Police Reform for Efficiency
Assessment of work is an important aspect of any form of social work. This is because it allows the stakeholders to gauge the impact of the policies on all people central to achieving the goals. Policing as a social discipline requires keen and elaborate Assessment into police, their community and all other general participants. Policing plays an important role in society, as much as society plays a significant role in policing. There is a form of interdependent relationship that develops and predicates certain values and creates a working environment. As such, Assessment of work done by police provides a central framework that Helps the first-line supervisor in developing the best sense of awareness and suggestion for future improvements. This awareness will be key in accomplishing individual and collective police tasks with limited resources and time. It is important to note that most police departments lack resources to perform significant Assessment within the specified time frames. In order to create an adequate environment for policing, it is important to create a better understanding of their work, and general awareness on the immediate demography factors that might affect how they dispense their services. This can be achieved through better planning, greater analysis of their immediate environment, and a responsive and effective organization that will be achieved through better hiring and adequate management practices.
Police work continues to be dynamic relative to the population growth, economic development and social cohesion within any specific region in America. Generally, police are a form of the civil authority of government. Their responsibility is to maintain public safety and order. They are tasked with enforcing laws, rules and regulations. They also work to investigate, detect and prevent criminal activities before their occurrence. As such, the work police do is controlled mainly by the economic, social, political and cultural factors relative to the constitutional requirements. Police work becomes increasingly dependent on the demography and ecosystem in which they exist. Wilson et al. (2010) identify little police departments could undertake to limit the scope of their work and the community’s demand for officers.
Using the metaphor of a bucket would be important to understand problems in policing, Wilson et al. (2010) propose that demand for policing in America is like a half-full bucket, half of the space left within the bucket defined by unmet demands that include staffing deficit, community needs, and allocation of resources. This is meant to imply that it would be impossible to meet all police demands under the current societal predisposition and still satisfy all the needs. There will always be an aspect that must be addressed either through better training, provision of adequate resources, community outreach etc. The role of the first-line supervisor is to offer suggestions on filling the bucket.
In regions where the police department is unresponsive to current trends, the police may increasingly face a high turnover rate. One critical factor that the police department may need to create more emphasis on is in analyzing the demographic trends of a region. Wilson et al. (2010) identify that demographic trends directly affect police workload as it significantly contributes to attitudes, recruitment and retention. In the US, particularly, demography relates to race, age, gender, religion, and other predominant cultural characteristics that affect policing and police perception. Simko (2017) conducted empirical research in which he linked America’s policing tactic to varying form one race to another. African Americans being more targeted than white in the police investigation.
Lack of racial cohesion in America currently poses a key problem in terms of perception. It contributes to a negative attitude on policing that will eventually define police action negatively in certain regions compared to others. Cities with rising demographic diversification may see police departments increasingly overused. Solomon (2016) identifies that the more out of touch, a police department is with the people it is embodied to protect the more ruthless it becomes. Therefore, as a first-line supervisor, some of the key factors that need to be addressed surround police training and community understanding. To fill the “bucket,” a clear picture must be created to help present the problem. It is important to note that police department woes do not only surround race. Due to limitations central to the paper, a lack of racial cohesion has to be used often to offer context to the argument.
Cedar Rapids Police Department (CRPD) mirrors the scenario given above. It is a small city with a population of fewer than 200,000 residents. Its police department is similarly smaller and effectively representative of the demography of the region. With a median police salary of $53,000 (Salary, 2020), 84.69% Whites and 7.11% black population (World Population Review, 2020), Cedar Rapids is generally ranked lower than a variety of cities the state of Iowa. Nonetheless, there are important considerations that have been made since 2013 that have resulted in the improvement of police service relative to other major cities around it. Some of the key factors identified are the department’s proactive nature, relative to the major demographic and popular trends of the region (Reese, 2020). For example, in the just-concluded wave of mass protest, the CRPD has introduced key reforms that include:
• Formation of an independent citizen review board
• Banning qualified immunity
• Stern body camera requirements
• Increased communication between law enforcement and municipality officials
• Investment in diversity and inclusion
• Banning chokehold and knee to the neck (Reese, 2020).
With a more proactive police force, they have been able to control crime to a minimum. Historically, the city has reported lower crime rates, which are also drastically decreasing. James (2020) identifies that since 2013 violent crime has reduced by 5.6%, robberies by 23% and aggravated assault by 17%, thanks to a cooperative and efficient management system. As such, for better planning and improvement of police-community cohesion and general morale and responsiveness, it is important to create awareness into the various factors that affect police work.
As a first-line supervisor, I will seek to implement some of the more important aspects of better-policing:
• Planning and Analysis: Wilson et al. (2010) identify that the key to understanding and creating a working relationship is researching and elaborating on demography and popular trends within demography. As such, it would be important for better policing to create value in understanding the community in which police serve. The attitude that dominates within the community shapes police service effectiveness if police officers are not welcome. There tends to develop a disconnect between the two interlinked sectors. Wilson (2010) suggests that to achieve this, officers will need to conduct surveys and interviews, also offer regular job appraisals and criticisms. This will be a key guiding tool in understanding both important stakeholders within a community. It also works to boost their perception.
• Offering realistic job previews. Orrick (2018) identifies one of the key ways to create an adequate and rewarding policing environment that must involve dictating the agency’s core values. Setting the values dictates an individual officer’s perception and motivation in their work. Orrick (2018) identifies that in most cases, creating a system of core values is viewed as the softer side of policing and, as such, underestimated. Contrary to this, it is the backbone to better service provision. Researchers state that it works to influence and impact individual motivation into their tasks and role in their immediate environment by giving them a sense of honor and pride (Orrick, 2018). As such, it is an important aspect of employee retention and motivation.
• Create more tangible and intangible compensation and benefits: a variety of means can achieve this. Training and rewarding of the officers are some of the key factors to be considered. The Police Executive Research Forum (2018) identifies a need to be an on-field training (outsider perspective), mentorship component, and scenario-based training spearheaded by the best performing officers. Rewarding their action in the field does not necessarily imply monetary compensation. It may include factors such as adjusting their shifts. Also, recognizing their problems and mental deficits may affect how they work and offer health remedies or counselor session alternatives. Additionally, it could include choosing an instructor that understands their problems and addresses them tailored to their unique problems (Elkins, 2020).
• Offer greater employee engagement: The Police Executive Research Forum (2018) identifies that the forms of Assessment available need to be up to date to gain better engagement. Some of the more pressing factors that have played a key role in boosting the police engagement in the CRPD include the fact that they shed off the 20th-century Assessment technique and opted for newer values in the 21st century (Cedar-Rapids Organization, 2020). They include performance Assessments and ratings based on particular goals, individual problem-solving techniques, better communication with stakeholders, quality service provision and leadership.
These factors categorically position an individual officer in a better position to approach their work already motivated and task-oriented relative to community policing and law enforcement requirements. Being aware of the factors that play an important role in defining their day-to-day tasks is central to creating a more meaningful experience within their work (as a service to their community).
References
Cedar-Rapids-Organization. (2020). Community Policing. Retrieved 24 July 2020, from http://www.cedar-rapids.org/local_government/departments_g_-_v/police/community_policing.php
Elkins, F. (2020). Improving Officer Morale and Job Performance with a Head to Toe Wellness Program. Retrieved 24 July 2020, from https://cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatch/01-2020/officer_morale.html#:~:text=Increase%20buy%20in%20from%20line,and%20support%20wellness%20at%20home.
James, K. (2019). Cedar Rapids Police Department releases preliminary analysis of crime statistics from 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2020, from https://cbs2iowa.com/news/local/cedar-rapids-police-department-releases-preliminary-analysis-of-crime-statistics-from-2019
Orrick, D. (2018). Best Practices Guide: Recruitment, Retention, and Turnover of Law Enforcement Personnel. Retrieved 24 July 2020, from https://www.theiacp.org/sites/default/files/2018-08/BP-RecruitmentRetentionandTurnover.pdf
Reese, T. (2020). Cedar Rapids passes resolution outlining policy reforms and more – KWWL. Retrieved 24 July 2020, from https://kwwl.com/2020/06/19/cedar-rapids-passes-resolution-outlining-police-reforms-and-more/
Salary. (2020). Police Officer Salary in Cedar Rapids, Iowa | Salary.com. Retrieved 24 July 2020, from https://www.salary.com/research/salary/alternate/police-officer-salary/cedar-rapids-ia
Simko, A. (2017). The Relationship Between Demographic Characteristics, Types of Contact with Police, and Perceptions of Police. Retrieved 24 July 2020, from https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1376&context=ugtheses
Solomon, D. (2016). The Intersection of Policing and Race – Center for American Progress. Retrieved 24 July 2020, from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2016/09/01/143357/the-intersection-of-policing-and-race/
The Police Executive Research Forum. (2018). CRITICAL ISSUES IN POLICING SERIES Promoting Excellence in First-Line Supervision: New Approaches to Selection, Training, and Leadership Development. Retrieved 24 July 2020, from https://www.policeforum.org/assets/FirstLineSupervision.pdf
Wilson, J., Dalton, E., Scheer, C., & Grammich, C. (2010). Police recruitment and retention for the new millennium. Santa Monica, CA: RAND.
World Population Review. (2020). Cedar Rapids, Iowa Population 2020 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs). Retrieved 24 July 2020, from https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/cedar-rapids-ia-population
