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Unit 3 The Nature and Scope of Police Work
Functions of Police -RoleàPeacekeeping -Most of the “regular” police work -Intervening in potentially dangerous situations -Traffic tickets -Directing traffic, settling disputes, etc -Patrol* -Surveillance, transporting suspects, reports -Most aspects of crime (80%) do not involve “dangerous crimes” -Right to use force -Separates police from citizens (except in self-defense) -Better to have small group of well-trained people (police) to handle dangerous situations than large, non-trained group
Organization of Policing -Patrol -Policing “the streets” -Function: -Protect public safety -Enforce the law -Control traffic -Conduct criminal investigations -Interpret the law -Foot patrol vs. motorized -Kansas City Experiment -Test to see whether different levels of patrol affected crime -Proactive, reactive, normal -No significant reduction! -Detective -Identification, location, apprehension of criminals -Collection of physical evidence -Locating and interviewing witnesses -Recovery of stolen property -Larger departments have own detective units -Broken down by crime -Smaller departments may not -Looking at the “big picture” relatively few arrests are made by detectives -Specialized police units -SWAT teams -Handle “high risk” situations -Drug enforcement units -Mineral Area Drug Task Force -MUSTANG -Community policing -Collaborative effort b/w police and community -Officers assigned to particular neighborhood -Develop “relationship”
Police Discretion -Police must make judgments -Has a law been broken? Who to arrest? When to shoot? -When to use discretion? -Conduct is clearly illegal but full enforcement was never intended -Vagrancy, loitering -Enforcement of law would place undue constraints on the police (time-consuming) -When an arrest should be made but certain aspects of the situation make it impractical -Arresting an informant, etc -Full vs. selective -Full enforcement -Investigating EVERY complaint, EVERY EVENT, enforcing EVERY law -Impossible -Selective -Not enforcing all the laws (judgment) -Decision to arrest -Seriousness of the crime -Offender’s mental state -Criminal record -Weapons -Availability of complainant -Amount of danger -Social status -Juveniles -Character/demeanor -Command discretion -“Look the other way”
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