Police Agencies Questions
Discuss the implications of localized control using examples of police agencies in your area. You may use agencies you already know about (e.g., your local city police department, university police department, county sheriff’s office, etc.), or you may google search police agencies in your area to identify police agencies near you.
Address the responsibilities of the agencies you choose, including shared responsibilities and distinct responsibilities. (For example, the city of Reno, Nevada is located in Washoe County so you could discuss the responsibilities of the Reno Police Department, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, and the Nevada Highway Patrol.)
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Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of vehicle patrol and foot patrol. How do these different methods of patrol impact community relations? Police efficiency?
Address the implications of the Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment and the Newark Foot Patrol Experiment.
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Throughout the course we have discussed the broad range of police discretion. What are some ways discretion can be used to achieve positive outcomes?
What are potential abuses of discretion? Provide examples to support your arguments
Implications of Localized Control
The University of Chicago Police Department is an accredited police department that works to provide a safe environment to the University of Chicago and its surrounding areas. The implications of its localized control are primarily positive longer term impacts on crime. It is difficult to point out the short term impacts due to the substitution effect of private police replacing public police, the substitution effect from other forms of self-protection and the long delay of the effect of the new police officers handling crime due to the evolving crime dynamics in surrounding areas. In the long run, the localized control provided by this agency is effective in handling the different law enforcement issues in protecting the students, school community and the society (Heaton et al., 2016). The primary focus is on the small community so all the resources and efforts are directed to solving the related challenges. In this case, they are able to reduce crime levels among the small population.
Responsibilities of the Agency: University of Chicago Police Department(UCPD)
UCPD works to keep its communities safe constantly through its state-certified officers. Its leadership has the Chief of Police and the Command Staff (The University of Chicago, 2020). The Chief of Police is responsible for the oversight of department’s policies, strategies of crime prevention and outreach efforts to the immediate communities. The Command Staff focuses on the overall direction of the department, the department’s supervisor’s guide the officers in their daily jobs. The UCPD works under the directive of the Illinois Private College Campus Police Act which gives the officers the authority to work as municipal peace officers or an expanded jurisdiction outside of campus. The UCPD hence works together with the Chicago Police department in meeting the community needs and requests from respective leaders on matters of public safety (The University of Chicago, 2020). The specific responsibilities of the state certified officers include investigations of the reported crime incidents, filing criminal charges, patrolling, record officer activities for statistical analysis among other related duties.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Vehicle and Foot Patrol
One advantage of foot patrol is that the officer is able to have more public contact which can build rapport and trusting relationships with the community (Dante, 2014). Trusting relationships allow the sharing of information which aids the police in solving crime. It is very effective in densely populated regions with a mixture of commercial units and residential houses. However, foot patrol is restricted to a small geographic area. For vehicle patrols, the officers are able to cover larger geographical areas, and can easily transport the tactical and investigative equipment (Dante, 2014). Nonetheless, the officer loses direct contact with the community making it difficult for them to be available to offer the preemptive services.
The efficiency of police depends on their objectives. Therefore, if an officer is looking to build better community relations then foot patrol will do both. If the officer looks to cover a large geographical area then vehicle patrol is best. To achieve high rates of efficiency, police departments need to improvise both types in their operations.
Implications of the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment and the Newark Foot Patrol Experiment.
The findings from Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment indicated that routine preventive patrols in marked police cars had little effect on crime prevention or citizens feeling safe (Carr, 2014). It was evident that the resources allocated to dealing with these activities can be allocated elsewhere. It was evident that preventing crime is increasingly dependent on the willingness of the community to report suspicious and criminal behaviors to law enforcers and not the frequency of patrols done. Newark Foot patrol Experiment would also find the same outcomes about it preventing the rates of crime (Police Foundation, & United States of America, 1981). Nonetheless, respondents indicated they felt more secure even in the most urban circumstances. The impact remaining that community and police relationships are very important in crime prevention. It is essential for the law enforcer to build these relationships that will help out in other crime prevention strategies.
Ways in which police Discretion can be used to achieve positive outcomes?
For police discretion to achieve positive outcomes, it is important for the police to incorporate professionalism and ethics in their conduct. Due to the lack of resources and need for efficient services, the police should understand that they need to make ethical and rightful decisions in different circumstances. Additionally, to achieve efficiency, it is important that the operational decisions in the operations are made properly. This ensures that the police in the departments are professional enough to make the right decisions. Another way is to allow police discretion even in the lower ranks so that police services can spare front line resources. Concentration on the offenses will be done in accordance to the values of both the police and community it serves.
Potential abuses of discretion
If a state officer fails to properly take into consideration both the law and facts that relate to a particular matter is considered abuse of discretion. For instance, the trial courts are required to exercise discretion before making judgments by considering both logic and evidence (Farlex, 2005). Examples of police discretion include whether to draw a weapon, give a ticket, arrest an individual, search or Help an individual. For instance, if the police is not threatened in any way by a suspect or criminal, it will be an abuse of discretion if he or she uses their weapon to stop the individual. A decision made by the police based on race, gender and other characteristics is an abuse of discretion.
References
Carr, C. M. (2014). The Kansas City Foot Patrol project: An Assessment of the effectiveness of foot patrol in violent crime micro-places (Doctoral dissertation).
Dante. (2014). Foot Patrol versus Car Patrol. Retrieved from https://www.ultius.com/ultius-blog/entry/foot-patrol-versus-car-patrol.html
Farlex. (2005). Abuse of Discretion. Retrieved from https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Abuse+of+Discretion
Heaton, P., Hunt, P., MacDonald, J., & Saunders, J. (2016). The short-and long-run effects of private law enforcement: Evidence from university police. The Journal of Law and Economics, 59(4), 889-912.
Police Foundation, & United States of America. (1981). Newark Foot Patrol Experiment.
The University of Chicago. (2020). University of Chicago Police Department. Retrieved from https://safety-security.uchicago.edu/police/
