Lo3 Flashcards
(24 cards)
Who are police?
They are servants of the public and the law. The principles are embedded in the police code of ethics, which stresses that the police are public servants who need to maintain the respect and support of the public in order to do their jobs and perform their duty.
Aims and objectives of police.
-Keep the peace and maintain order.
-Protect life and property.
-Prevent, detect and investigate crime.
-Bring offenders to justice.
Police funding.
2018/19 the total budget was £12.3 billion.
2/3 comes from central government.
Most of the rest comes from local council tax.
Small amount comes from charging for services such as policing football matches.
Funding has fallen in recent years. 2010-2018 it fell by 19% which led to a fall of 20,000 officers
2022 approximately 160,000 officers.
Police philosophy
Serve and protect.
Their ability to perform their duties on the public’s cooperation and approval.
physical force is a last resort.
their duty is to impartially serve law.
they’re the public and the public are the police
the police are just citizens in uniform paid to do full time what all citizens must do that’s uphold the law.
Police working practices.
The police deal with virtually all types of crime and offenders although some specialists agencies deal with some.
Police duties;
respond to emergencies
secure crime scene
gathering evidence.
Specialist police.
river police, air support, underwater search teams l, dog handlers.
Some operate nationally as part of the NCA such as child exploitation and online protection (CEOP) or as part of the met police such as SO15 the counter terrorism command.
Unarmed police- must officers are.
Special constables- unpaid and part time volunteers.
Police community support officers (PCSOs) linter powers and often deal with anti social behaviour.
Police and crime commissioners (Pccs)- elected representatives of the area covered by the police.
Evaluation of the police.
Their work results in a high volume of cases being brought to court each year.
Offences of public concern.
Recent years show progress in prioritising offences of public concern like domestic abuse shown by increasing numbers of reporting and recording of cases.
Some report shows faking like fall in arrest rate not using bail conditions to protect the victim.
Police
Current trends: more crimes but fewer solved.
Crime is increasing. March 2016 4.5 million rose to 5.7 million is september 2018.
Knife and gun crime increased significantly between 2014-18 24,000 to 40,000 and fire arms cases 4,900-6,600.
clear up rates have fallen. 2015-15% cases resulted in an offence. 2018 fell to 8.2%.
number of penalty notices and cautions issued has also fallen.
Police.
Dropped cases
police aren’t investigating large numbers of offences reported to them. Met police dropped 2.6 times as many cases in the day they were reported in 2027 as they did in 2016- 34,000 in the year. 2014-2016 screened cut around 1/3 of 2.2 million crime reported to them.
police finically circumstance.
Cuts in funding mean that police prioritise some crimes over others.
police accuracy of the statistical evidence
statisics suggest that the police are becoming less effective.
police improved recording procedures
The increase in crime could be because recording procedures have improved.
police counter evidence from CSEW.
This shows that crime has been falling for several years to 2017 and 2018 it remained level.
Other criticisms of police.
Racism and bias- Macpherson repert, recruitment of ethnic minorities had increased but still under represented l.
Stop and search- still disproportionately used again black and ethnic minority groups.
Tasers- used disproportionately against people in minority groups.
The CPS philosophy and values.
Independe and fairness
Honesty and openness
Advise the police.
Asses the evidence
Decide if and offender can be prosecuted
prepare prosecution case.
The CPS funding.
the income comes from the CPS
around 1/2 a billon £ per year
recovered some costs when courts award costs against defendants and recovers assets confiscated from criminals.
in 2018 it was reports the budget had fallen by 25% and lost 1/3 of staff. this led to concerns abiur it performing its role effectively.
Cps working practices
types of criminality and offender- apart from minor offences the cos deals with full range of offenders: criminal. responsible for all serious crimes.
National and local reach- cps is a national body with 14 regional teams across england and wales. each is headed by a chief grown prosecutor. Cos direct is a virtual 15th area providing charging decisions to police 24/7 for 365 days a year.
Decisions to prosecute- use the tests- evidential and public interest to create the full code test.
Evaluation of CPS
evidence of success
in 2018 the cps prosecuted 80,000 cases in crown court and over 450,000 cases in magistrates courts. 84% of defendants that it prosecuted were convicted.
CPS lack of effectiveness
some cases don’t go to court.
CPS media reports
the cps hasn’t always been favourable
the guardian reported that the cps specialist rape prosecutor last had been advised to drop a number of supposedly weak cases.
experts and campaigners waned that it would limit victims access to justice.
CPS
realistic prospect of conviction
critics say cps should be focused less on trail outcomes and more on bringing cases to justice.
CPS
budget cuts.
They mean there’s not enough people, technology eg, it took 600 hours to analyse content on 1 phone.
CPS
evidence disclosure.
Eg Liam Allen- The CPS didn’t disclose all the evidence.
Damilola Taylor- The CPS didn’t build the case effectively or correctly.
Other criticisms of the CPS
The CPS can be too close to the police.
Too political, inefficient and slow in proceeding with cases.
Failure to communicate with relevant parties.
