American Police Organization Essay

A typical American police department is organized as a bureaucracy supported by a militarization style of operation. Bureaucracy has been successful in maximizing efficiency among departments, however, organizations often lack flexibility due to increased rules that hinder independent thought-processes. The militarization style comes into effect with the operation of police officers- from the uniforms they wear, the ranks they carry, to the command structure the orders flow- top to bottom. Borrowing from the military style, police often refer to the “war on crime” when handling everyday scenarios, which indicates that, the military model creates problems.

Not only that, the militarization style of policing has cultivated a mentality of “us versus them” which has led to the mistreatment of citizens, which is an inappropriate approach to serving community citizens. In return, this authoritarian style that officers possess implement a low moral for the officers.

In order to understand the everyday pressures of law enforcement officers, it is important to have the ability to identify key internal and external stakeholders.

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Stakeholders in the criminal justice system are those affected by the criminal justice system. There are several influential stakeholders that are affected by law enforcement agencies; which include, officers, governing authorities, and the surrounding communities (Cliftion, 2018).

Based on different sectors of police departments, James Q. Wilson, discovered there are three distinct styles of policing; Watchman, Legalistic, Service (Fuller, 2009, chp. 6). In Wilson’s first style of policing, watchman style police trend to act very informally. A watchman style department was based on community members who had a little more authority than anyone else.

Watchman often chose to not arrest offenders unless it was the last resort; minor crimes were often ignored. This style of policing, today, is often seen in older cities where the residential community has a lower mobility rate (elderly). In communities like these, there is a larger emphasis on crime control rather than prevention; officers trend to be more distant. Therefore, just like Wilson described, this type of policing is still considered less pro-active within elder communities (Fuller, 2009, chp. 6).

Where contrastingly, the legalistic style of policing is the opposite of the previous watchman style. In this style of policing, offers act more militarian Officers had strict laws and rules that they had to follow and establish with the general public. This particular style of policing emphasizes going by the book- there was no pressure to treat differently depending on whether or not they were “good or bad”. Officer’s trend to ignore social problems and focus on enforcing the laws. By ignoring social problems, this style of policing can be categorized as harsh by some community members. This reformed-minded thinking has set forth one standard for the community to abide by(Fuller, 2009, chp. 6).

Lastly, Wilson’s third style of policing, service. This style offers order in the community, informal sanctions, and arresting those if need be. This policing style is often seen as “customer service”, because the officers are acting as employees of the neighborhood. There is more community based style of policing with this style, which allows for the community to assist with maintain order and establishing a better relationship with the officers of the community. This style of policing is often seen in middle class suburban areas. Here, crimes are more obvious and less often committed; focusing on protection of the community (Fuller, 2009, chp. 6).

Based on James Q. Wilson’s styles, in order to be a fully functional policing agency, a combination of the styles would be best utilized for success. While the militarization of police leadership had rationally dominated agencies, it may no longer be successful as a style on its own. Today, community attitudes have changes compared to that 50 years ago. The militarization of policing agencies is losing community appeal. While there will never be a time that legalistic style of policing loses its importance, adjusting to the needs of the community is detrimental. Therefore, by combining the Wilson’s three styles of policing helps focus on key strategies that will allow the policing system to succeed. Education and training of officers are some of the major components of creating a professional image of policing. The policing system that is used today focuses on re-building relationships while demonstrating that the American police system cares about the communities they are serving while establishing law and order (NIJ, 2015).

Reference

1. Clifton, T. (2018). Identifying Criminal Justice Stakeholders. Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/identifying-criminal-justice-stakeholders.html
2. Fuller, J. R. (2009). Criminal justice mainstream and crosscurrents criminal justice interactive student access .. Place of publication not identified: Prentice Hall.
3. NIJ (Police Era - National Institute of Justice). (2015). Retrieved June 08, 2018, from https://search.nij.gov/search?query=police era&affiliate=national-institute-of-justice