Policing: Ideals v' Realities

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PolicingIdeals v. Realities

• Dr. Matt Robinson
• CJ 3532
• Injustice in America
• Appalachian State University

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Basics of American policing

• The allocation of police officers to various
  government levels will have effects on what
  police do
• Policing at different levels of government is
  focused on different forms of behavior (p. 164).
• MOST police agencies and officers are at local
  level of government!

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Basics of American policing

• Since most police work for local level of
  government
• The focus of the typical cop in the United
  States is on street crimes
• Not on white-collar or corporate crimes!

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• Less than 5 of police officers are focused on
  white-collar or corporate crimes!
• Even worse after 9/11 (see pp. 165-168)

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Ideals of police behavior

• Police officers are expect to serve FIVE basic
  roles (see p. 168)
• 1) Enforce the law
• 2) Preserve the peace
• 3) Prevent crime
• 4) Provide services
• 5) Uphold rights
• Of these five roles, the typical police officer
  spends most of his time each day not fighting
  crime (p. 168)

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Ideals of police behavior

• Police still serve crime victims in numerous ways
  (see pp. 169-171)
• Because most policing is incident-driven instead
  of problem-oriented
• This is why police have so little effect on the
  crime rate! (see p. 171)

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Ideals of police behavior

• Police are expected to behave in a certain way
• according to the Law Enforcement Code of Conduct
  (see pp. 176-177)
• Some key words from document?
• Compare key words from document with this!

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• Anyone know who this is???
• Does he look like a threat???

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A Real-World Challenge to the Ideals

• Robert Davis, 64 year old retired elementary
  school teacher
• Beaten by 3 New Orleans police officers and 2
  federal officers
• Charged with disorderly conduct, being
  intoxicated in public, and assaulting an officer!

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http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Davis_of_New_O
rleans
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Innocent bias

• The vast majority of police likely follow the
  IACP mandates
• Yet, because of structural impediments, the
  reality of policing in the United States clearly
  run counter to the ideals we expect (p. 178)
• Police do not have to be college educated AND
• Police are paid way too low!

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A Real-World Challenge to the Ideals

• What can we realistically expect from our police
  officers who are held to such high standards when
  they are not required to have a college education
  and when are paid so poorly? (p. 178)