Saturday, January 18, 2020
Policing Reforms Essay
When reading the case study from Chapter eight in â€Å"Criminal Justice Organization†that dealt with policing reforms and how to implement those several questions were raised at the end of the chapter that I would like to address. The first was the obstacles to those putting these reforms into place. What were the issues and concerns of the officers when putting these new reforms into place? Would these new supervisory reforms be accepted well with the officers and the department? Would the fears of the community and officers be calmed by supervisors and how would the supervisors do this? These questions I hope to answer in this essay and allow the reader to see just how effective these reforms are for a healthy society, community and police force. Policing reform includes communities as well as police departments. Policing and community involvement, to me is more of a democratic policing for society. Many departments have had issue with their officers and this reform. But with contemporary styles being introduced the picture is changing. In the article the officers at fires thought that, â€Å"More contemporary approaches to policing such as community policing ideals and practices, were â€Å"Bullshit†and coddling criminals, as far as he was concerned†(p.207). A new supervisor with the new reforms in mind came into his position with real motivation to change the face of the police department. â€Å"Bratton had adopted an idea postulated by some Ivy League types that the erosion of quality of life in a community led towards urban decay and ultimately unchecked crime†(207). The new supervisor had discussed with police and politicians how working with the community and their concerns actually showed a decrease in crime. He also went on the say that this involvement with the community can be as simple as social programs that would meet individual’s basic needs to the cleaning of neighborhoods and cracking down on crime.            Shifts in the structure of policing would need to happen. These changes would include more concentration on â€Å"community policing principals†(207). Other things would be creating substations or mini-stations around the community to keep officers close to their respective communities. The ideal being the better you know you community the more effective and efficient the officers would be.  Creating watch groups and have weekly meeting with members of the community to pinpoint problems. What better policing than community policing. Also, also talking with landlords and business owners on effective efforts and ways they can help to prevent drugs and drug houses moving into the community. Enhancing direct services such as issues with community health in the article the new supervisor had even tried to implement a plan that would involve officers giving aid in transportation to health clinics and departments but liability issues prevented this from happening. I think this will be something that we could see happening in the policing functions in the near future.            The officers in the story felt that these efforts and concepts of policing reforms were just â€Å"a waste of time†(208).  They had issues with how their performance had been evaluated in the past verses how they would be evaluated after the reforms were in place. The new policies required more involvement with the communities and getting a sense of unity with the community. â€Å"The purpose of these efforts was to get a feel for the pulse of the community and its problems†(209). The officers had a problem with evaluations being group instead of being based on individual merit. But in my opinion this would strengthen the department on a whole.            Police supervisors according to the article are to interact more with the officers. Don’t use status to separate them from their subordinates getting them involved to identify problems and crime in the community making the officers the experts of their own community. Supervisors would be seen as support and an in-between for the officers and the upper level management in the department along with being a catalyst between police and the community. The officer in the story opposed to these changes brought in the union citing that he felt this unfair and a violation of his labor agreement, but the reforms were not seen as being unfair or a violation.            I don’t believe him to be idealistic rather unmotivated to change, because once the officers saw that results for the good of the community their minds were changed very quickly. If something works and is good for the group as a whole then ethically you would have to change your attitude. There was also improvement in officer’s jobs that could be seen, such as more say in how they thought they should do their jobs. Since they are the ones actually on the beat forty hours or more a week, somehow being your own critic makes you the best critic for the job. Supervisors are fundamental in addressing the fears of officers as well as communities. A supervisor that has strong managerial skills and an ability to show strong leadership and direction would benefit any police department and help in implementing policing reform in any police department. Reference: Stojkovic, S., Kalinich, D., & Klofas, J. (2003). Personnel, supervision, and evaluation.            Ch. 8. Criminal Justice Organization. New York: Wadsworth/Thompson
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