Exam 2 Flashcards
Policing
Police are intitutions or individuals given the general right to use coercive force by the eithin the states domestic terretory(Klockars, 1985)
Democrtic policing
(Thems for democratic policing)
How to aviod non democratic policing?
- Basic mission- to prevent crime and disorder
- Gain legitimacy from formal(substantive) law but maintain approval from public.→ Law that defines what is criminal. They have to maintain support form the public.
3.Right to use coercive force but only as a last resort.
4.Police effectiveness should be measured by the amount of crime.
Democrtic policing
(Moderen issues)
Competing or complimentary demands?
1. Law enforcement vs. Order maintenance? Shooting, drug dealing vs. My landlord is a pain, handing of a child in a divorce
- Substantive law vs. Community demands? the community is really worried about prostitution but its only a missdemeaner
The contradictory nature of coercive force
1. Both necessary and dangerous → It is needed but it can also be dangeous. Life can be lost and trust in the police
The impossible mandate?
1. Can the police really control crime? Should they get the fault or sucess when crimerate change? Most people say yes, the ploice can make a difference.
Democrtic policing
(Police departments)
- Quasi-military organizations: Power at the top and discretion at the bottom.
The top of the hirarcty is the police cheif→ and he makes decistions about rules. But the police offisers on the street make descitions on there own - Visibility → You see police everywere
- Active(Patrol)
Random preventive patrol → what most police are doing. Never drive in the same place→ unpredicteble
Aggressive saturation patrol → high crime areas, but a lot of police in a small area so make them visbility, Make the street safer
Foot Patrol → closer and more intimate realationships with the public and members of the community
Democrtic policing
What is it that line-level police do?
1. Manage situation → drive and wait for 911 calls (most are a small thing)
- Determin crime by maintaining visible presence → average person dossent comite a crime because they know the police. You see a police and slam the braces
K.C experience
Does patrol deter crime?
Three groups:
- Normal patrol
- Three times normal patrol
- No preventive patrol
The study found that patrol had little deterrent effect
Democrtic policing
(Role)
What can police do that others cannot?
1.What can police do that others cannot?
- Deal with situations in ehich “something- ought not to e happening about which something bought to e done NOW!”
Discretion
Understanding discretion -important to understand policing
Deciding on police intervention
Strongest predictor of arrest
Understanding discretion -important to understand policing
A. Linked to working conditions
- Situations are complex& unique
- Situations are unpredictably dangerous
- Existing time/resource constraints
- Laws are vague
B. Handeling the situation
1. Two discretionary questions
2. Which situations need t obe handled?
3. How should they be handled
Deciding on police intervention
- Citizens acts as complainats: Reactive policing
- Offivers as complainants: proavtive policing
- Two diffrent general: Law enforcement and Order maintenance
- Type of situation by complainant type:
Order maintenance and Law enforcement
Type of situation by complainant type
- Reactive policing often involves law enforcement situations
- Proactive policing can involve both law enforcement and order maintenance
Deciding How to Respond
Handling the situation
To arrest or not to arrest?
- Case or situation:
- Environmental
- Workgroup
Departmental style
- Watchman: Order maintenance focused, less formal intervention, potential for feeling police don’t care.
- Legalistic: Strict law enforcement approach, single standard, potential for residents feeling targeted in high-crime areas.
- Service: Balance of law enforcement and order maintenance, respectful, more common in low-crime communities, potential for preferential treatment.
individual style
Three types
- Comfort level with using force.
- Understanding of human nature (simple vs. mature)
Enforcer
Quick to label, use force, can escalate situations, may lack understanding of people.
Avoider
Quick to label, avoids force and difficult situations, may fail to act when needed.
Reciprocator
Tries to understand people, avoids force (potentially excessively, becoming more like a counselor), may struggle when force is necessary.
Professional
Tries to understand people and uses force appropriately when needed.
Benefits and Problems of Discretion
Benefits:
- Allows police to adapt to diverse situations.
- Discretionary practices tend to be less punitive (e.g., warnings instead of arrests).
- Efficiency and system-wide flexibility in prioritizing and managing cases.
Problems:
- Dishonesty: Case lies, cover stories.
- Misuse of police force: Physical coercion, street justice, deadly force.
- Mismanagement of groups:
- Racial profiling.
- Resistance to change.
Limiting Discretion
Procedural Law
Regulates the conduct of state officials processing those suspected, accused, or guilty of a crime, emphasizing individual rights.
4th Amendment
4th Amendment:
- Reasonable search and seizure
Requires a warrant requested from the court with a supporting affidavit. - Probable cause for search warrant
Set of facts and circumstances leading to a reasonable belief that evidence is in a particular place. - Probable cause for arrest Facts and circumstances leading to reasonable belief that a person committed a crime.
- Exceptions to the warrant clause
Exigent circumstances (emergency), search during arrest, stop and frisk (reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and looking for weapons), automobile search (fleeing target exception, consent search, plain-sight search, nonphysical). - Exclusionary rule
Prohibits illegally obtained evidence from being used at trial. - Fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine
Excludes evidence derived from illegally obtained evidence. - Good faith exception
Allows use of evidence if the officer acted in good faith on a faulty warrant.
Factors that influence the decision
Case or Situation, Environmental, . Workgroup (Police Culture), Departmental Style:
