Final: Future of Policing Paper

On December 18, 2014, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order establishing the President 's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The Task Force Members sought expertise from stakeholders and input from the public through Listening Sessions, teleconferences and written comments as they worked to identify best practices and make recommendations to the President. The Task Force submitted an initial report to the President on March 2, 2015 and released the final report on May 18, 2015 ("Final report of the resident’s task force on 21st century policing," 2015).

Many people know of the police officers of today’s world and that it is their job to enforce the laws set by their government, but not many people know the history of your typical everyday United States police officer or how they came about. The idea for neither your everyday police officer nor his or her department they work for or how a police department operates, originated in the United States. Over the years though America has made changes and adapted its system over the years to make it more suitable for its countries beliefs and practices.

In the last three decades, several concepts have been advanced to organize efforts to improve policing. Among them have been team policing, neighborhood policing, community policing, zero-tolerance policing and problem-oriented policing. Herman Goldstein was the first to propose problem-oriented policing in 1979. Problem-oriented policing is a policing strategy that involves the identification and analysis of specific crime and disorder problems, in order to develop effective response strategies in conjunction with ongoing assessment. The emphasis in problem-oriented policing is on directing attention to the broad range of problems the community expects the police to handle–the problems that constitute the business of the police and on

Policing today consists of three eras. These three eras have adapted and built off one another through history (Parr, 2014). The first era started around 1840 to 1930, and is known as the Political Era. The second Era is known as the Reform Era and lasted from 1930 to 1970. The last era is called the Community-Problem Solving Era and is still being adapted and used today. The Political Era emphasizes on meeting the needs of politicians. The police were given power through the local government and the community had very little say in what happened. The police and politicians worked together to control the city and neighborhoods (Palmiotto, 2000). This was often referred to as a ward. The ward politician controlled all the police in their neighborhood. The police officers tasks included not only crime prevention and order but a lot of social service activities that involved their neighborhoods. The officers resembled the ethnic backgrounds of the neighborhoods they lived and worked in and performed their patrols gaining trust from their community (Palmiotto, 2000). This allowed positive integration of police officers leading to more public service, and the trust of the officers to stop crime when is starts.

Community oriented policing is a policing strategy based on the notion that community interaction and support can help control crime and reduce fear, with community members helping to identify suspects, detain vandals and bring problems to the attention of police. It is a philosophy that combines traditional aspects of law enforcement with prevention measures, problem-solving, community engagement, and community partnerships (Ref. 1).

The police officers of today have much more of a society impacted relationship with their jobs than they have ever had before. The police have adapted to better work with the communities that they are involved with compared to just overseeing them. This has been a really successful transformation on most accounts. The biggest affect that the police involvement has produced is cooperation. The community, for the most part, is more involved with helping out the police when they need it. Such things as neighborhood watches or an amber alert program within a community is a sure testament to the relationship with the community. The police have figured out that working with the community is an easier path to travel and they can get better results. There are all sorts of programs now where the police try to reach out to the people surrounding them. It is not uncommon for a police officer to be assigned to a high school or a high school program to help reassure the kids in the neighborhood and make them aware that the police are there to help make it a better and safer

In relation to functions of patrol, crime investigation, emergency, and critical incident response and future trends of the CAPS program. One key point of functions of patrolling could be the proactive vigilance of the community (individual neighborhoods) in taking preventive measures in developing an increase of their crime rates. Crime investigations are still the sole responsibility of the Chicago police department; however, it is always easier to investigate crimes when he or she does have the support of the community backing him or her up. This has proven to be very effective means of adding in investigations, instead of the community not wanting to get involve, like it was in the past. With relation to emergency and critical incident response, there have been positive comments that have been said about the CAPS program involvement in reporting certain situations. It is hard to predict the future brings for the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) Program. Observing past trends from when the program was first started, one could see how crime has gone down, the community has gotten more involve in the

Since the September 11, 2001, law enforcement agencies across the nation recognized the need to integrate intelligence into their current community policing approach. When intelligence is available, decision-making is more effective and efficient. Intelligence enables law enforcement agencies to implement policies and procedures necessary to combat the concerns of the community.

Problem oriented policing is geared toward solving problems. The first step in problem oriented policing is the identification and selection of a problem. One method of identifying, analyzing and selecting a problem is known as SARA. The acronym SARA stands for scanning, analysis, response, and assessment (Cronkhite, 2013). The Center for Problem Oriented Policing has several problem-specific guides for different problems that police and a community may face. The guides cover a variety of subjects ranging from burglary to gas drive offs. Each guide discusses the problem and factors involved and offers suggestions derived from police report and research of the problem (Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, n.d.).

Since the founding of this country, to the wild west, and up to the present, the agenda of the policing bodies have been clear: to uphold and enforce the laws of our society. Of course the way they do this today had undergone changes from the first police forces of early America, law enforcement has seen trends come and go.

In this paper I would be identifying, compare, and contrast the policing function at the local, state, and federal organizational levels. I would be Analyzing how the organizational, management, administration, and operational functions at these three organizational levels are similar or different and why. Also I would be identifying the leadership characteristics and responsibilities pertaining to each organizational level.

The dictionary definition of the police is “the organized civil force of a state, concerned with maintenance of law and order, the detection and prevention of crime, etc,” (Collins English Dictionary, 2002). This definition states the minimum of what the police actually do. Providing support for families, protecting society from criminals and responding to calls 24 hours a day 7 days a week are just some of the other roles that police have to deal with. In this essay the evolution of the police will be discussed as well as how the police are facing challenges.

Lastly officers face new and upcoming challenges in the street through technology. Everyone carries a super computer with an attached

As a police officer, for the last 8 years, I have seen the enormous impact that technological advancements have had on the police department in which I serve. While I may not agree with every device they prepare and equip us for, I do believe that my department has been changed for the better, as a result of these fundamental tools. People receive large amounts of information on a daily basis. When I think about the enormity of that, it is quite a bit of data and statistics to absorb and disseminate at a moment’s notice. However, as a police officer, my job requires it, if not demands it. The foundation of my career can be intense and sometimes grueling, but I can only imagine how strenuous it would be if the technology information we used ceased to exist.

Businesses have been led to rely greatly on technology for many different reasons such as performance advancements, quality control, manpower assistance, and workmanship enhancements, just to name a few. Law enforcement and policing is no different. Although community relations and crime fighting are amongst the most important aspects of police work, new forms of technology are being created to assist police departments in all aspects of police work. With rising crime rates and lower police manpower, technology advancements are being welcomed by communities and police departments around the world.