Introduction
Factually, getting a proper understanding of the current policing in the United States requires a review of the history by focusing on the past eras. The contemporary practices of the police are deeply rooted in traditions that can only be understood when one looks at the past developments within the service. Knowing the way a police’s career starts is quite vital. Such an understanding has to focus on understanding the way the police started his or her career right from the academy to the street. It is also vital to understand the effective partnership existent between the police and the community. All these knowledge is needed in order to properly and clearly comprehend the development and functions of the police.
Political and reform eras of policing
The work of policing in the United States has been in progress over time. It continue to evolve as a balance between protecting rights of people as enshrined in the American Constitution and ensuring there is law and order is sought. There are currently three recognized eras of policing in the United States of America. The key ones are the political and reform eras.
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Political era
This particular era began in the year 1840 and ended in 1930. In the political era of policing, law enforcement officers had the function of providing various social services to the members of the community. A key feature of the police department during this particular era was high level of decentralization. Therefore, there was an intimate relationship between the police service and the community (Oliver, 2006). Patrols were conducted on foot or using bicycles. These two means enabled the police officers to establish close relationships with the locals, especially the owners of shops as well as the citizens who worked or resided in the neighborhood of policing stations (Oliver, 2006). This period is often regarded as the political era because the work of the police officers was to serve the community in accordance with the demands of the local political leaders.
Since local political leaders had significant influence over the work of the police officers, this period was marked by corruption. The police departments ruled by an iron fist, especially when dealing with people who disrupted peace. Suspects were forced into confessing offenses and brutality became the order of policing work in the community. However, in the face of all the brutality from the police officers, organized crime triumphed during this particular era (Oliver, 2006). Criminals bribed the police officers and colluded with them in orchestrating crimes within the community. These are some of the memorable points about the political era of policing in the United States of America.
Reform era
After the political era, the reform period followed. The reform era was set in by the Wickersham Commission, formed by President Herbert Hoover in the year 1929. The findings of the Wickersham Commission formed the basis for the start of the reform era in the United States of America (Oliver, 2006). This reform era lasted between 1930 and 1980. It was substantially different from the political era. The first difference is that the reform era entailed a centralized policing department with clear crime control model. Uniquely, the policing service became a recognized profession in America. Moreover, the police officers set some distance with the citizens as they appeared non-approachable. There was no longer building of strong and close relationships between the police officers and the masses. Another significant difference is that during the reform era, the policing service was characterized by technology such as the patrol vehicles. Technology was introduced in order to reduce the time taken to respond to calls on the ground (Oliver, 2006). It is also important to note that police ethical codes of conduct were put in place, a development that caused significant reduction in the number of corruption cases.
The similarity between these two eras was the roles and duties of police officers. In both eras, police officers had the similar role of providing security to the citizens and enforcing law and order. Furthermore, these two periods were still marked with cases of organized crimes.
Police academy
The new police recruits are taken to a training academy where they are imparted with vital knowledge and skills for future use in the policing service. The police are taught skills such as driving and psychology reading. A police officer has to have driving skills because the nature of the policing job involves chasing after criminals or even escaping dangerous attacks using vehicles. It is imperative for an officer to gain the ability of driving all types of vehicles. Moreover, a police officer is taught psychological skills because policing involves reading a suspect’s mind to try and predict the ideas running in his or her mind in advance (Stone & Travis, 2013). An officer who has developed psychological skills can easily tell the plans of the person they are in conversation with in advance. This capability is quite worthwhile in the policing service.
Additionally, officers are taught basic legal information. An officer must understand the law as provided under the Constitution. This knowledge enables police officers to understand what is required of them in diverse situations. The people’s rights are enshrined in law, thus, it is vital for an officer to be educated on the Bill of Rights in order to clearly know what liberties have to be protected in a give circumstance.
Police officers are also trained on the ways of handling the firearms. Firearms and other kinds of weapons used by the police officers cannot be operated by everybody. The new recruits have to be trained on the effective skills of handling these equipment as well as strategies of finding vantage points and positions from which to fire at the opponent. The recruits are also taught basic leadership and interpersonal skills so that they can operate in teams effectively.
Community-policing
Community-policing is the strategy where officers build ties with the local members of an area in order to get their input in the work of maintaining law and order. In a country, the police officers create partnerships with the non-profit organizations, mainstream media, other government agencies and the citizens of the nation (Brogden & Nijhar, 2013). There is a huge difference between community-policing and traditional style of policing. The modern community-policing involves decentralized police units where officers work in a station permanently and are not transferred easily. They are left to build ties with the locals in the area of work. Conversely, the traditional policing style involved centralized police departments. Moreover, there is no building of ties with the civilians under the traditional style of policing. Bicycles and feet are used by officers to patrol in community-policing so that they can boost the socialization with the locals.
Elements of implementation and evaluation phases
Important implementation phase elements include communication. A clear communication plan must be put in place. Communication program for the citizens has to be established. Strategies of developing working partnerships with the community members are enforced (Brogden & Nijhar, 2013). The problem solving approach involves setting effective working relationships among the police officers. Trust and respect are also fundamental elements of the implementation phase. Furthermore, the long-term problems are identified and addressed. The evaluation stage entails implementing important measures to establish the level of performance. Goals and objectives have to also be set so that they can act as the yardstick for measuring performance.
Detectives and undercover officers
The work of detectives and undercover officers is quite extensive. They are quite pivotal in the criminal investigations process. Such officers must possess traits that can enable them work effectives and deliver good results in their job. The foremost quality of a good detective and undercover officer is high intelligence and reasoning agility (Miller, 2006). The work of a detective and an undercover officer is more of trying to connect pieces of information and unravel clear stories and information upon which logical conclusions can be made. This duty entails intensive reasoning, which requires high intelligence. The second quality is a high sense of curiosity and imagination. A detective and undercover officer engage in work, which involves venturing into informational areas that can lead to the real thing wanted. This requires that such officer develop high sense of curiosity and imagination (Miller, 2006). Thirdly, the detective or undercover officer must have good communication skills. It is the good communication that can enable such an officer to get wanted information from the witnesses in a strategic manner. Fourthly, a detective or undercover officer must be able to disguise himself or herself when in public (Miller, 2006). This disguise is what enables these officers to ambush the wanted suspects while they are unaware. Finally, the detective or undercover officer must possess the quality of patience, which is what enables them to avoid making rushed conclusions.
Conclusion
It is factual that one must check the history of the police service in order to understand the modern policing styles. Modern policing styles simply build on the traditional models of law enforcement. The two most important eras of policing, which have had significant influence on contemporary practices by law enforcement agencies, are political and reform.
References
Brogden, M., & Nijhar, P. (2013). Community policing . London: Routledge.
Miller, L. (2006). Undercover policing: A psychological and operational guide. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology , 21 (2), 1-24.
Oliver, W. M. (2006). The fourth era of policing: Homeland security. International Review of Law Computers & Technology , 20 (1-2), 49-62.
Stone, C., & Travis, J. (2013). Toward a new professionalism in policing. JIJIS , 13 , 11.
