Transcript Chapter 5 Police Issues and Practices

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The FBI defines terrorism as the unlawful use
of force against persons or property to
intimidate or course the government, the
civilian population, or any other segment, in
furtherance of political or social objectives.
The FBI has also defined the following three
categories of terrorism:
◦ Foreign sponsors of international terrorism
◦ Formalized terrorist groups
◦ Loosely affiliated international radical extremists
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Bio terrorism includes such diseases as
smallpox, botulism, and the plague just to
mention a few.
The fortunate thing for us is they are very
difficult to make in very large quantities in
tricky to transport without causing
destruction or degradation of the disease.
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Posse comitatus- this act was passed in 1878 and prohibited
the use of the military to execute domestic laws.
National instant management system- this system provides a
consistent nationwide approach for Federal, state, and local
governments to work effectively together to prepare for,
prevent, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents.
U.S. patriot act- this act was enacted after the 911 attacks in
2006, and greatly expanded the Federal government’s ability
to investigate Americans without establishing probable cause
for intelligence purposes.
Military commissions act of 2006- this act to help fight
terrorism was enacted in march of 2006
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Intelligence lead policing -operates under the
assumptions that a relatively small number of
people were responsible for a comparatively
large percentage of crimes, and that officers
will have the best effect on crime by focusing
on the most prevalent offenses occurring in
their jurisdiction.
Predictive Policing
Fusions Centers
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The effects of the 9/11 attacks on the world
trade center forced law enforcement to take
another look at the manner in which
terrorism and emergency responses should
be carried out by both local, state, and
Federal authorities.
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There have been concerns that says the
reorganization of and heightened communications
between Federal, state, and local law enforcement
organizations has caused the relationship between
these groups to become too chummy, blurring the
lines in terms of communications between federal
and local law enforcement.
The federalization of national criminal justice
policy is disturbing because it leads to a
concentration of power at the national level that is
democratically unhealthy and undermines the most
basic principles under which the nation was
founded.
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It seems like we see with regularity law
enforcement being shown on TV using excessive
force against one or more of our nation’s citizens.
This is primarily because the newspapers and other
media have the philosophy if it believes it leads,
therefore any such acts of force used by law
enforcement will be shown on the nightly news are
in print form in the newspapers or now online
literally over and over again, which gives the
perception that this type of activity is occurring
with regularity when in actuality it is not.
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Officers sometimes inflict verbal and
psychological abuse on citizens by berating
or belittling them.
One of the more common methods used by
police officers to verbally abuse is through
the use of profanity.
Supervisors should discourage its use and
review every instance when a police officer
uses it with a citizen.
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Legal abuse and civil rights violations consist
of police actions that violate citizens
constitutional or statutory rights.
This abuse may involve false arrests, false
imprisonment, and harassment.
Supervisors and managers play a key role in
preventing legal abuse and violations of
citizens’ rights.
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Use of force continuum see have been
evolving for over three decades and if one
were to look at them graphically their
explanations range from the very simple to
the more elaborate.
There have been some concerns with such a
simplistic viewpoint of how the use of force
should progress in a situation. Today many
police executives and researchers believe that
use of force cannot always be employed in
such a sequential, stair step fashion as this
continuum implies.
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Suicide by cop has been defined as “an act
motivated in whole or in part by the
offender’s desire to commit suicide that
results in a justifiable homicide by a law
enforcement officer.”
Presently, the extent of suicide by cop
remains unknown for two reasons: first, there
is a lack of both a clear definition and
established reporting procedures; second,
suicide attempts are immediately removed
from the criminal process and placed within
the mental health arena
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The problem for the police is that when we go
to stop a car for example for speeding, we do
not know who is in that vehicle (even if you
run a check on them quickly, the car could be
freshly stolen).
It is the responsibility of command personnel
and supervisors to ensure that officers barely
understand and comply with police pursuit
policies.
In addition to the policy issues and
supervisory information identified earlier
other factors considered by the courts in
evaluating pursue liability
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Over the past 30 years, the proportion of
women police officers has grown steadily.
During the 1970s, some formal barriers to
hiring women, such as height requirements,
were eliminated; in addition, subjective
physical agility tests and oral interviews were
modified. Some job discrimination suits
further expanded women’s opportunities.
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Recruitment
Preemployment
physical testing
Academy training
Field training
Key issues
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Assignments
Promotions
Harassment and
discrimination
Mentoring
Career in family
Key issues
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The recruitment of minority officers also
remains a difficult task. Probably, the greatest
problem is the negative image that police
officers have in the minority communities.
Unfortunately, police officers have been seen
as symbols of oppression and have been
charged with using excessive brutality; they
are often seen as an army of occupation.
Black police officers face problems similar to
those of women who attempt to enter and
prosper in police work.
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Contract policing- Here, smaller
communities, either incorporated or
unincorporated, can contract their police
services with another larger agency.
Consolidation- Another means of unifying
agencies and possibly achieving cost savings
is through consolidation , which is the
merging of two or more city and/or county
governments into a single policing entity.
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Most citizen calls for police service do not
involve a crime or a sworn officer to enforce
the laws. For that reason, many agencies have
increasingly civilianized many functions
performed traditionally by sworn personnel.
Police unions are becoming increasingly wary
of management’s outsourcing traditional
police tasks to a civilian body, viewing the
latter as potential threats to their livelihood.
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News dissemination is a delicate undertaking for
the police CEO; news organizations, especially
television and the print media, are highly
competitive businesses that seek to obtain the
most complete news in the shortest amount of
time, which often translates into wider viewership
and, therefore, greater advertising revenues for
them.
Unfortunately, many police executives (a good
number of whom involuntarily left office) can speak
of the results of failing to develop an appropriate
relationship with the media.
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Today an essential part of every chief’s job is
to prepare colleagues in the organization for
the next advance in their careers; indeed,
today the mark of a good leader is the ability
to ensure a ready supply of capable leaders
for the future.
Chiefs need to take a long view and look at
succession planning and leadership
development as a continuous process that
changes the organizational culture.