Policing Philosophies

In this paper, I will be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the Community and Reform Eras. Both of these eras are much different in how they approach policing. In the next five years, I believe that new technology will play a large part in policing. The Community Era or Community-Oriented Policing can be traced back to the 1980’s and is still used today.

The role of policing in our culture can be categorized in two broad models; crime fighter or public services role. These two models view policing in different ways as seen by society as a whole. The views of policing at stated by Pollack (2017), in with the crime fighter model focus on the “presumption is that criminals (who are different from the rest of us) are the enemy and police officers are the soldiers in a war on crime” (p.116). This view by police and society helps to formulate the style of policing they utilize leaning more towards force and not viewing all members of society as equal. The public servant view of policing described by Pollack (2017) as the “presumptions are different and include the idea that criminals are not so different from us and, in fact, may be our sons and daughters” (p. 116).

During this era crime prevention program were funded for the community and police put together. This sort of policing is a plan focused on building ties and working closely with the people in our community to identify and settle problems. Community policing also target low level crime and disorder. I feel this current era perspective was formed because Reform Era and Political Era were not in good grace with citizenship. Both eras’ had outstanding records of misconduct and excessive force toward citizens.

The 1990’s marked the beginning of a new war on drugs. Drug abuse rates had started to increase, wider variety of drugs became more common, and more people started to use. Not a lot has changed, because drug abuse is still very common in today’s society. In the 1990s, drug usage was bad, however a lot of the drugs in today 's society were not as common. Drug abuse is not just in the big cities,the problem is all over.

Policy 5 focused on training and education for law enforcement as well as the community and the last policy focused on officer wellness and safety. These six polcies while different in scope from the two previously discussed commisions dealt with similar issues, public perception, public policy, and the trust or lack of trust between law enforcement and the public. President Obama put it nicely, “When any part of the American family does not feel like it is being treated fairly, that’s a problem for all of us. It means that we are not as strong as a country as we can be.

Literature Review *Needs Serious Help The literature used for this subject is closely related to one another with key differences between each different articles approach. They all address the concept of police corruption and deviance in general but take different stances on the cause of it and how it’s fundamentally made within a flawed system. The articles to follow suit all provide insight to previous methods of addressing the matter.

Problem solving is used to reduce offending in a community. It believes that crimes are caused by existing social conditions. It involves both law enforcement and the community in ways to reduce or prevent crime (i.e., neighborhood watch). The community is a very important aspect of this operational strategy. Departments need to do more to develop solutions with a partnership of the community.

For example, agencies have been established with the sole intent to manage drug use and distribution and technology has been exclusively developed to detect the presence of drugs. Yet, evidence has indicated that such exhaustive efforts have been relatively unsuccessful. First, it has been assumed that drugs have perpetuated violence in society and based on this rationale, it was believed that by the suppressing the pervasiveness of drugs that incidents of violence would simultaneously diminish. However, reality has failed to align with the expectations that had initially been anticipated. Research findings have suggested that the decriminalization of drugs would result in a less adversarial drug market in which conflicts have tended to arise among dealers as well as between dealers and buyers (Common Sense for Drug Policy, 2007, p. 21).

To understand the War on Drugs one needs to understand the cultural landscape that made the war on drugs advantageous. Ronald

Citizens want to feel safe in their neighborhood and the police officers want to apprehend the suspect before more victims are identified. If the police department and the citizens in the community work together it becomes beneficial for both sides, this is called community – policing. Community – policing is an example of crime prevention it’s about bringing the citizens and the police department together to collaborate in an effort to address the concerning crime problems within the community. Some examples of community – policing are: neighborhood watch, business watch, additional officers on foot patrol, bicycle or horse patrol are just to name a

As already suggested, this study starts from the argument that the meaning of community policing is rooted in particular contexts . Key elements of those contexts are the people who interpret and rationalize what community

The previous decades saw increased the decriminalization of certain drugs, such as marijuana, as they began to be used more casually. However, the 1980s and the specifically the Reagan administration saw the “War on Drugs” start. Led by Nancy Reagan, the “Just Say No” campaign dominated the headlines as parents became concerned about their children using drugs (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, n.d.). Under new leadership, the government began to criminalize drug use to unprecedented levels.

Problem oriented policing is a combination of law enforcement and social work (Jackson, 2016). This combination approach helps police officers to identify problems, analyze then, and determine the underlying cause. Identifying and addressing the root cause of crime is the goal of problem-oriented policing (Roufa, 2017). The SARA model is used to help officers with this method of modern policing. Problem oriented policing and the SARA model are used to proactively prevent crime, vs simply reacting to it.

Community Policing is the system of allocating police officers to areas so that they become familiar with local inhabitants. It is used to change the way police departments interact with the public, focusing on community concerns, including crimes. The idea of community policing is to work together to improve the life and quality in their neighborhoods. Community Policing emerged in the 1970’s with the goal to eliminate public disenchantment with police services and the criticisms of the lack of police professionalism (Fagin pg. 114). They identify and resolve issues which potentially affect the way neighborhoods live.

As of recent, the war on drugs has been a very often discussed topic due to many controversial issues. Some people believe the War on Drugs has been quite successful due to the amount of drugs seized and the amount of drug kingpins arrested. I believe this to be the wrong mindset when it comes to the war on drugs. The war on drugs isn’t a winnable one so we must do all that is possible to assist those who struggle with drug addiction and decriminalize small amounts of drugs. These minor changes in the way we combat drugs will create significant change and have lasting effects.