How Has The Role of the Police Changed?

Abstract

When thinking of a police officer, what is the first image that comes to mind? If you are like most people, the image is that of a crime fighter, dodging bullets and saving citizens from the grasps of crime and corruption. What if I was to tell you that the realism of law enforcement, conversely, is that of something far less theatrical?

How the Role of Police Changed over time:

How the Role Change Affected the Public’s View of Police

The role of a police officer plays a significant part in normal everyday life. Most recently, however, the role of a police officer started to shift, and that changes many things, including the public’s view on policing. Whether the view change is for better or worse, rest assured these brave men and women will be doing everything in their power to keep us safe. This analysis explores how the role of police has changed over time by answering the subsequent questions,

1. What was the past role of the police officer?
2. What is the role of the police officer currently?
3. What has caused this change in the role?

Understanding these inquiries will better our understanding of how effectively our police force is changing over time to protect its citizens. This will also give the communities a better understanding of just how difficult the role of a police officer is, and maybe with the understanding, more communication and cohesion between the department and its neighborhood are in order.

What was the past role of the police officer?

Before we can look at the current role of a police officer, we have to travel back in time and quickly view the role of the police officer then. Since the beginning of what is known as the professional (or reform) era, law enforcement arose as the key task of police officers (Masters, Muscat, Dussich, Pincu, & Skrapec, 2011, p. 139). Masters, Muscat, Dussich, Pincu, & Skrapec define law enforcement as, “The police agency’s application of the criminal code to specific situations” (2011, p. 139). Situated at the nucleus of law enforcement is, arresting the accused (Masters, Muscat, Dussich, Pincu, & Skrapec, 2011, p. 172).

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With the demands so high for law enforcement officers to remove criminals from the streets, a policy known as localized policing came into effect. Localized policing is the formation of smaller departments throughout a larger area (Masters, Muscat, Dussich, Pincu, & Skrapec, 2011, p. 146). This meant that police officers could now focus on the parts of town where crime was significantly higher. With the practice of localized policing came the problem of fragmentation. According to Masters, Muscat, Dussich, Pincu, & Skrapec, fragmentation is, “The lack of coordination among law enforcement agencies in the same geographical region due to the existence of many small departments” (2011, p. 146). The disadvantages of fragmentation is that, with departments not talking, one district could be enforcing certain laws stricter than its neighboring jurisdiction (Masters, Muscat, Dussich, Pincu, & Skrapec, 2011, p. 146-147). A contrast of these neighboring departments could lead to the one community’s thought of the police department changing to that of excessive force. What is even worse than this is, any criminals that run their business in the jurisdiction of the strict police department, might take their illegitimate deeds to the neighboring town creating a massive problem for the less forceful police department and its citizens (Meese III, 1993, p. 2). With these problems on police administrator’s hands, they knew something had to be done to help these officers.

What is the role of the police officer currently?

Fast-forwarding back to current times, the administrators have come up with certain changes in the role of police that might help with past complications. One big change that came through was the new roles of a police officer. As said before, the key role was enforcing the law. In this current time, the police officer actually has three major roles now. They are, maintaining order, law enforcement, and providing service. Masters, Muscat, Dussich, Pincu, & Skrapec define maintaining order as, “Peacekeeping activities including enforcement of quality of life laws such as no loitering” (2011, p. 171). According to Masters, Muscat, Dussich, Pincu, & Skrapec, this now includes, “traffic control, and crowd management during sporting events, concerts, and parades” (2011, p. 171). Service activities is defined as, “Non-law enforcement activities performed by officers on an as-needed basis, such as, giving someone directions” (Masters, Muscat, Dussich, Pincu, & Skrapec, 2011, p. 172). Besides the general change in services, the rudimentary outlook of the police officer changed too. In the past, the police officer would chiefly react to occurrences. Now, the officer investigates, strategizes, and takes the initiative (Meese III, 1993, p. 2).

The most significant change in policing came with the invention of community-oriented policing. Prono defines community policing as, “A cooperative relationship between the police and the community where they operate in tandem to diagnose and address crime issues” (2013, p. 1). Community policing is known for making neighborhoods more conscious of crime, and how to avert it (Prono, 2013, p. 1). One of the biggest components of community policing is civilianization. This is defined as, “assigning to civilians tasks previously performed by police officers” (Masters, Muscat, Dussich, Pincu, & Skrapec, 2011, p. 175). The goal of civilianization is to enlarge the amount of community inhabitants actively partaking in policing. Besides the cutback in crime, another influence that community policing has is, the expansion of a progressive relationship amongst the police and the community.

What has caused this change in the role?

Since there seems to be a new way of policing, administrators decided that they should bring in some new faces around the department. They thought these new faces could help bring some new and exotic ideas to the table. In the 1950s-1960s virtually every department consisted of all white male officers (Sklansky, 2006, p. 1210). As Sklansky states, “In 2005, for the first time in the history of the NYPD, a majority of the new officers graduating from its academy were members of racial minorities” (Sklansky, 2006, p. 1213-1214). This is a huge step toward equality in the workforce.

Something even greater than that comes with the upcoming vast diversity of the police departments. Studies have shown that communities have a better rapport with police officers when some of those police officers are from that descent (Howell, Perry, & Vile, 2004 p. 62). It is not just about race anymore, all genders and sexual orientations are now able, and widely accepted to join the police departments. There is a saying that is implemented in the NYPD, the saying is, “Blue is blue” (Willis, 2002, p. 29). That saying sums it up completely, three little words that have a huge meaning behind them.

Another reason for the change in the role of policing is the public’s opinion of police officers. In the past, the affiliation between African Americans and police officers was difficult [to say the least] (Howell, Perry, & Vile, 2004, p. 45). With the help of diversifying the police force, and largely to community policing, the views of African American citizens on their community police department have improved considerably (Howell, Perry, & Vile, 2004, p. 48). Over the years, with just these few examples, many have seen countless transformations to how the roles of policing have changed for the better.

Our communities are never going to stop diversifying anytime soon. Many positive alterations have already begun to take place. With the help of community-oriented policing, and different points of view throughout the departments, thanks to the expansion of race, gender, and sexual orientation, many communities are seeing police in a whole new light. It will take hard work and determination to stay with the times, and not fall back onto beliefs and practices used in the past. With the help of different community based organizations, and a vast amount of backgrounds, our police departments relationship with the communities should flourish. The role of the police officer should become even more community based, because there still is a feeling in many urban communities of race discrimination, and use of excessive force. With time, this should all be taken care of, just like the many problems faced in the past.

References

Howell,S.E., Perry,H.L., & Vile,M. (2004). Black cities/white cities: Evaluating the police.Political Behavior,26(1), 45-68.

Masters,R., Muscat,B.T., Dussich,J.P., Pincu,L., & Skrapec,C.A. (2011).CJ: Realities and challenges(2nded.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Meese III,E. (1993). Community policing and the police officer.National Institute of Justice, (15), 1-11. Retrieved from www.ncjrs.gov

Prono,L. (2013). Community policing. InSalem Press Encyclopedia. Ipswich, MA: EBSCO Publishing.

Sklansky,D.A. (2006). Not your father’s police department: Making sense of the new demographics of law enforcement.Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology,96(3), 1209-1233.

Willis,C. (2002).NYPD: Stories of survival from the world’s toughest beat. New York, NY: Thunder Mouth Press.