Principles of Law Enforcement

1
Principles of Law Enforcement

• Chapter 11
• Police and the Community

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Student Objectives

• To explain the meaning of police community
  relations and its importance to the safety and
  quality of life in a community
• To explore public attitudes regarding police
• To describe some minority populations and their
  specific problems and interactions with the police

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Objectives Cont..

• To look at problems of some special populations,
  including senior citizens, young people, the
  homeless, crime victims, disabled people, and
  show how the police assist them
• To acquaint students with current community crime
  prevention programs that focus on crime reduction
  and improvement

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Introduction

• This chapter deals with relationships between
  the police and the citizens they are paid to
  protect. This chapter also emphasizes the need
  for proper relationships between the police and
  the community. It defines police human relations,
  police public relations, and police community
  relations. It also looks at the public opinion
  of the police and the problems and opportunities
  of multiculturalism.

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Proper Police-Community Relationships

• Police are definitely needed in the U.S.
• Arrests
• Handle Emergencies
• Maintain Order
• Traffic Control
• Give us a sense of security

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Police and Emergency workers cleaning up WTC
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Police-Community Relationships Cont

• The police are not part of the military and
  should not be viewed as mercenaries
• If police were to see themselves or if the
  community sees them as an occupying army, urban
  unrest results
• The police cannot do its job without the support
  of the public and the public cannot have peace
  and order without the police

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Police Community Relationships Cont

• Police Chiefs are one of the key figures in
  establishing good community relationships
• They are obligated to to educate the public about
  the causes of crime and the inability of the
  police acting alone to control crime
• By initiating positive interaction with the
  community the results are increased citizen
  support, higher morale in the department, less
  hostile external forces, and increased resources

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Police Community Relationships Cont..

• The most important persons in the police
  department are the officers in terms of improving
  police community relations
• People receive their impression of a dept through
  the actions of the officers they encounter

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Police Relations

• 3 Types of Police Relations
• Human Relations
• Public Relations
• Community Relations

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Police Relations Cont..

• Police Human Relations refers to everything we
  do, with, for and to each other as citizens and
  as human beings (Following the Golden Rule)
• Police Public Relations is the police through a
  variety of activities they are intent on creating
  a favorable image of themselves
• Police Community Relations can be negative or
  positive depending on the quality of police
  interactions

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Picture from Life Magazine July 15, 1966
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Public Opinion and the Police

• No doubt the police have a difficult job
• No one really knows what we want they police to
  do
• Chap 5 called the crime fighters, order
  maintainers, and service providers
• It is much easier for the police to perform their
  duties if they have the support of the public

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Public Opinion Cont

• The results of an opinion poll about the police
  were
• 60 said they had great respect for the police
• 32 said some
• 7 said hardly any
• 1 had no opinion

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Public Opinion Cont..

• Picture taken during the Los Angeles Watts Riots
• Police are rendering 1st aid to a Mexican who had
  been stabbed

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Public Opinion Cont..

• Public Opinion has remained fairly constant over
  time with vast majority giving favorable ratings
• Whites and older citizens usually give police
  better ratings
• African-Americans and younger people tend to give
  less favorable ratings

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Salary and Law Enforcement

• In a survey concerning police pay the following
  results were obtained
• 5 citizens report too much
• 40 too little
• 44 about right
• 11 failed to respond
• Overall blacks and whites have positive attitudes
  towards the police

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Police Perception of the Public

• 73 thought the public was against them and the
  public would give them a bad rating
• 12 felt the public liked the police
• Although police tend to exaggerate this point

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Police Perception of the Public Cont..

• One reason police feel that the public does not
  like them is because they spend a large portion
  of their time dealing with criminals and unsavory
  type people

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Police and Minority Communities

• Over the past 3 decades the most significant
  problem facing the police has been the tension
  and the outright hostility between the police and
  the minority group citizens
• Tension has also existed between the police and
  Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans, and other
  groups including gays and women
• One way to overcome this is to make sure the
  police departments adequately hire minorities

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Police and Minority Communities
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Multiculturalism

• There has been much training in this area
• Police Departments in many areas offer policy
  academy sensitivity training
• One had a program called Host a Deputy where
  families invite a deputy into their home for the
  evening
• IACP sponsors a 2 day training course on Cultural
  Diversity

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Diversity

• Police cannot eliminate diversity but must learn
  how to manage it and learn from it
• There are 4 facts about Cultural Diversity
• As the work force becomes more diverse
  hostilities increase during encounters among
  people of different races
• No, the melting pot never melted. Many prefer the
  right to remain different

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Diversity Cont

• Most messages we send to one another are not
  communicated verbally but by posture, facial
  expressions, gestures, tone of voice, and other
  non-verbal messages. This is what shapes our
  attitudes and feelings towards each other
• Among certain ethnic groups, inflammatory words
  are used for effect and not intent

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The African-American Community

• The 1990 Censes reports that almost 12.1 or 30
  million African-Americans live in the U.S.
• They historically faced discrimination in U.S.
  society until 1954 when the supreme ct ruled on
  Brown vs Board of Education which officially
  declared segregation unconstitutional

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African-American Community Cont..

• In 1964 President L. Johnson signed into law the
  1964 Civil Rights Act which strengthened the
  rights of all citizens regardless of age, race,
  religion, national origin
• The 50s and 60s saw demonstrations, marches, and
  protests by minorities to win rights

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A week before his death Dr. King led a march in
Memphis
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Confronting Protests and Riots

• Police contacts with minorities were not the
  major reasons for the riots in the 1960s
• Police actions were usually just the
  precipitators of the riots
• The riots in Watts, Harlem, Newark, and Detroit
  were all precipitated by arrests of
  African-Americans by white officers

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Watts 1 year after the riots
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Solutions

• Officers must attempt to understand the attitudes
  of all community members including those of
  minority residents
• If police really look they will find that the
  real minority is not defined by class or race
• The real minority is comprised of the few
  criminals who victimize society with little fear
  of being caught

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The Hispanic-American Community

• There are 22 million Hispanic-Americans living in
  the U.S.
• They have suffered discrimination and are
  handicapped because of language barriers
• Their relationships with police have often been
  as tense as with African-Americans
• Affirmative action has integrated
  Hispanic-Americans into police departments and
  has allowed for promotions as well
• Many departments are sending officers to lengthy
  courses on Spanish and culture

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The Asian-American Community

• There are 7 million Asian-Americans or 3 of the
  population in the U.S.
• One of the fastest growing ethnic groups
• The Asian-American population is very diverse
  with people from China, Japan, Vietnam, Laos and
  others
• Usually this segment has the lowest crime rates
  although it has increased in the past decade

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Women

• Women have often been critical of how police have
  handled domestic violence cases
• They have also complained because of officers
  insensitivity in rape and other sexual assault
  cases
• Police have become much more sensitive during the
  past 2 decades and large departments have
  established sex crime units
• Discrimination against women in terms of hiring
  and promotion has been officially eliminated

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The Gay Community

• There have been numerous verbal and physical
  attacks on the members of the gay community (Gay
  Bashing)
• Police departments have created bias units to
  investigate crimes committed due to racial,
  religious, ethnic, or sexual orientation
• IACP rescinded its policy of opposing the
  employment of gay and lesbian officers
• San Francisco PD recruits homosexuals and this
  has reduced fears of reporting crimes by members
  of the gay community

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Police and Special Populations

• Senior Citizens
• Have the lowest criminal victimization rate
• They experience a tremendous fear of crime
• The population is aging rapidly and by 2030 there
  will be 66 million older people in our society
• The increasing number of older person coupled
  with the fear of victimization will be
  challenging for future law enforcement

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Senior Citizens Cont..

• Senior citizens tend to suffer abuse at the hands
  of relatives and loved ones
• There are approximately 1.5 million cases of
  report elderly abuse that occurs each year
• Many programs have been established to address
  the concerns of the elderly (AARP) (TRIAD)
  (Wanderers Program) to address Alzheimers Disease

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Senior Citizens Cont..

• Alzheimers was discovered in 1906 by Dr. Alois
  Alzheimer
• It is estimated that approximately 4 million
  people have it in the US
• A patient can live for up to 20 years with the
  onset of the disease
• Police have to be very delicate when approaching
  someone with Alzheimers

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Programs for Young People

• Young people are targets for community police
  programs because they are impressionable
• Over a 10 year period the number of juveniles
  arrested for violent crimes increased by 68
• The number of arrests for murder increased by
  168 and only 13 for adults
• In a nationwide poll of Chiefs of Police, 92
  stated the government must invest in programs
  that children and youth if it is serious about
  reducing crime

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Programs for Young People Cont..

• The drug dealers and gang members compete with
  the parents and law abiding citizens for our
  childrens loyalty daily
• There are numerous police programs
• D.A.R.E. Drug Abuse Resistance Education where
  officers teach children in the classroom about
  the dangers of drugs and serve as positive role
  models

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Other Programs for Young People

• Officer Friendly- Designed to help children see
  and talk to police officers
• Police Explorer Programs- Officers doing projects
  with the young and showing them what police work
  and emergency preparedness is all about
• Police Trading Cards- Like baseball trading
  cards
• School Resource Officers- Designed to combat the
  upsurge of school violence
• Anti Abduction Programs- Includes I.D. Kits
• Police Athletic Programs- Includes baseball,
  basketball, boxing, football leagues