Instructional Cue Have the students compare and contrast the three programs from Newark, Chicago, and Minneapolis. Discuss the importance of these programs in the evolution of police work in the 21st century. VI. Police Strategies Today: • Discussions of policing strategies today employ a number of catchphrases and acronyms; it seems that every major jurisdiction employs a strategy that they credit with decreasing crime rates. As previously discussed, though, community policing programs and other contemporary policing initiatives have also revealed similar levels of inefficiency. • Evidence-based policing is becoming a major player, with more and more departments across the country engaging with police science and research to determine effective strategy. • Geographic-based and focused policing approaches, such as hot-spots policing and directed patrols, represent the most strongly supported policing practices in the United States, aided by the use of geographical information systems (GIS), crime analysis, and artificial intelligence. • Similarly, intelligence led policing (ILP) and proactive policing models are also gaining attention as police departments look for ways to do more with fewer resources. A. Evidence-Based Policing: In recent years, researchers have focused on building a knowledge base as it pertains to what is known about the effectiveness of criminal justice strategies. The ultimate goal is to provide practitioners with sound empirical evidence to help them make informed decisions regarding related policies and programs. Evidence-based policing is a reflection of this philosophy. • Sherman’s model focuses on the “Triple-T Strategy”: Targeting, Testing, and Tracking. (1) Targeting involves assessing relative levels of harm and allocating police resources based on this measure; in other words, focusing on those issues that the police can lawfully address that will have the most impact. (2) Testing looks at examining research for evidence of success (or failure) to determine how a strategy is working. (3) Tracking is an effort to continually check performance and implementation, through programs that might include CompStat and even review of bodyworn camera data. • Adopting an evidence-based policing model would have many benefits to willing law enforcement agencies. Using scientifically backed principles to decide on tactics and strategies is more ethically sound than simply choosing whatever is new, popular, and preferred. Furthermore, using programs and strategies that are proven to work will reduce crime and increase quality of life, thereby inherently enhancing police legitimacy. • As echoed by the National Research Council (in 2004), current policing strategies in the United States are problematic at best, and future efforts must focus on more effective, evidence-based models: (1) Standard models of policing emphasizing random patrols and unfocused enforcement is not effective in reducing crime (2) Community policing strategies aimed at reducing crime, fear of crime, and disorder have had mixed results. (3) Police strategies focused and tailored on specific types of crime, criminals, and geographic locations are more effective. (4) Problem-oriented policing is effective. (5) Future models of policing should be supported by strong and independent evaluation research. B. Hot-Spots Policing: Much like evidence-based policing, hot-spots policing reflects the direct application of empirical data (through various crime analysis and information technologies) that show that crime is not randomly dispersed but rather is concentrated in isolated areas. • In their seminal work, Sherman and colleagues found that only a few locations were responsible for a majority of police calls for service and reported crime—particularly predatory crimes such as muggings, vehicle thefts, burglary, robbery, and rape. • Although the concept of crime hot-spots has been documented for many years, hotspots policing is a relatively innovative approach to crime. This type of policing forces the police to identify specific areas with undue concentrations of crime and then direct their resources at those places. • Today, many police departments are utilizing a hot-spots strategy banking on those studies that show that it reduces and prevents crime; however, they are also utilizing a plethora of patrol and arrest techniques that most likely have varying effects on crime in specific places. C. Intelligence-Led Policing: Unlike directed and saturation patrols, intelligence-led policing (ILP) is not a tactic, nor is it a crime-reduction strategy, but rather a business model for policing. It is “an information-organizing process that allows police agencies to better understand their crime problems and take a measure of the resources available to be able to decide on an enforcement tactic or prevention strategy best designed to control crime. • Although intelligence-led policing emerged in the United States after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the movement toward this approach actually began prior to the 1990s and originated in the United Kingdom. • Despite the popularity and the successes of intelligence-led policing, there are a number of limitations associated with this type of approach, including data entry problems and lack of training in advanced analytic techniques within the police. D. Predictive Policing: Similar to intelligence-led policing, predictive policing is a proactive approach to crime and disorder that uses information and analytical tools to achieve the goal of crime prevention while requiring fewer resources. • Consequently, one of the key components of predictive policing is the use of advanced analytics that evaluate and examine data and information through advanced statistics and artificial intelligence. In other words, predictive policing utilizes numerous technologies and techniques such as data mining, crime mapping, and geospatial prediction to plan for and respond to future crime. • A major criticism is the novelty of predictive policing given its semblance to other policing models, particularly ILP. Moreover, the central tenets of predictive policing closely resemble what crime analysts have been doing for years. Still, others argue that the outcomes of the model are vague and unclear. VII. Information Technologies in Policing: • The evolution of policing strategies has included the development and use of sophisticated information technologies. Today, information technologies assume a new and more vital role. For instance, police operations are incredibly data and information intensive. Rather than utilizing computers for data storage, police departments are now using them as information and knowledge based systems. A. Crime Analysis: is the process of identifying patterns and relationships between crime data and other relevant data sources to prioritize and target police activity. • The purpose of crime analysis is to organize massive quantities of raw information from databases used in automated records systems and to forecast specific, future events from the statistical manipulation of these data. • In theory, crime analysis provides a thorough and systematic analysis of data on which to make rational decisions regarding past, present, and future actions. • Criminal intelligence analysis supports investigators, decision makers, and policymakers in their attempts to prevent and control crime. (1) Tactical crime analysis or crime-specific analysis: a tabular or graphic display of reported crimes with a given pattern of time and/or location. It is often used to detect patterns of crime (e.g., robberies, burglaries, and auto thefts) that cluster in specific locations during various time periods. (2) Strategic crime analysis: the study of crime and/or social problems in a specific area in an effort to determine long-term patterns of activity as well as to evaluate police responses and organizational procedures. Strategic crime analysis is often used to determine the effectiveness of police over a given period of time, or in the evaluation of specific policing strategies as discussed earlier. (3) Link analysis: a graphic portrayal of associations and relationships among people, organizations, events, activities, and locations from a given point in time. This technique is a powerful analytic tool used to reveal the hidden connections among criminals and the structure of clandestine, organized criminal entities often found in street gangs, La Cosa Nostra families, white-collar crime syndicates, large drug trafficking cartels, and terrorist organizations. (4) Telephone toll analysis: computerized reports derived from court-ordered longdistance telephone billings of suspects in illegal narcotics trafficking. Reports indicate the number and frequency of calls displayed in numerical, chronological, and geographical order. (5) Visual investigative analysis (VIA)—charting that depicts key events of criminal activity in chronological order. VIA is used to show the degree of involvement of subjects. This method is especially convincing in conspiracy cases and can also be used as a planning tool to focus the resources of an investigative effort. (6) Case analysis and management system (CAMS): computerized case management in which large amounts of data are compiled and indexed for each retrieval of specific items. (7) Intelligence analysis: the identification of networks of offenders and criminal activity, often associated with organized crime, gangs, drug traffickers, prostitution rings, and terrorist organizations. B. Geographic Information Systems (GIS): The use of geographic information systems (GIS) in law enforcement to map criminal events coincided with the results of several environmental criminology studies that illustrated crime patterns. • There are two types of crime mapping: statistical spatial analysis and spatial modeling. While statistical spatial analysis focuses on the spatial relationship between crime points in a particular area, spatial modeling is concerned with the technology and application of data. • Police agencies can use GIS in dispatching police units by providing directions to locations; address histories; and locations of nearby fire and waste hazards, fire hydrants, alarm boxes, high-power lines, water lines, and the like. Police managers can not only use GIS to provide graphic analysis of specific crime patterns and to evaluate new policing strategies but also to track individual officer performance by area. C. The Internet: Clearly, one of the most important technological advantages of the information age is the Internet. The Internet is a worldwide network of computer systems and other computer networks that offers the opportunity for sending information to and receiving information from a vast audience from around the world. • Local police agencies have capitalized on the use of the Internet, with most major departments establishing their own home pages. In addition, most departments have encouraged their communities to keep abreast of police activities through the Internet. • A list of emergency services and phone numbers, names and descriptions of the most “wanted” fugitives in the community, periodic updates on a specific (usually high profile) case, employment announcements and opportunities within the department, residential and commercial crime alerts, and even online crime reporting are now available through various departments on the Internet. • The greater access to information provided by the Internet has made a major difference in the future, not only for police agencies and researchers but also for individual communities addressing wider criminal justice issues. Certainly, the Internet has been one of the strongest catalysts for social, economic, and political change in the world. D. Social Media and Policing: One of the most surprising technological advances in law enforcement from the past decade can be found in the realm of social media, taking police agencies into a whole new world of “likes,” “shares,” and “re-Tweets.” Facebook and Twitter, particularly, have been a boon to police departments across the country, allowing for instantaneous outreach to the community. • In one of the best examples of the possibilities that lie within this integrated technology, the Boston Police Department utilized Twitter and Facebook in the immediate aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombings in 2013. • These social media platforms were crucial to distributing public information, coordinating media briefings, giving traffic information related to street closures, coordinating volunteers, and soliciting videos and pictures from the event that, in some cases, contained evidence of the crime. • The following examples highlight the use of social media as employed by law enforcement organizations: (1) Communication in emergency situations: informing the public of a situation; releasing new information as it is available; describing areas to avoid; communicating risks and giving suggestions to avoid those risks; missing persons; and Amber alerts. (2) Agency transparency: informing the public of use of force complaints brought against the department; releasing officer disciplinary information; explaining the actions of the police agency in a crisis situation; providing insight into day-to-day policing; and announcing new initiatives and strategies. (3) Community outreach: publicizing community policing events; announcing community events; publicizing policing successes; and humanizing policing through anecdotes, humor, and the like. (4) Networking with other police agencies: sharing best practices; making investigative contacts. (5) Investigation: suspect identification; request submission of crime tips or photographic/video evidence; examination of social media sites for criminal activity; and use of social media in undercover operations and stings. (6) Personnel selection: social media background checks to assess candidates; recruiting outreach. (7) Public relations: social media allows law enforcement agencies to craft news releases long before the media gets information. • How do you measure success via social media? Is it the number of followers you have? The number of missing persons found as a result of shared Facebook posts? The number of suspects arrested through You-Tube posts? Does it increase police legitimacy, and if so, where is the evidence to suggest such a claim? Few scientifically validated studies have been undertaken to pinpoint the value of police use of social media, but nonetheless, agencies continue to adopt and evolve social media strategies at a breaking speed. VIII. A Changing Paradigm: From Warrior to Guardian: Policing is in a state of flux. A spate of high-profile use-of-force incidents in 2014 and 2015 resulted in the deaths of several unarmed African-Americans. These events have fueled criticisms of, and anger toward, law enforcement agencies across the country. • Indeed, the events of 2014–2015 provided further evidence that at least part of our communities, particularly parts of the minority community, has lost faith in police organizations. There is an increasing number of people who believe that the militarization of U.S. policing is inconsistent with the community policing philosophy and a threat to it. • Presently, the wearing of black military-style Battle Dress uniforms (BDUs) by some officers is troubling to militarization critics because: (1) Those uniforms blur the line between police and the military, which have distinctly different roles. ( 2) The BDUs worn by officers are often black, a color often associated with the “bad guys,” such as ninja assassins. (3) The BDUs may re-enforce the police warrior culture. • An unanswered question is whether a yet-to-be-done study in the post-Ferguson environment would provide a clear answer about any relationship between police behavior and uniform color, as well as public perceptions of the topic. IV. The Historical Drift Toward Militarization: The historical drift toward militarization is rooted in the social unrest, soaring crime, massive demonstrations, social changes, and political rhetoric that swept America in the 1960s and 1970s. Initially, SWAT teams were created primarily as a mechanism to deal with riots. • In 1997, bank robbers In North Hollywood, California, armed with fully automatic weapons and body armor had police officers equipped with pistols and shotguns at a significant disadvantage and the movement toward arming patrol officers with military AR-15s as “patrol rifles” was energized, spilling military goods into mainstream policing, a process that has continued for decades. • Until the 1980s, the use of SWAT teams was unexceptional in terms of number of deployments or “callouts.” However, during that decade callouts began an explosive expansion. Arguably, this expansion also had the effect of reinforcing the criticism that police officers were too quick to become confrontational, what today is called the warrior mindset. • The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) studied SWAT operations nationally for 2009–2013. Among its findings: (1) The U.S. military was a source of training for only 7.1 percent of respondents ( 2) Armored vehicles were deployed with SWAT teams an average of 10 times annually ( 3) The most common complaint about SWAT teams was property damage (38 percent) and the least common was unlawful tactics (2 percent) with excessive force constituting 14 percent of all complaints. • An unscientific peek into the police culture suggests a warrior, “hard-liner” orientation by some officers. The messages on their occasionally worn T-shirts occasionally provide a basis for that observation. • A total of 1,466 police officers have died in the line of duty in the past decade, that is an average of one death every 60 hours or 146 officers died in the line of duty per year from 2004 to 2015. • There were 117 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in 2014.110 • On December 20, 2014, Officers Liu and Ramos were mudered as they simply sat in their patrol car. Afterwards, the gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, ran into a subway station and killed himself. • Stress training in police academies may well generate an “us versus them” mind-set in rookie officers, which has the potential of creating barriers between the police and the community. • Even when community policing is part of an academy curriculum, the stress training may create latent psychological obstacles to the kind of police–citizen relationships necessary to fully operationalize a community policing philosophy. X. Current Unrest with the Police: A federal program also has contributed to growing concerns about police militarization The National Defense Authorization Act (1997) allows the Secretary of Defense to provide weapons, vehicles, and other materials to federal and state law enforcement agencies for counter-drug and counter-terrorism activities. These are drawn from surplus stock Department of Defense. • Between Fiscal Years 2009 and 2014, the federal government provided nearly $18 billion dollars in funds and resources to support state and local law enforcement agencies. • Militarization critics recognize that the police need to monitor demonstrations by citizens exercising their First Amendment rights because those events have the potential to spiral out of control quickly and create losses of life and property. • Their concern is that an early and unnecessary show of armored vehicles and other military capabilities could be viewed as an intolerance of dissent by government, which could produce an unintended result, rioting. In . Instructional Cue Discuss the Ferguson, Missouri, incident with the class. The police response to the 2014 largescale demonstrations following the shooting death of Michael Brown by a police officer has been subject to much criticism. Some of that criticism is due to the presence of 50 police agencies, many small, who had not trained together. Nonetheless, it has set off a national discussion of how the police responded. What else must be done by law enforcement when responding to demonstrations and riot?. Discuss the Dallas demonstration and shooting of multiple officers. Are some people making war on law enforcement in America? • Militarization is negatively effecting public perceptions of the police. A 2015 Gallup survey revealed support for the police is at a 22- year low, only 52 percent, and another poll showed that 40 percent of those surveyed weren’t confident the police could use military-grade weapons and equipment appropriately. • Militarization represents traditional policing in all of its negative manifestations: aggressive, reactive, and based on force. There is very little that represents the tenets of proactive de-escalation, conflict resolution, the prevention of harm, and the protection of civil and human rights so passionately expressed in modern tenets of policing. XI. Improving Police-Community Relations: In 2014, President Barak Obama called together a task force to address community–police relations and offer guidelines for reforms in the wake of the unrest in Ferguson, New York, and Baltimore. (1) Building Trust and Legitimacy: This is the foundation on which all police/community interactions rely. Evidence shows that when people perceive authorities to be acting in procedurally just ways, they are more likely to obey the law. (2) Policy and Oversight: Simply stated, policies in police agencies must reflect community values. Clear and concise policies must be developed that regulate the use of force, police control of mass demonstrations (particularly in regards to equipment used, such as armored personnel carriers or other “military grade” weaponry), consent to search, racial profiling, internal investigations of improper use of force, in-custody deaths, and officer-involved shootings. (3) Technology and Social Media: The implementation, use, and evaluation of technology and social media is acknowledged as a valuable tool for policing, emphasizing that these areas contain valuable opportunities to engage the public and increase police transparency. (4) Community Policing and Crime Reduction: The taskforce heralded the potential of community policing to build trust and collaboration, while also reinforcing that communities will only support policing models that reflect their own values. (5) Training and Education: Improving training in police agencies to address a wide range of challenges, particularly those involving minority communities, must include wider community input. (6) Officer Wellness and Safety: Recognizing and promoting the importance of officer safety at all levels of a police organization increases officer awareness. Task force recommendations focused on increased funding and national support for initiatives supporting the safety of officers, as well as institutional support for their physical and emotional needs throughout their careers. LIST OF CHANGES/TRANSITION GUIDE • New and revised material on the impact of the decline in crime over the past decade on police departments nationally with a special focus on new, rising violent crime rates in large cities • Revised material on the primary elements of community policing with a focus on organizational structure • New and updated material on evaluation research and community policing, evidence-based policing, hot-spots policing, intelligence-led policing, and predictive policing. • New material on the “Triple-T Strategy: Targeting, Testing and Tracking” proposed recently by Larry Sherman. • A new box item on “Harm-Focused Policing” • Updated material on community policing models in Newport News, Virginia; Chicago, Illinois; and Minneapolis, Minnesota • New material on the use of social media and policing • New material on the changing paradigm in policing,from the warrior to guardian philosophy. • New and in-depth discussion on the militarization of the police ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS AND CLASS ACTIVITIES 1. Visit your town or city’s law enforcement website. Can you tell by the information published what type of policing strategies they employ? Do you think this is an appropriate strategy for your city? Why or why not? 2. Why is police legitimacy so closely tied to community policing? Can you have a good community policing program without police legitimacy? Why or why not? 3. Find a law enforcement agency’s Twitter or Facebook page. What examples of policing strategies SUGGESTED ANSWERS TO END-OF-CHAPTER ASSIGNMENTS Chapter Review Questions 1. Define community policing. The failure of traditional law enforcement methods to curb rising crime rates during the 1970s and 1980s and to reintegrate the police with society gave rise to a new movement, generally referred to as community-oriented policing(COP) or community policing. In present practice, COP is a proactive approach to crime control with three complimentary elements: (1) community partnerships; (2) problem solving, using the Scanning, Analysis, Response, and Assessment (SARA) model; and (3) organizational transformation 2. Describe the four-step problem-solving model commonly referred to as SARA. Scanning—Instead of relying on broad, law-related concepts, such as robbery, burglary, and auto theft, officers are encouraged to group individual, related incidents that come to their attention as “problems” and define these problems in more precise and useful terms. In essence, officers are expected to look for possible problems and accurately define them as part of their daily responsibility. Analysis—Officers working on a well-defined problem then collect information from a variety of public and private sources, not just traditional police data, such as criminal records and past offense reports. Response—The knowledge gained in the analysis stage is then used to develop and implement solutions. Officers seek the assistance of citizens, businesses, other police units, other public and private organizations, and anyone else who can help develop a program of action. Assessment—Finally, officers evaluate the impact and the effectiveness of their responses. Were the original problems actually solved or alleviated? What went right and just as importantly, 3. Identify the problems commonly associated with traditional policing. Goldstein questioned the effectiveness of traditional police methods in safeguarding the constitutional rights and privileges celebrated in American society (e.g., freedom of speech and expression, due process, and the right to privacy) versus the control of crime and the decay of social order. Goldstein pointed out that these two goals may be incompatible under the traditional police model and called for a closer link between the police and the community. During the same time period, Wilson and Kelling’s “broken windows” thesis emerged as a dominant theme in American policing debate. Arguing that crime seemed to increase dramatically in neighborhoods where visible signs of social decay and disorder were present (e.g., graffiti on bridge structures, unkept lots with overgrown weeds, visible drug and prostitution activities, and warehouses with broken windows). 4. What is the CAPS program? Discuss some of the key features aimed at improving and expanding the overall quality of police services in the City of Chicago, as well as reducing crime. The Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS), was designed to move the department from a traditional, reactive, incident-driven agency to a more proactive and community-oriented department. At first, CAPS was hailed as a method to combat crime, drugs, and gang activity in the inner city. However, as the implementation plan unfolded, a much broader mission statement evolved that focused on a combined effort with the community to “identify and solve problems of crime and disorder and to improve the quality of life in all of Chicago’s neighborhoods. 5. Define CompStat and identify the core principles of CompStat as presented in the New York Police Department model. The word CompStat is derived from “comp,” stemming from the word “computer,” and “stat,” which originates from “statistics.” The process was originally developed in New York City by the then Commissioner William Bratton in the mid-1990s,16 and continues in some form today in most major cities. CompStat is a process that looks at the individual needs of the community and then designs proactive strategies to stop or prevent crime. 6. Define some of today’s new police strategies, such as hot-spots policing, intelligence-led policing (ILP), and harm-focused policing. Nevertheless, there are some new approaches and tactics being used with promising results. Evidence-based policing is becoming a major player, with more and more departments across the country engaging with police science and research to determine effective strategy. Geographic-based and focused policing approaches, such as hot-spots policing and directed patrols, represent the most strongly supported policing practices in the United States, aided by the use of geographical information systems (GIS), crime analysis, and artificial intelligence. Similarly, intelligenceled policing (ILP) and proactive policing models are also gaining attention as police departments look for ways to do more with fewer resources. 7. What is evidence-based policing? Describe the Triple T Strategy proposed by Larry Sherman as a part of the evidence-based policing philosophy. Sherman’s model focuses on the “Triple-T Strategy”: Targeting, Testing, and Tracking. Targeting involves assessing relative levels of harm and allocating police resources based on this measure; in other words, focusing on those issues that the police can lawfully address that will have the most impact. Testing looks at examining research for evidence of success (or failure) to determine how a strategy is working. And tracking is an effort to continually check performance and implementation, through programs that might include CompStat and even review of bodyworn camera data. 8. List and briefly describe some of the more common crime analysis techniques. The evolution of policing strategies has included the development and use of sophisticated information technologies. Today, information technologies assume a new and more vital role. For instance, police operations are incredibly data and information intensive. Rather than utilizing computers for data storage, police departments are now using them as information and knowledgebased systems. This is especially important as police agencies rely more heavily on intelligence as well as the identification and targeting of crime hot-spots and repeat offenders. Crime analysis, geographic information systems (GIS), and artificial intelligence represent the most widely used information technologies in policing today. 9. Describe a geographic information system and explain how such a system enhances police service. The use of geographic information systems(GIS) in law enforcement to map criminal events coincided with the results of several environmental criminology studies that illustrated crime patterns. Prior to computerized mapping systems, police commonly used pin maps as a means of tracking crime. Unfortunately, this practice has many limitations due to the difficulties in determining clusters and general trends using point data. 10. What are the benefits and issues that surround the use of social media by police agencies? One of the most surprising technological advances in law enforcement from the past decade can be found in the realm of social media, taking police agencies into a whole new world of “likes,” “shares,” and “re-Tweets.” Facebook and Twitter, particularly, have been a boon to police departments across the country, allowing for instantaneous outreach to the community. 11. What factors have contributed to the militarization of the police over the past two decades? The historical drift toward militarization is rooted in the social unrest, soaring crime, massive demonstrations, social changes, and political rhetoric that swept America in the 1960s and 1970s. Initially, SWAT teams were created primarily as a mechanism to deal with riots. Over time, there was mission creep as SWATs effectively took on high risk responsibilities, e.g., drug raids and barricaded subjects. These responsibilities required adoption of new tactics and equipment with greater capabilities, some of which were adapted from military models and provided from surplus military inventories. This was an on-going process that moved SWATs to be come increasingly militarized, e.g., using explosives to breach reinforced doors on drug raids and flashbangs/stun grenades when serving some warrants. 12. How can we improve police–community relations in the United States? In 2014, President Barak Obama called together a task force to address community– police relations and offer guidelines for reforms in the wake of the unrest in Ferguson, New York, and Baltimore. Their recommendations, organized as “pillars,” are linked closely to policing strategies discussed in this chapter, and provide opportunities for departments to strengthen and shift their current crime reduction and prevention initiatives: