Transcript Police Roles


Police are the only agency of government charged with accomplishing public
purposes through force and coercion


Police are the final recourse when civility and law observance break down


The more that citizens voluntarily comply with the police, the less the police
need to use force and coercion
The more that citizens voluntarily comply with society’s expectations, the
less they need the police
Persistent issues

Who decides what is a legitimate public purpose?

Who decides what “civility” means? What laws should be enforced?

Is there sufficient consensus? How much is enough?

Identify and arrest criminals


“Specific deterrence”
Deter crime through patrol and other
means

“General deterrence”

Promote civility and order

Provide emergency services

Help those at risk of being victimized

Facilitate movement of traffic

Resolve conflicts

Promote a feeling of community security

Bill owns a loud dog. Jack is sick and tired of
being woken up by the pooch. So Jack goes to
the backyard, hooks up a water hose, sticks it
over the fence and drenches Fido. Bill yells at
Jack. They start calling each other names and
challenging to fight. Mary, another neighbor, calls the cops.

Steve and Jane live in an apartment. They start arguing about money. It
gets louder, turns into cussing, then pushing and shoving, then objects
being thrown. Nancy, who lives in the apartment next door, calls the
cops.

Conventional academic perspective


Police like to think of themselves as crime-fighters (robbery, burglary,
etc.) but in fact they’re mostly peacekeepers (neighbor disputes, family
fights)

The police crime-fighting role is vastly overstated; supposedly takes only
20 percent of an officer’s time

Most officer time is spent on peacekeeping and paperwork
Are “peacekeeping” and “crime fighting” fundamentally different?

Crime (Calif. Penal Code, sec. 15): A crime or public offense is an act
committed or omitted in violation of a law...

Disturbing the peace (415 P.C.) Assault (240 P.C.)

February 22, 1994 – LAPD Officer
Christy Hamilton, Devonshire Division

Officers Hamilton and others responded
to a family disturbance with shots fired in a residential
neighborhood. As she stood by her patrol car a 17-year
old youth who had just murdered his father fired a
.223 caliber assault rifle, striking officer Hamilton
above her ballistic vest. The assailant committed suicide.

October 22, 1996 – LAPD Officer
Mario Navidad, Wilshire Division

Officer Navidad and his partner were
flagged down by a convenience store clerk who said
a young man walking down an alley had just stolen
two six-packs of beer. As the officers approached in
their vehicle the suspect pulled a .380 pistol and
fired, striking officer Navidad, the passenger, multiple times in the
chest, between the panels of his ballistic vest. The suspect was
killed in an exchange of gunfire.

February 20, 2004 – LAPD Officer
Ricardo Lizarraga, Newton Division
Officer Lizarraga and his partner were flagged
down by a battered woman who asked them to
expel a boyfriend from her apartment. As officer
Lizarraga entered the residence the male emerged
with a pistol and started shooting, striking officer
Lizarraga under his ballistic vest.
The suspect, a gang member and
convicted felon, escaped but was
arrested several hours later. He
hung himself in his jail cell the next
day.



Demographics
 Community size, population density,
urban/rural
 Socioeconomic factors
Nature of police work
 Legal, social and political constraints
 Risk and uncertainty
 Ready availability of firearms
 Unrealistic expectations
▪ Crime and disorder are social problems with few fixed solutions
Departmental variables
 Resources (personnel, training and equipment)
 Leadership and oversight

Different social and political environments lead agencies to
adopt different policing styles

Watchman
Focus on order maintenance. Ignore minor infractions, less bothered by vice.
Preference to resolve issues informally.

Legalistic
Eager to invoke formal sanctions (arrests and citations). Disorderly persons
viewed as a criminal threat. Reluctance to intervene when legal authority is
unclear.

Service
Blend of the above styles, with less emphasis on making arrests. Preference
to resolve situations through conciliation and by making referrals to social
service agencies.

Police Issues

LASD Lt. Bill Evans’ memo about Biola college student caught with illegal
knife


“Are you really going to put a felony on this guy? Here is a kid that could
have been planning on going into the military, being a cop or fireman....”
Police experts divided.

President of Police Foundation thought that “taking the individual into
account” opens department to charge of bias

Merrick Bobb asked “what if the same kid was a black student with long
dreadlocks at Dorsey High?”

Policies governing discretion lack detail because facts are often lacking or too
ambiguous or politically incorrect to articulate or put into writing

Are there benefits to taking official action when someone is caught with an
illegal knife?

Seriousness of an offense, harm committed

Mandates to arrest (e.g., spousal abuse)

Presence of weapons, criminal record, suspect attitude

Immediately available resources (e.g., partner, backup)

Workload

Department policy (formal)

Accepted practices (informal)

Presence and attitude of supervisors

Peer expectations

Community and citizen pressures

Presence and attitudes of victims and witnesses






Personality characteristics
Training and experience
Knowledge, skills and abilities
Political views, moral codes
Physical factors
 Strength and endurance
 Ability in unarmed combat
Psychological factors
 Decision-making abilities
 Self-control
 Aggressiveness
 Tolerance for risk



Recruits learn caution at the academy
 Police work can be dangerous
 Stories of officers hurt and killed
Patrol work teaches powerful lessons
 Reality  altruistic, “helping” orientation
 Badge + gun ¹ compliance
 Almost anyone can prove dangerous
 Justice not always possible
 Constant exposure to the unpleasant
aspects of human nature
Some consequences
 Pre-existing characteristics  environment of policing
 Shortcuts to decision-making: profiling, the “symbolic assailant”
 Territoriality , solidarity, code of silence








Blog post
In El Monte, police tried to pull over a vehicle
containing three gang members
The driver, a parolee-at-large took off. After a wild pursuit, he crashed the
vehicle into a parked car and fled on foot.
He was quickly corralled in a rear yard and lay down on the grass, proned out
For no clear reason, the first police officer to approach severely kicked him in
the head
The officer would later say that the suspect alarmed him by turning his head in
the officer’s direction
The officer was heavily criticized by use of force experts. But the D.A. declined
to prosecute him for assault.
Question: what drove the officer to take that action?







Police Issues
Cambridge (MA) admin sergeant on his way to the station jumps on a possible
residential burglary call
9-1-1- caller told the dispatcher about two males, one possibly Hispanic, and
that one seemed to force his way into the residence
The sergeant met with the caller. His report will later say that she told him
there were two black males with backpacks. She will deny it.
There was no burglary. After identifying himself, the resident, a black Harvard
professor, challenged the sergeant’s reason for being there. He then followed
him outside and kept yelling.
The sergeant arrested the homeowner for disorderly conduct. Prosecutors
quickly dismissed the charges.
A report on the incident laid blame on both parties.

Many service occupations have similar
career tracks

Medical student  intern  physician

Certain personality types are drawn to certain occupations

Interaction between individual characteristics and the workplace environment
can...

Threaten helping orientation

Cause cynicism

Provoke “us versus them” attitude

Exaggerate occupational solidarity, resulting in a code of silence
Article: “Police Culture and Coercion”, Criminology, 41:4, 2003





Based on article: policing styles differ
 Indianapolis: impersonal “traditional” approach
 St. Petersburg: personalized “community” approach
Why?
 Police decided?
 Ruling class decided?
 Community determined?
Consider differences between communities
 Demographics
 Crime
 Police coverage
Consider effects of these differences
 Officer backup / number on scene
 Response time
 Pressures to move on (calls waiting)
 Opportunity for investigation & crime solving
Always remember: individual officer styles do vary