Policing in America

How policing works past, present, and future

The police subculture (sometimes called police culture) is a feeling of brotherhood, or tremendous group loyalty that exists among (working level) law enforcement officers. An unwritten creed, it can lead officers to support their law enforcement brethren at the expense of all else. Responding immediately, and in strength to an officer in distress call would be a positive result of this belonging. However, the strong emotions involved can also lead to a deadly over-reaction during that same call.realpolice.net

In the past 40 years, policing has changed more fundamentally and dramatically than at any time in its history. At the beginning of the 1960s, many police departments were closed to the outside: their personnel were drawn largely from particular groups. Little public debate took place over police practices or procedures. The courts frequently deferred to the police department in complaints about or lawsuits over police misconduct. Police departments were frequently wellfunded by municipal governments. Police departments engaged in little experimentation and virtually no innovation. During the same period in the 1960s, other forces were at work. The nation experienced the agony of riots in most of its large cities and many of its smaller ones. Women began to assert their rights and to bring to public attention the prevalence of domestic violence. Stories of corruption in police departments surfaced in the media. The conduct of police toward civil rights and antiwar demonstrators was displayed on television for all the nationand the worldto witness. Determined to address the challenges of change in an everchanging world, the Police Foundation did much of the research that led to a questioning of the traditional model of professional law enforcement and toward a new view of policingone emphasizing a community orientationthat is widely embraced today. Seminal foundation research on issues such as police patrol practices, women in policing, use of force by police, and the police response to domestic violence has transformed policing in profound ways. policefoundation.org

Subcultures;
The police subculture (sometimes called police culture) is a feeling of brotherhood, or tremendous group loyalty that exists among (working level) law enforcement officers. An unwritten creed, it can lead officers to support their law enforcement brethren at the expense of all else. Responding immediately, and in strength to an officer in distress call would be a positive result of this belonging. However, the strong emotions involved can also lead to a deadly over-reaction during that same call.realpolice.net

History
During the 1990s, most police forces in England and Wales underwent a period of experimentation, adopting organizational structures and processes associated with one or more named policing styles. These developments were in the main intended to reduce substantial increases in reported crime. This study examines the crime reduction results in practice. It concludes that despite widespread reductions in reported crime, these were substantially the result of a return to equilibrium trends, rather than of police action. An exception was noted in respect of thefts of motor vehicles, which appeared to be amenable to intervention by intelligence-led policing

American Policing Today

the organization of American law enforcement has been called the most complex in the world. Three major legislative and judicial jurisdictions exist in the US federal state and local.and each has created a variety of police agencies to enforce its laws. Unfortunately, little uniformity is seen among jurisdictions regarding the naming, function, or authority of enforcement agencies. The matter is complicated still more by the rapid growth of private security firms, which operate on a for-profit basis and provide services that have traditionally been regarded as law enforcement activities.