Midterm: Police and Community Essay

Police & The Community Midterm Essays
Emily Smizaski
October 23, 2014

Question #4 Zero Tolerance policing aims to stop serious crime by closing down on the minor crimes that are believed lead to further more serious crimes. Zero tolerance policy has it flaws and can be misinterpreted by the community as profiling or being racist because of handling the same situations in a different way. The notion of zero tolerance policing is based upon the “broken window theory” and the conviction that the best way to tackle serious crime is to tackle disorder in which policies & final warning all have a role to play (Community Policing). According to the official New York City website, Zero Tolerance Policing is defined as the policy "instituted over ten years ago as a full-scale strategic attack on all crime and disorder in the City. By quickly addressing and correcting these minor problems, the Department sends the message that more serious crime will not be tolerated" (“Public Safety”). James Wilson and George Kelling, two American academics argue that a disregard for insignificant violations, such as graffiti, drunkenness, or the breaking of windows, encourages further crime by signaling a degree of public disinterest and neglect. Using a zero-tolerance strategy during his term as police commissioner of New York City, William Bratton reduced crime by 37% in three years (“Zero Tolerance”). What is best for the whole community is the reduction of crime in the first place, resulting in a better quality of life for all. Despite the flaws that pertain to the Zero Tolerance policy the overall objective it to reduce and prevent crime before it grows.
Question #5 The use of force is accepted as part of police work and is allowed until the force becomes excessive. Excessive force is defined as “the application of an amount and/or frequency of force greater than that required compelling compliance from a willing or unwilling subject” (“COPS Office…”). The use of excessive force may become a criminal act committed by a police officer. Officers who have used excessive force will have consequences such as taking classes on public relations. The public relations approach reflects efforts to improve the public’s perception of the police. There are many things that the police department can do to get the community to trust the department one way to do that is to reeducate communities about what to expect when they have an encounter the police. Also the officers will received special training in police–community relations, and their focus are to develop and maintain a more favorable public image of the police. The public relations officers simply try to modify these perceptions to ones that are more favorable of the police. Also the police departments can engaged in media campaigns, hosted open houses at local police precincts, developed civilian ride along programs, and operated citizen “police academies.” This is to create an environment where the community gets to interact with the police and get to speak out on problems that the community wants to fix and needs the help of the department.

Question #2 As the Chief of Police I would want to establish a Community Services Unit. The concept involved setting up a single sector of the police department, the Community Services Unit. This unit will investigate the causes and conditions

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