Community policing

©AP Photo/Matt Rourke

To assist in their transition from the training

academy to the street, new officers are typically

assigned to work with a veteran field training

officer for a period of time before being

released to act on their own.

p.150

It is not too difficult to identify bad police officers through their unethical or criminal behavior. But what are the traits of good officers? Dennis Nowicki, who served twice as a police chief, acknowledged that although certain characteristics form the foundation of a police officer—honesty, ethics, and moral character—no scientific formula can be used to create a highly

effective officer.22 However, he compiled a list of 12 qualities that he believes are imperative for entry-level police officers (see Table 6.2).

DEFINING THE ROLE

What are the police supposed to do? Often this question is given such oversimplified answers as “They enforce the law” or “They ‘serve and

protect.’”23 But policing is much more complex, and most Americans probably do not have an accurate idea of what the police really do. In reality, the police are called on to perform an almost countless number of tasks.

One of the greatest obstacles to understanding the American police is the crime-fighter image. Because of film and media portrayals, many people believe that the role of the police is

confined to the apprehension of criminals.24

However, only about 20 percent of the police officer’s typical day is devoted to fighting crime

per se.25 And, as Jerome Skolnick and David Bayley point out, the crimes that terrify Americans the most—robbery, rape, burglary, and homicide—are rarely encountered by police on patrol. In their words:

Only “Dirty Harry” has his lunch disturbed by a bank robbery in progress. Patrol officers individually make few important arrests. The “good collar” is a rare event. Cops spend most of their time passively patrolling and providing emergency

services.26

Also, many individuals enter police work expecting it to be exciting and rewarding, as depicted on television and in the movies. Later

they discover that much of their time is spent with boring, mundane, and trivial tasks—and that paperwork is seldom stimulating.

Four Basic Tasks

Patrol officers may be said to perform four basic tasks of policing:

1. Enforce the laws: Although this is a primary function of the police, as we saw earlier, they actually devote a very small portion of their time to “chasing bad guys.”

p.151

● TABLE 6.2 Traits That Make a “Good” Police Officer

2. Perform welfare tasks: Throughout history, the police have probably done much more of this type of work than the public (or the police themselves) realize; following are some of them:

• “Check the welfare of” kinds of calls,

where someone has not been seen or heard from for some time and may be deceased, ill, missing, or in distress

• “Be on the lookout” (BOLO) calls, where someone has wandered away from a nursing home or an assisted living home, is a juvenile runaway, and so forth

• Delivering death notifications/messages

• Delivering blood to hospitals (particularly in more rural areas where blood banks are not available)

• Assisting firefighters and animal control units

• Reporting burned-out street lights or damaged traffic signs

• Performing all manner of errands simply because they are available— locking and unlocking municipal parking lots, collecting receipts from municipal entities such as golf courses, delivering agendas to city/county commissioners, and so forth

3. Prevent crime: This function of police involves engaging in random patrol and providing the public with crime prevention information.

4. Protect the innocent: By investigating crimes, police are systematically removing innocent people from consideration as crime suspects.

Three Distinctive Styles

Mark Wilson/Getty Images News/Getty Images

As opposed to Hollywood’s portrayals, very

little police work is action packed. Here,

Washington, D.C., police cite people who are

talking on cell phones while driving.

James Q. Wilson also attempted to clarify what it is that the police are supposed to do; Wilson maintained that there are three distinctive polici

ng styles:27

p.152

• The watchman style involves the officer as a “neighbor.” Here, officers act as if order maintenance (rather than law enforcement) is their primary function. The emphasis is on using the law as a means of maintaining order rather than regulating conduct through arrests. Police ignore many common minor violations, such as traffic and juvenile offenses. These violations and so-called victimless crimes, such as gambling and prostitution, are tolerated; they will often be handled informally. Thus

the individual officer has wide latitude

concerning whether to enforce the letter or the spirit of the law; the emphasis is on using the law to give people what they “deserve.”

• The legalistic style casts the officer as a “soldier.” This style takes a much harsher view of law violations. Police officers issue large numbers of traffic citations, detain a high volume of juvenile offenders, and act vigorously against illicit activities. Large numbers of other kinds of arrests occur as well. Chief administrators want high arrest and ticketing rates not

• only because violators should be punished but also because it reduces the opportunity for their officers to engage in corrupt behavior. This style of policing assumes that the purpose of the law is to punish.

• The service style views the officer as a “teacher.” This style falls in between the watchman and legalistic styles. The police take seriously all requests for either law enforcement or order maintenance (unlike in the watchman-style department) but are less likely to respond by making an arrest or otherwise imposing formal sanctions. Police officers see their primary responsibility as protecting public order against the minor and occasional threats posed by unruly teenagers and “outsiders” (tramps, derelicts, out-of-town visitors). The citizenry expects its service-style officers to display the same qualities as its department store salespeople: They should be courteous, neat, and deferential. The police will

frequently use informal sanctions instead of making arrests.

Perils of Patrol

Although workers die at much higher rates in several occupations—commercial fishing, logging, piloting airplanes, farming, and ranching,

in particular,28 police officers’ lives are still rife with occupational hazards. Each year, 25 to 50 police officers die through felonious means; on average, the slain officer was in his or her late 30s, and he or she had worked in law enforcement about a dozen years. Another 50 or

so officers die through accidental means.29

Officers seldom know for certain whether a citizen whom they are about to confront is armed, high on drugs or alcohol, or perhaps even planning to die at the hands of the police using a technique known as “suicide by cop.” This danger is heightened during the graveyard (night) shift, when patrol officers encounter burglars looking to invade homes and businesses, people who are intoxicated from a night of partying, and so on, all under cover of darkness.

p.153

A Study of Patrol Effectiveness

The best known study of patrol effectiveness, the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment, was conducted in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1973. Researchers—wanting to know if random patrol had any significant effect on crime, police

©iStockphoto.com/Imagesbybarbara

A sense of humor, the ability to communicate,

and job enthusiasm even for routine duties are

some of the crucial traits required for police

officers to be successful.

response rates to crime, or citizen fear of crime— divided the city into 15 beats, which were then categorized into five groups of three matched beats each. Each group consisted of neighborhoods that were similar in terms of population, crime characteristics, and calls for police services. In one beat area, there was no preventive patrol (police responded only to calls for service); another beat area had increased patrol activity (two or three times the usual amount of patrolling); and in the third beat there was the usual level of patrol service. Citizens were interviewed and crime rates were measured during the year the experiment was conducted.

The study found that the deterrent effect of policing was not reduced by the elimination of

routine patrolling; nor were citizens’ fear of crime, their attitudes toward the police, or the ability of the police to respond to calls reduced. The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment (depicted in Figure 6.3) indicated that the traditional assumption of “Give me more cars and more money, and we’ll get there faster and fight

crime” was probably not a viable argument.30

STRESSORS IN POLICE WORK

There is an aspect of police work that officers would prefer to ignore but that must be acknowledged: the stress induced by the job. Indeed, Sir W. S. Gilbert observed that “When constabulary duty’s to be done, the policeman’s

lot is not a happy one.”31 But if, as the saying goes, “knowledge is power,” those persons either working in the field or contemplating doing so must know of the challenges of stress and how to cope with them. The job of policing has never been easy, as many of the people they confront are armed and dangerous; but the dangers of the job have been made worse by the recent drug war as well as the “fishbowl” effect of the work, given the close scrutiny, videotaping, and calls for accountability of today’s police.

Sources of Stress

Stress can come from a number of directions, so police officers can experience job stress as the result of a wide range of problems and situations. The four general sources of stress are (1)

organizational and administrative practices, (2) the criminal justice system, (3) the public, and (4) stress intrinsic to police work itself.

Organizational and Administrative Practices

A primary source of stress is the police organization itself. Police departments typically are highly bureaucratic and possibly authoritarian in nature, which creates stress for individual officers in at least two ways. First, police departments follow strict policies and procedures, general orders, and rules and regulations that are dictated by top management. Street officers and first-line supervisors seldom have direct input into their formulation, resulting in officers feeling powerless and alienated about the decisions that directly affect their jobs. Second, these rules dictate how officers specifically perform many of their duties and responsibilities. They are created to provide officers with guidance and direction. Police officers, however, sometimes view these rules as mechanisms used by management to restrict their freedom and discretion or to justify punishing them when they make incorrect decisions or errors.

p.154

● FIGURE 6.3 Schematic Representation of the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment

Source: George L. Kelling, Tony Pate, Duane Dieckman, and

Charles E. Brown, The Kansas City Preventive Patrol

Experiment: A Summary Report (Washington, D.C.: Police

Foundation, 1974). Reprinted with permission of the Police

Foundation.

Female and minority police officers also face unique problems. Because policing has traditionally been a male- and white-dominated occupation, in many agencies female and minority officers do not always have the same standing or career options as their counterparts. In addition, female officers might confront sexual

harassment,32 whereas minority officers might feel they are ostracized by people of their own race for being “traitors” against them and their neighborhoods.

Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

By its nature, policing carries a high potential

for danger. This funeral procession escorts an

officer who was shot dead while answering a

report of a traffic accident in February 2017.

The Criminal Justice System

Each component of the criminal justice system affects the other components. For example, judges have openly displayed hostile attitudes toward the police, or prosecutors have not displayed proper respect to officers, arbitrarily dismissing cases, having them appear in court during regularly scheduled days off, and advocating rulings restricting police procedures. Another example occurs when parole officers and probation officers do an inadequate job of supervising parolees, which results in their being involved in an inordinate amount of crime. The courts have the most direct impact on police officers and probably are the greatest source of stress from the criminal justice system.

The Public

When police officers perform community services, they also become involved in conflicts or negative situations. They arrest citizens, they write tickets, and they give citizens orders when intervening in domestic violence or disorder situations. Often, to resolve problems, they make half of the participants happy, but the other half are unhappy. The problem is that police officers develop unrealistic or inaccurate ideas about citizens as a result of their negative encounters. Officers must keep their relationship with citizens in proper perspective. This is achieved by open, straightforward discussions of public attitudes and encounters with citizens. It also means that managers must emphasize the importance of good relations between the police and the public and of the majority of citizens supporting and respecting the police.

Stressors Intrinsic to Police Work

Police work is fraught with situations that pose physical danger to officers. Domestic violence, felonies in progress, and fight calls often require officers to physically confront suspects. It would seem that the work itself, since it includes dealing with dangerous police activities and people, would be the most stressful part of police work. Certainly traumatic incidents can require long- term follow-up support for law enforcement personnel.

p.155

Visual&Written/Newscom

Recently, incidents involving police use of force

have become a flashpoint for the public. Here,

officers forcefully arrest a protestor of the

Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota in

November 2016.

Coping With Stress

If officers do not relieve the pressure of the job, they eventually may suffer heart attacks, nervous breakdowns, back problems, headaches, psychosomatic illnesses, or alcoholism. They may also experience excessive weight gain or loss; combativeness or irritability; excessive perspiration; excessive use of sick leave; excessive use of alcohol, tobacco, or drugs; marital or family disorders; inability to complete an assignment; loss of interest in work, hobbies, and people in general; more than the usual number of “accidents,” including vehicular and other types; and shooting incidents. It is imperative that officers learn to manage their

stress before it causes deep physical and/or emotional harm. One means is to engage in hobbies or activities that provide legitimate means of relaxing and venting. Exercise, proper nutrition, and positive lifestyle choices (such as not smoking and using alcohol only in moderation) are also essential for good health.

Police agencies need a comprehensive wellness program to assist officers in coping with stress, but if that fails or is absent, an employee assistance program (EAP) should be available to help officers to cope with alcohol and substance abuse, psychological problems such as depression, or family management problems.

POLICE DISCRETION

The power to use discretion in performing one’s role is at the very core of policing. However, as is discussed in this section, this power can be controversial—and used for both good and bad.

The Myth of Full Enforcement

The law is written in black and white; however, the manner in which most laws are enforced by the police can be said to be colored gray. Noted police scholar Herman Goldstein wrote in 1963 that the police should be “Enforcing the law

without fear or favor.”33 However, the truth is anything but (except for laws or policies related to domestic violence and driving under the influence, for example, where the police are given no discretion but to arrest).

Consider this scenario: The municipal police chief or county sheriff is asked during a civic club luncheon speech which laws are and are not enforced by his or her agency. The official response will inevitably be that all of the laws are enforced equally, all of the time. Yet the chief or sheriff knows that full enforcement of the laws is a myth—that there are neither the resources nor the desire to enforce them all, nor are all laws enforced impartially. There are legal concerns as well. For example, releasing some offenders (to get information about other crimes, because of a good excuse, etc.) cannot be the official policy of the agency (and letting an offender go is a form of discretion as well); however, the chief or sheriff cannot broadcast that fact to the public. Indeed, it has been stated that “the single most astonishing fact of police behavior is the extent to which police do not enforce the law when they

have every legal right to do so.”34

p.156

SAUDI ARABIA—LITTLE TO DO ON PATROL

The police in Saudi Arabia assist with enforcing the very cruel (by Western standards) Islamic law, which is governed by

the Koran and can include amputations of limbs, which are conducted in many cities and with some frequency on the Justice Square in Riyadh. Believing that public beheadings and amputations deter other prospective offenders, the police encourage people in the vicinity of the square to witness these events. When a thief’s right hand is cut off in public, a string is tied to the middle finger and the hand is hung from a hook high on a streetlight pole on Justice Square for all to see. Because there is a near total absence on Saudi Arabian streets of gangs, drive-by shootings, purse snatchings, and contraband, the police patrol the streets in Chevrolets, BMWs, and Volvos, looking for minor infractions of the law.

Owing to the aforementioned harsh criminal code, there is little for the Saudi police to do in terms of crime prevention or investigation. The religious police—the Mutaween—patrol and stroll in their white cotton robes and sandals and look, as one writer observed, like “desert nomads who have stumbled unexpectedly into this century.” They look for people who are improperly dressed or women who have a loose strand of hair falling across their face or who need to adjust their tarhas (head coverings). Around-the-clock patrols ensure that shops are closed in time for daily prayers and that only married couples are sitting in family sections of restaurants. The patrols often follow persons suspected of being involved in what is deemed immoral

behavior, such as drug use, homosexuality, gambling, and begging. Teams of religious police will also destroy home satellite dishes, which bring uncensored Western television broadcasts into Saudi homes.

Sources: U.S. citizen living in Saudi Arabia,

personal communication, September 12, 1994;

Chris Hedges, “Everywhere in Saudi Arabia,

Islam Is Watching,” New York Times, January 6,

1993, p. A4(N), col. 3.

Attempts to Define Discretion

The way police make arrest decisions is largely unknown (see possible determining factors, described in the next section). What is known, however, is that when police observe something of a suspicious or an illegal nature, two important decisions must be made: (1) whether to intervene in the situation and (2) how to intervene. The kinds, number, and possible combinations of interventions are virtually limitless. What kinds of decisions are available for an officer who makes a routine traffic stop? David Bayley and Egon Bittner observed long ago that officers have as many as 10 actions to select from at the initial stop (e.g., order the driver out of the car), 7 strategies appropriate during the stop (such as a roadside sobriety test), and 11 exit strategies (including releasing the driver with a warning), representing a total of 770 different combinations of actions that might be

taken!35

AUTHOR VIDEO Author Video 6.1: Discretion

Criminal law has two sides—the formality and the reality. The formality is found in the statute books and opinions of appellate courts. The reality is found in the practices of enforcement officers. In some circumstances, the choice of action to be taken is relatively easy, such as arresting a bank robbery suspect. In other situations, such as quelling a dispute between neighbors or determining how much party noise

is too much, the choice is more difficult.36 Our system tends to treat people as individuals. One person who commits a robbery is not the same as another person who commits a robbery. Our system also takes into account why and how a person committed a crime (his or her intent, or mens rea, discussed in Chapter 2). The most important decisions take place on the streets, day or night, generally without the opportunity

for the officer to consult with others or to carefully consider all the facts.

p.157

Determinants of Discretionary Actions

The power of discretionary policing can be awe- inspiring. Kenneth Culp Davis, an authority on police discretion, writes, “The police are among the most important policy makers of our entire society. And they make far more discretionary determinations in individual cases than does any other class of administrators; I know of no close

second.”37

What determines whether the officer will take a stern approach (enforcing the letter of the law with an arrest) or will be lenient (issuing a verbal warning or some other outcome short of arrest)? Several variables enter into the officer’s decision:

1 The law is indeed a factor. For example, many state statutes and local ordinances now mandate that the police arrest for certain suspected offenses, such as driving under the influence or domestic violence.

2 The officer’s attitude can also be a factor. First, some officers are more willing to empathize with offenders who feel they deserve a break than others. Furthermore, police, being human, can bring to work either a happy or an unhappy disposition. Personal viewpoints can play a role, such as when, for example, the officer is fed up with juvenile crimes that have been occurring of

late and thus will not give any leniency to youths that he or she encounters. Also, as Carl Klockars and Stephen Mastrofski observed, although violators frequently offer what they feel are very good reasons for the officer to overlook their offense, “every police officer knows that, if doing so will allow them to escape punishment, most people are prepared to lie through their

teeth.”38

3 Another major consideration in the officer’s choice among options is the citizen’s attitude. If the offender is rude and condescending, denies having done anything wrong, or uses some of the standard clichés that are almost guaranteed to rankle the officer—such as “You don’t know who I am” (someone who is obviously very important in the community), “I’ll have your job,” “I know the chief of police,” or “I’m a taxpayer, and I pay your salary”—the probable outcome is obvious. On the other hand, the person who is honest with the officer, avoids attempts at intimidation and sarcasm, and does not try to “beat the rap” may fare better.

In addition to these considerations, other factors that an officer may take into account when deciding whether or not to arrest might include injury to and preference of the victim; prior criminal record of the offender; amount and strength of evidence; peer and agency pressure regarding certain kinds of crimes; media coverage of this and other related crimes; and

availability and credibility of witnesses. The officer’s specific assignment will also come into play. For example, homicide investigators would care little about a driver’s tendency to disobey traffic laws, whereas one who is assigned and dedicated to traffic work will probably not let such offenders off with a warning.

Pros and Cons of Discretion

Having discretionary authority carries several advantages for the police officer: First, because the law cannot (and should not) cover every sort of situation the officer encounters, discretion allows the officer to have the flexibility to treat different situations in accordance with humanitarian and practical goals. For example, assume an officer pulls over a speeding motorist, only to learn that the car is en route to the hospital with a woman who is about to deliver a baby. While the agitated driver is endangering everyone in the vehicle as well as other motorists on the roadway, discretion allows the officer to be compassionate and empathetic, giving the car a safe escort to the hospital rather than issuing a citation for speeding. In short, discretionary use of authority allows the police to employ a philosophy of “justice tempered with mercy.”

p.158

You Be the… POLICE OFFICER

Assume a police officer pulls over a vehicle

for swerving across the center line. The driver, a 17-year-old college student who is an elementary education major, admits she’s been drinking at a party. The breathalyzer test reveals a .07 blood alcohol concentration. In this state, .07 can result in a charge of either “driving after having consumed alcohol” or a more serious “driving while ability is impaired.” There are two other girls in the car: One has a badly swollen jaw after having fallen at the party; the driver is attempting to get her to the urgent care facility. Another girl, the older sister of the driver, is visibly pregnant.

1. What discretionary issues are presented?

2. Given all of the facts at hand, how do you believe the officer should deal with the driver?

One disadvantage of discretionary authority is that those officers who are the least trained and experienced have the greatest amount of discretion to exercise. In other words, as the rank of the officer increases, the amount of discretion that he or she can employ typically decreases. The patrol officer or deputy, being loosely supervised on the streets, makes many discretionary decisions about whether or not to arrest, search, frisk, and so forth. Conversely, the chief of police or sheriff will be highly constrained by department policies and procedures, union agreements, affirmative

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

As part of their community-policing and

problem-solving efforts, many agencies use

bicycle patrols to focus on crime prevention and

greater interaction with the community.

action laws, and/or governing board guidelines

and policies. Another disadvantage is that allowing police to exercise such discretion belies their need to appear impartial—treating people differently for committing essentially the same offense. Critics of discretion also argue that such wide latitude in decision making may serve as a breeding ground for police corruption; for example, an officer may be offered a bribe to overlook an offense.

See the case study in the accompanying “You Be the Police Officer” box and respond to the questions posed.

COMMUNITY POLICING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

Chapter 5 discussed the three eras of policing, including today’s “community era.” Following is a brief description of policing in terms of how it moved from the political and reform eras—both of which experienced problems in terms of recognizing and working with the community. The seeds of community policing and problem solving were sown in London in 1829, when the architect of London’s police force, Sir Robert Peel, offered that “the police are the public and . . . the public are the police,” and that by establishing patrol beats, officers could get to know their citizens and thus be better able to gather information about neighborhood crime and disorder. As was seen in Chapter 5, however, in the United States that close police-public association over time often led to powerful political influences and corruption in terms of who was hired, who was promoted, and who could bring elected officials the most votes. This led to the onset of the reform era in the 1930s. Reforms included the removal of police from the influence of the community and politics through the creation of civil service systems. The community era of policing recognized that the public has a vested interest in addressing—as well as vital information concerning— neighborhood crime and disorder, and thus a return to Peel’s principles was needed and the two entities should work hand in glove to resolve problems.

SAGE NEWS CLIP SAGE News Clip 6.1: Community-Ori- ented Policing

p.159

● FIGURE 6.4 Problem Analysis Triangle

Source: John E. Eck and William Spelman, Problem-Solving:

Problem-Oriented Policing in Newport News (Washington,

D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice,

1987), p. 43.

Problem-oriented policing, which began to develop in the mid-1980s, was grounded in principles different from, but complementary to, those of community-oriented policing. Problem- oriented policing is a strategy that puts the community policing philosophy into practice. It advocates that police examine the underlying causes of recurring incidents of crime and disorder. The problem-solving process helps officers identify problems, analyze them completely, develop response strategies, and assess the results. Police must be equipped to define more clearly and to understand more fully the problems they are expected to handle. They must recognize the relationships between and among incidents—for example, incidents involving the same behavior, the same address, or the same people. The police must therefore develop a commitment to analyzing problems— gathering information from police files, the minds of experienced officers, other agencies of government, and private sources as well. It can also require conducting house-to-house surveys and talking with victims, complainants, and offenders. It includes an uninhibited search for the most effective response to each problem, looking beyond just the criminal justice system to a wide range of alternatives; in sum, police must try to design a customized response that holds the greatest potential for dealing effectively with a specific problem in a specific place under specific conditions.

Thousands of police agencies have thus broken away from their reactive, incident- driven methods that characterized the reform era—

where police would race from call to call, take an offense report, and leave the scene without seeking any resolution to problems or achieving any long-term benefits. This change in philosophy and strategies goes far beyond merely creating a “crime prevention specialist” position, a “community relations unit,” a foot or bicycle patrol, or a neighborhood mini-station. Today, community-oriented policing and problem solving involves radical changes in police organizational culture and structures, management styles, and external relationships. It requires a cultural transformation within the entire police agency, involving changes in recruiting, training, awards systems, evaluation, and promotions. New technologies have also been designed to help effect this transition, while personnel training, evaluation, and reward systems have been altered to fit this philosophy. At its core, this approach fosters more long-term, thoughtful crime control and prevention strategies.

Finally, as mentioned in Chapter 3, what every criminal justice employee knows is that three elements must exist in order for a crime to occur: an offender, a victim, and a location, as shown in Figure 6.4. The problem analysis triangle helps officers visualize the problem and understand the relationships among these three elements. Additionally, it helps officers analyze problems, it suggests where more information is needed, and it assists with crime control and prevention. Simply put, if there is a victim and he or she is in a place where crimes occur but there is no offender, no crime occurs. If there is an offender

and he or she is in a place where crimes occur but there is nothing or no one to be victimized, then no crime will occur. If an offender and a victim are not in the same place, there will be no crime. Part of the analysis phase involves finding out as much as possible about the victims, offenders, and locations where problems exist in order to understand what is prompting the problem and what can be done about it.

THE WORK OF FORENSICS AND DETECTIVES

The challenges involved with investigating crimes may well be characterized by a quote from Ludwig Wittgenstein: “How hard I find it to

see what is right in front of my eyes!”39 Certainly the art of sleuthing has long fascinated the American public, and news reports on the expanding uses of DNA and television series such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation have done much to capture the public’s fascination with criminal investigation and forensic science in the 21st century. This interest in “sleuthing” is not a recent phenomenon. For decades, Americans have feasted on the exploits of dozens of fictional masterminds, like Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, Clint Eastwood’s portrayal of Detective “Dirty Harry” Callahan, and Peter Falk’s Columbo, to name a few.

JOURNAL ARTICLE Journal 6.2: The Ideology of Homicide Det

ectives: A Cross-National Study CLICK TO SHOW

problems.

POLICE DISCRETION

The power to use discretion in performing one’s role is at the very core of policing. However, as is discussed in this section, this power can be controversial—and used for both good and bad.

The Myth of Full Enforcement

The law is written in black and white; however, the manner in which most laws are enforced by the police can be said to be colored gray. Noted police scholar Herman Goldstein wrote in 1963 that the police should be “Enforcing the law without fear

or favor.”33 However, the truth is anything but (except for laws or policies related to domestic violence and driving under the influence, for example, where the police are given no discretion but to arrest).

Consider this scenario: The municipal police chief or county sheriff is asked during a civic club luncheon speech which laws are and are not enforced by his or her agency. The official response will inevitably be that all of the laws are enforced equally, all of the time. Yet the chief or sheriff knows that full enforcement of the laws is a myth—that there are neither the resources nor the desire to enforce them all, nor are all laws enforced impartially.

There are legal concerns as well. For example, releasing some offenders (to get information about other crimes, because of a good excuse, etc.) cannot be the official policy of the agency (and letting an offender go is a form of discretion as well); however, the chief or sheriff cannot broadcast that fact to the public. Indeed, it has been stated that “the single most astonishing fact of police behavior is the extent to which police do not enforce the law when they have every legal right to do

so.”34

p.156

SAUDI ARABIA—LITTLE TO DO ON PATROL

The police in Saudi Arabia assist with enforcing the very cruel (by Western standards) Islamic law, which is governed by the Koran and can include amputations of limbs, which are conducted in many cities and with some frequency on the Justice Square in Riyadh. Believing that public beheadings and amputations deter other prospective offenders, the

police encourage people in the vicinity of the square to witness these events. When a thief’s right hand is cut off in public, a string is tied to the middle finger and the hand is hung from a hook high on a streetlight pole on Justice Square for all to see. Because there is a near total absence on Saudi Arabian streets of gangs, drive-by shootings, purse snatchings, and contraband, the police patrol the streets in Chevrolets, BMWs, and Volvos, looking for minor infractions of the law.

Owing to the aforementioned harsh criminal code, there is little for the Saudi police to do in terms of crime prevention or investigation. The religious police—the Mutaween— patrol and stroll in their white cotton robes and sandals and look, as one writer observed, like “desert nomads who have stumbled unexpectedly into this century.” They look for people who are improperly dressed or women who have a loose strand of hair falling across their face or who need to adjust their tarhas (head coverings). Around-the-clock patrols ensure that shops are closed in time for daily prayers and that only married couples are sitting in family sections of restaurants. The patrols often follow persons suspected of being involved in what is deemed immoral

behavior, such as drug use, homosexuality, gambling, and begging. Teams of religious police will also destroy home satellite dishes, which bring uncensored Western television broadcasts into Saudi homes.

Sources: U.S. citizen living in Saudi

Arabia, personal communication,

September 12, 1994; Chris Hedges,

“Everywhere in Saudi Arabia, Islam Is

Watching,” New York Times, January 6,

1993, p. A4(N), col. 3.

Attempts to Define Discretion

The way police make arrest decisions is largely unknown (see possible determining factors, described in the next section). What is known, however, is that when police observe something of a suspicious or an illegal nature, two important decisions must be made: (1) whether to intervene in the situation and (2) how to intervene. The kinds, number, and possible combinations of interventions are virtually limitless. What kinds of decisions are available for an officer who makes a routine traffic stop? David Bayley and Egon Bittner observed long ago that officers have as many as 10 actions to select from at the initial stop (e.g., order the driver out of the car), 7 strategies

appropriate during the stop (such as a roadside sobriety test), and 11 exit strategies (including releasing the driver with a warning), representing a total of 770 different combinations of actions that

might be taken!35

AUTHOR VIDEO Author Video 6.1: Discretion

Criminal law has two sides—the formality and the reality. The formality is found in the statute books and opinions of appellate courts. The reality is found in the practices of enforcement officers. In some circumstances, the choice of action to be taken is relatively easy, such as arresting a bank robbery suspect. In other situations, such as quelling a dispute between neighbors or determining how much party noise is too much, the choice is more

difficult.36 Our system tends to treat people as individuals. One person who commits a robbery is not the same as

another person who commits a robbery. Our system also takes into account why and how a person committed a crime (his or her intent, or mens rea, discussed in Cha pter 2). The most important decisions take place on the streets, day or night, generally without the opportunity for the officer to consult with others or to carefully consider all the facts.

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Determinants of Discretionary Actions

The power of discretionary policing can be awe-inspiring. Kenneth Culp Davis, an authority on police discretion, writes, “The police are among the most important policy makers of our entire society. And they make far more discretionary determinations in individual cases than does any other class of administrators; I

know of no close second.”37

What determines whether the officer will take a stern approach (enforcing the letter of the law with an arrest) or will be lenient (issuing a verbal warning or some other outcome short of arrest)? Several variables enter into the officer’s decision:

1 The law is indeed a factor. For example, many state statutes and local ordinances now mandate that the police arrest for certain

suspected offenses, such as driving under the influence or domestic violence.

2 The officer’s attitude can also be a factor. First, some officers are more willing to empathize with offenders who feel they deserve a break than others. Furthermore, police, being human, can bring to work either a happy or an unhappy disposition. Personal viewpoints can play a role, such as when, for example, the officer is fed up with juvenile crimes that have been occurring of late and thus will not give any leniency to youths that he or she encounters. Also, as Carl Klockars and Stephen Mastrofski observed, although violators frequently offer what they feel are very good reasons for the officer to overlook their offense, “every police officer knows that, if doing so will allow them to escape punishment, most people are

prepared to lie through their teeth.”3

8

3 Another major consideration in the officer’s choice among options is the citizen’s attitude. If the offender is rude and condescending, denies having done anything wrong, or uses some of the standard clichés that are almost guaranteed to rankle the officer—such as “You don’t know who I am” (someone who is obviously very

important in the community), “I’ll have your job,” “I know the chief of police,” or “I’m a taxpayer, and I pay your salary”—the probable outcome is obvious. On the other hand, the person who is honest with the officer, avoids attempts at intimidation and sarcasm, and does not try to “beat the rap” may fare better.

In addition to these considerations, other factors that an officer may take into account when deciding whether or not to arrest might include injury to and preference of the victim; prior criminal record of the offender; amount and strength of evidence; peer and agency pressure regarding certain kinds of crimes; media coverage of this and other related crimes; and availability and credibility of witnesses. The officer’s specific assignment will also come into play. For example, homicide investigators would care little about a driver’s tendency to disobey traffic laws, whereas one who is assigned and dedicated to traffic work will probably not let such offenders off with a warning.

Pros and Cons of Discretion

Having discretionary authority carries several advantages for the police officer: First, because the law cannot (and should not) cover every sort of situation the

officer encounters, discretion allows the officer to have the flexibility to treat different situations in accordance with humanitarian and practical goals. For example, assume an officer pulls over a speeding motorist, only to learn that the car is en route to the hospital with a woman who is about to deliver a baby. While the agitated driver is endangering everyone in the vehicle as well as other motorists on the roadway, discretion allows the officer to be compassionate and empathetic, giving the car a safe escort to the hospital rather than issuing a citation for speeding. In short, discretionary use of authority allows the police to employ a philosophy of “justice tempered with mercy.”

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You Be the… POLICE OFFICER

Assume a police officer pulls over a vehicle for swerving across the center line. The driver, a 17-year-old college student who is an elementary education major, admits she’s been drinking at a party. The breathalyzer test reveals a .07 blood alcohol concentration. In this state, .07 can result in a charge of either “driving after having consumed alcohol” or a more serious “driving while ability is

impaired.” There are two other girls in the car: One has a badly swollen jaw after having fallen at the party; the driver is attempting to get her to the urgent care facility. Another girl, the older sister of the driver, is visibly pregnant.

1. What discretionary issues are presented?

2. Given all of the facts at hand, how do you believe the officer should deal with the driver?

One disadvantage of discretionary authority is that those officers who are the least trained and experienced have the greatest amount of discretion to exercise. In other words, as the rank of the officer increases, the amount of discretion that he or she can employ typically decreases. The patrol officer or deputy, being loosely supervised on the streets, makes many discretionary decisions about whether or not to arrest, search, frisk, and so forth. Conversely, the chief of police or sheriff will be highly constrained by department policies and procedures, union agreements, affirmative action laws, and/or governing board guidelines and policies. Another disadvantage is that allowing police to exercise such discretion belies their need to appear impartial— treating people differently for committing

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

As part of their community-policing and

problem-solving efforts, many agencies

use bicycle patrols to focus on crime

prevention and greater interaction with

the community.

essentially the same offense. Critics of

discretion also argue that such wide latitude in decision making may serve as a breeding ground for police corruption; for example, an officer may be offered a bribe to overlook an offense.

See the case study in the accompanying “You Be the Police Officer” box and respond to the questions posed.

COMMUNITY POLICING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

Chapter 5 discussed the three eras of policing, including today’s “community era.” Following is a brief description of policing

in terms of how it moved from the political and reform eras—both of which experienced problems in terms of recognizing and working with the community. The seeds of community policing and problem solving were sown in London in 1829, when the architect of London’s police force, Sir Robert Peel, offered that “the police are the public and . . . the public are the police,” and that by establishing patrol beats, officers could get to know their citizens and thus be better able to gather information about neighborhood crime and disorder. As was seen in Chapter 5, however, in the United States that close police-public association over time often led to powerful political influences and corruption in terms of who was hired, who was promoted, and who could bring elected officials the most votes. This led to the onset of the reform era in the 1930s. Reforms included the removal of police from the influence of the community and politics through the creation of civil service systems. The community era of policing recognized that the public has a vested interest in addressing—as well as vital information concerning—neighborhood crime and disorder, and thus a return to Peel’s principles was needed and the two entities should work hand in glove to resolve problems.

SAGE NEWS CLIP SAGE News Clip 6.1: Community-O

riented Policing

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● FIGURE 6.4 Problem Analysis Triangle

Source: John E. Eck and William Spelman, Problem-

Solving: Problem-Oriented Policing in Newport News

(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice,

National Institute of Justice, 1987), p. 43.

Problem-oriented policing, which began to develop in the mid-1980s, was grounded in principles different from, but complementary to, those of community- oriented policing. Problem-oriented policing is a strategy that puts the community policing philosophy into practice. It advocates that police examine the underlying causes of recurring incidents of crime and disorder. The problem-solving process helps officers identify problems, analyze them completely, develop response strategies, and assess the results. Police must be equipped to define more clearly and to understand more fully the problems they are expected to handle. They must recognize the relationships between and among incidents—for example, incidents involving the same behavior, the same address, or the same people. The police must therefore develop a commitment to analyzing problems—gathering information from police files, the minds of experienced officers, other agencies of government, and private sources as well. It can also require conducting house-to- house surveys and talking with victims, complainants, and offenders. It includes an uninhibited search for the most effective response to each problem, looking beyond just the criminal justice system to a wide range of alternatives; in sum, police must try to design a customized response that holds the greatest potential for dealing effectively with a specific problem in a

specific place under specific conditions.

Thousands of police agencies have thus broken away from their reactive, incident- driven methods that characterized the reform era—where police would race from call to call, take an offense report, and leave the scene without seeking any resolution to problems or achieving any long-term benefits. This change in philosophy and strategies goes far beyond merely creating a “crime prevention specialist” position, a “community relations unit,” a foot or bicycle patrol, or a neighborhood mini-station. Today, community-oriented policing and problem solving involves radical changes in police organizational culture and structures, management styles, and external relationships. It requires a cultural transformation within the entire police agency, involving changes in recruiting, training, awards systems, evaluation, and promotions. New technologies have also been designed to help effect this transition, while personnel training, evaluation, and reward systems have been altered to fit this philosophy. At its core, this approach fosters more long-term, thoughtful crime control and prevention strategies.

Finally, as mentioned in Chapter 3, what every criminal justice employee knows is that three elements must exist in order for a crime to occur: an offender, a victim, and

a location, as shown in Figure 6.4. The problem analysis triangle helps officers visualize the problem and understand the relationships among these three elements. Additionally, it helps officers analyze problems, it suggests where more information is needed, and it assists with crime control and prevention. Simply put, if there is a victim and he or she is in a place where crimes occur but there is no offender, no crime occurs. If there is an offender and he or she is in a place where crimes occur but there is nothing or no one to be victimized, then no crime will occur. If an offender and a victim are not in the same place, there will be no crime. Part of the analysis phase involves finding out as much as possible about the victims, offenders, and locations where problems exist in order to understand what is prompting the problem and what can be done about it.

THE WORK OF FORENSICS AND DETECTIVES

The challenges involved with investigating crimes may well be characterized by a quote from Ludwig Wittgenstein: “How hard I find it to see what is right in front of

my eyes!”39 Certainly the art of sleuthing has long fascinated the American public, and news reports on the expanding uses of DNA and television series such as CSI:

Crime Scene Investigation have done much to capture the public’s fascination with criminal investigation and forensic science in the 21st century. This interest in “sleuthing” is not a recent phenomenon. For decades, Americans have feasted on the exploits of dozens of fictional masterminds, like Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, Clint Eastwood’s portrayal of Detective “Dirty Harry” Callahan, and Peter Falk’s Columbo, to name a few.

JOURNAL ARTICLE Journal 6.2: The Ideology of Homi- cide Detectives: A Cross-National Stu dy CLICK TO SHOW

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INVESTIGATING FURTHER

COMMUNITY POLICING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

In the scenario presented here, consider how the police would have handled the problem using traditional, reactive patrol methods versus the contemporary community-oriented policing and problem-solving approach. In the problem-solving

approach, the police use what is termed the SARA problem-solving process (see Figure 6.5), which comprises the following four steps: scanning (officers first identify a problem and look for a pattern or persistent repeat incidents), analysis (here, officers thoroughly examine the nature and causes of the problem in order to identify possible responses), response (the officer develops creative solutions that will address the problem), and assessment (later, officers look at the problem and neighborhood to see if their responses were effective, examining such indicators as numbers of reported crimes, calls for service to the area, and citizen fear of crime).

In a relatively quiet neighborhood, police have recently had to respond to a series of disturbances. All of the disturbances—loud music, fighting, screeching tires, people displaying lewd behavior on and near the premises—appear to be related to a recently opened live-music dance club. In a month’s time, police officers have been sent to the club to restore order on more than 50 occasions. Under the traditional policing model, typically the swing (evening) shift officers would respond to the club and restore order for a short period of time; later, graveyard (night) shift