CJ 220

Chapter 2
Policing and Community Justice

2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.

Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Introduction

The most obvious way police serve

as exemplars of community justice is
through the community-oriented
policing movement that began in the
1980s and 1990s

Community justice as a concept owes

much of its momentum to the success of
community policing
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Introduction

Community policing is both a

comprehensive strategy of policing
and a philosophy of law enforcement
Community justice, on the other
hand is a strategy and a philosophy
of criminal justice

2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.

Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Introduction

The movement to community policing

represents an attempt to bring police
closer to the public they serve

Develops relationships to better understand

the needs of the community and better
address local problems

The community policing movement is not

the same as the community justice
movement
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

A Brief History of Community

Policing

During the Political Era of policing, the police

were a tool of those in power and oppressive
to those who opposed the status quo
The Reform Era of policing, which began in
the 1920s, worked to professionalize the
police, separate them from the political
influence, and create a professional, militarylike administration system

Police also became more impersonal and, as a

result, became more distant from the public
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

A Brief History of Community

Policing

Technology increased the rift between officers

and the community

Automobiles decreased footbeat

Telephone and Radios made it easy for the public
to quickly and easily contact the police for
assistance
Computers allowed statistics to be efficiently
gathered which led to inferior, number-driven
policing
Instead of listening to citizens concerns, officers and
managers became statistics-driven
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

A Brief History of Community

Policing

The 1960s became a time of friction

between the community and police
because of the mishandling of civil
rights and anti-war protests

2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.

Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police and the Community: A

Dual Track Rationale

The two aims of community-oriented policing are:

Better community relations

Better crime prevention

Better community relations is necessary because

the police rely on the public in order to do their
job, but there are several impediments to good
community relations:

Citizens with the advantaged social class tend to see the

police in a positive light
Those who have significant social disadvantage do not
have the same positive view
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police and the Community

The challenge is

How to obtain and maintain positive interaction with

citizens who may be predisposed to be suspicious of the
police
Police cultural attitudes which also interfere with the
capacity for a positive relationship

Better crime prevention relies on community-based

practice

If the policing approach is simply to be more active in

response to crime more investigations and more arrests
the police will always be playing catch-up
If a proactive approach is taken, there are more
possibilities for public safety results
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

The Community Policing

Relations Rationale for
Community Policing

Police work faces a series of built-in

problems that tends to frustrate the
capacity of the police to do their jobs
well
Some of this is due to the nature of
the problem as well as the police
themselves
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

The Police: Essential Services

Ensnared in Quandary

Although we see police around us

routinely, we encounter them only when
our lives are not routine
The most important services provided by
the police usually take place in the context
of somebody being in trouble or some sort
of crisis

This makes it quite natural to expect the police

to arrive with special powers to intercede
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

The Police: Essential

Services Ensnared in
Quandary

The powers of the police to act are carefully

circumscribed by democratic law and
tradition, so the immediacy of the
predicament is always tempered by the
limitations placed on police authority
This often leads to disappointment, because
the police will often feel constrained in the
actions they can take and citizens will often
fail to grasp those constraints
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

The Police: Essential

Services Ensnared in
Quandary

In police-citizen encounters, the reverse

can also occur

A police officer may interpret the facts of a

situation as calling for serious or even urgent
action, while the citizen feels intensely that
his/her rights ought to constrain the actions
taken by police

Often makes the police feel they are in a

damned-if-I-do and damned-if-I-dont
bind
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

The Police: Essential

Services Ensnared in
Quandary

A major defining characteristic for how

people feel about the police can be race
and age
People of color have lower opinions of the police
than do whites
Young people have lower opinions than do older
people, regardless of race

Even with these problems, police

consistently receive a more positive
performance appraisal than do other
sectors of the criminal justice system
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Symbol of Modern

Culture

The police represent social control, and they stand

for social order
Many see the police as a symbol of safe and secure
society
Those who hold the symbolic vision of the police as
the agency of social control typically support a
strong police presence and object to civil liberties
views of the police that emphasize citizens rights

When police are viewed this way, it is easy to think of

society as composed of good guys and bad guys the
police come from the former group and are asked to
control the latter group
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Symbol of
Modern Culture

To those who see the police as symbols of

power, the problem is not public safety but
the way to put meaningful reins on that
power
Because the most disadvantaged in our
society are also the most likely to
encounter police power used against
them, this concern often arises along the
lines of social class and social status
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Symbol of
Modern Culture

The United States is today a

residentially segregated society

Those who live in the residential areas

occupied by dominant majorities see the
police far more positively than those
who live in poor, minority areas

2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.

Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Symbol of
Modern Culture

Thus, part of what determines the way

citizens react to the police is how the
police define citizenry

When police see citizens as potential problems,

those citizens respond by seeing the police as
potentially unwelcome power in their lives
When police see citizens as residents, those
residents will see the police as a support
system
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Function of the

Legal System

The police are first and foremost the initial

stage of the criminal justice system
Police work has to be assessed on three
different criteria

How do police actions affect citizen willingness

to report crimes?
How do these actions encourage citizen
cooperation with criminal investigations?
How effective are these strategies in
identifying suspects accurately?
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Symbol of
Modern Culture

Studies of police-citizen relations find

that citizens who have had negative
experiences with the police often
become reluctant to assist the police
in their investigations or report
crimes to the police in the first place
even when they are victims
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Symbol of
Modern Culture

For police, this lack of cooperation has two sides

It is frustrating, because the police point of view is that they

are only trying to protect the law-abiding citizens from the
bad guys and the lack of cooperation makes the work that
much harder
It is easy for police to view all the residents who express
suspicion as somehow being aligned with the bad element

After a while, some police can develop an attitude

toward these areas of since they dont care, why
should I?
To protect themselves from an all-too-unfriendly
public, police adopt a first-choice style of indifference
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Function of Power in

a Society

Authority is the legitimate capacity to require

compliance imbued in a role by law, standards, or
custom

It is housed in the idea that some consensus of opinion

exists that the person occupying a certain role ought to
have a level of obedience to his or her directives, so long as
they flow from legitimate exercise of duties within that role

So long as the person with authority is acting

consistent with the expectations of the role, we
expect voluntary compliance with the directives that
emanate from the legitimate performance of that
role
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Function of Power in

a Society

Power, on the other hand, is the raw ability to

compel compliance, regardless of a persons
willingness to comply

When a person has power with regard to certain actions,

it means that person can make others do what is wanted
through some implied or actual coercive capacity

Authority is a far more efficient way of getting a

person to do something, since it works without
any direct threat

Power, by contrast, requires implied or demonstrated

threat
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Function of
Power in a Society

Authority, to work, is reliant on voluntary

cooperation, whereas power can be
exerted regardless of another persons
willingness to comply

In a very real sense, authority is given by the

person exercising it to the person who has
decided to comply, while power is taken by the
person giving orders
Authority exists because people voluntarily
accept the dictates of the police
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Function of
Power in a Society

Some may say that the more a person turns to

power as the way to compel others compliance,
the less everyone would expect that person to
have (or eventually obtain) authority
This is one reason why the police culture is such
an important force in the work world of the police

Police learn to approach the public with distrust and

suspicion, expect the public will not understand the job
of policing, and view everyone as a potential problem
This cynical stance also reappears as a viewpoint of
other elements of the CJ system
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Function of
Power in a Society

Three points about the police culture

Develops in response to the pressures of

the job and the traditions of the
department
Not uniform across all departments and
all divisions within a department
Not solely adverse in its effects
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Function of
Power in a Society

Because the police culture is typically

cynical in its orientation, it tends to
discount the value of authority and exalt
the importance of power

It is common for the police to confuse the two,

seeking an increase in formal power because of
the weak potency of their authority
More important, the dominant police culture
puts the police office at odds with the citizen
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Function of
Power in a Society

Two strong values in the police culture

Control the ability of the officer to

ensure that responsibilities he or she are
assigned are carried out in an orderly and
effective manner
Dominion belief of the officer that he or
she has a person ownership in the area to
which they are assigned
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Function of
Power in a Society

Both can be perceived negatively by

citizens but positively by police
officers
It might be possible to use these
police culture values in a positive
manner to help a community

2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.

Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Police as a Function of
Power in a Society

Problem-Based Learning is a method of

training that can help officers better face
the unstructured problems they encounter
on the job
Encourages the development and use of
critical thinking skills
Not currently prominent in police training
academies but it appears to be gaining
respect
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

The Criminal Justice Rationale

for Community Policing

Studies have shown that without good community

police relations, the police face extreme
difficulties in carrying out their work
In the traditional model of policing, police see
themselves as professional crime fighters
concerned with the problem of serious felonies

With regard to citizens, police are expected to be

impersonal and detached
With regard to crime, police are reactive and
investigative, responding to criminal events based on
their seriousness and building evidence for criminal
cases after the crimes have been reported
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

The Criminal Justice

Rationale for Community
Policing

In the late 1960s a series of studies

began which cast doubt on the
effectiveness of command policing

Kansas City Preventive Patrol study

Response time analysis study
One person vs. two person car studies

2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.

Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Community Policing

Robert Trojanowicz seen as father of this style of

policing

He argued that community policing is a full-service policing

model where the same officer regularly patrols the same
area and forms partnerships with residents to solve
problems

Police scholars have identified three different types

of community policing

Community-building strategies strengthen community

capacity
Problem-oriented strategies deals with causes of crime
Broken windows strategies focus on minor crime and
physical disorder
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Community Policing

Community building strategies

Some community building tactics have

proven to be of little value (e.g.,
neighborhood watch and neighborhood
meetings) and some have more durable
impact (e.g., victim-assistance
programs, Police Athletic Leagues)

2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.

Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Community Policing

Each of these methods are theorized to improve

crime-prevention effectiveness in three ways

The effect of increased day-to-day interaction

between community residents and beat officers is
thought to promote community-based intelligence

The more police and community talk the more information is

shared about crime and criminals in the area

The same contacts are thought to provide another

way to reduce crime when the flow of information is
reversed
The belief that police legitimacy within the
neighborhood is crucial to effective crime prevention

2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.

Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Community Policing

What these strategies have in common is

their attempt to improve some aspect of
community life by increasing interaction
among residents or creating a standing
relationship between community and police
Because of some inherent obstacles, the
communities most in need of assistance
are also the least able to take advantage of
this particular approach
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Community Policing

Problem-oriented strategies

Developed by Herman Goldstein

Based on the idea that crime emanates from
particular, persistent circumstances that can be
identified, documented, and then overcome
through systematic action
One successful strategy has been hot-spots
policing
Problem-solving methods seek policing tactics
that are intelligence based
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Community Policing

Community building strategies (cont.)

Medical Model of Policing

Six types of neighborhoods:

Intregral have high levels of pride

Parochial homogenous values and cultures
Diffuse much in common, but rarely interact
Stepping-stone starter homes
Transitory much movement in and out of
neighborhood
Anomic residents accepted criminal victimization as a
way of life
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Community Policing

In the medical model, the officer is charged with learning

about the neighborhood just like a physician would learn
about a patient
Some terminology is the same as in the medical profession
Intensive care
Preventive medicine
Health education
Bedside manner
Physician Heal Thyself
Includes traditional methods when necessary but also
interactive approaches that address long-term problem
solving
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Community Policing

CompStat in New York

S.A.R.A. model of problem solving
Scanning
Analysis
Response
Assessment

Intelligence policing most effective when

used in conjunction with community
partnerships
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Community Policing

Broken windows strategies

Because the broken windows thesis holds that

crime results from public disorder, the solution
to crime is to use the police to create order
Often the power of arrest is used to enforce
public order, especially by requiring that these
people abide by public expectations for
conduct
Use of zero tolerance policing practices are
often controversial
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Community Policing and

Community Justice

Community policing is not the same as community

justice
The COP movement in policing is, for the most part,
particular to the traditional functions of law
enforcement: investigation and arrest
COP is not a panacea but it has been an
improvement over the traditional methods of
providing police services
It has also raised a series of questions about the
role and functions of police in modern society and
the capacity of the police to accomplish those
functions alone
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Community Policing and

Community Justice

Because of their basic training,

officers often become arbitrators

Often this provides a short term solution

to the issue at hand, but the solution
may not be lasting
Arbitration involves a person in authority
listening to both sides and then making a
decision that will be implemented
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Community Policing and

Community Justice

Mediation provides an opportunity for

both sides to solve their own problem
with the help of a facilitator
Many police departments are training
officers in mediation techniques
Some police departments have also
adopted mediation as a way to solve
community complaints
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora

Community Policing and

Community Justice

Officers who have been trained in

mediation have reported that the skills
learned have made them better officers
Community members who participate
in mediation can learn to better
understand divergent viewpoints and
learn to use positive communication
skills to address those differences
2012 Todd R. Clear, John R.
Hamilton, Jr. and Eric Cadora