Solutions to Improve Public Police

Officers become more familiar with the local residents. Police also conduct search and seizures to seize evidence from vehicles, homes, or any locations that complies with the fourth Amendment. Also, police officers may interrogate the suspect for questioning which does comply with the fifth and sixth Amendment. Contraband is another idea that gives law enforcement to look for especially during a stop and frisk. It is the officers job to investigate and collect evidence of criminal activity. They must observe the scene by using the proper training that they have received.

Police officers may go around the community by asking questions to help identify suspects or photographs. Officers must not assume that the first suspect is the suspect until all the evidence is presented. In order to have a better outlook on community policing law enforcement should look into having drones to surveillance communities and educate and train police officers to be a part of the neighborhood.

Part A-Topic Discussion

In today’s society community policing allows police officers to patrol around the neighborhoods or cities to create a strong bond with citizens. Law enforcement are there to protect local residents from crime happening, but also responding to crime before it occurs. Most importantly officers like to stay connected with people in the neighborhood. Communicating with the people in the area also helps build trust between the officers and the residents. Officers also have road blocks to stop and check for license and registration in the community. Also, law enforcement are starting to use technology to better engage with their residents and boost their community policing initiatives. On the other hand, some citizens think police officers can’t be trusted and disobey the code of ethics. People in the community does not comply with the officers, and make it even harder for the officer for questioning. One of the reasons why some civilians may not comply with the officer, because of their race and gender as well. Studies have shown that police officers have been overly aggressive and used deadly force towards minorities. Not all police officers are bad and stereotype certain people. There are many officers who sworn in to serve and protect their communities with a passion. Law enforcement is one of the stressful jobs to have because their life is in danger, work long hours, and salary.

“Community policing can be defined as a philosophy that promotes organization of problem solving” (Scheider, 2013). Furthermore, this was implemented and provides information to help solve and reduce crime from happening constantly. Many officers challenge other police departments to be more efficient on problem solving. Problem solving can consist of identifying what happened and where the crime took place. Yet, solving this issue will help reduce crime inside the community. Problem solving can also have a negative impact towards community policing, because others may feel discriminated by police officers. This issue normally take place in the lower income communities. Due to the era of War On Drugs, riots began to be at an all-time high. The war on drugs was a start policing officers patrolling on foot instead of their vehicle. Residents in the community were disobeying the laws such as; breaking into homes, selling drugs and gang affiliation.

Protesters on violence have also spoke volume to the world media by feeling discriminated by police officers. For example, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri. According to Onyemaobim (2016), officer Darren Wilson fatally shot the unarmed teenager Michael Brown, he was African-American man at eighteen years old. Dorian Johnson , which was Brown best friend at the time was a witness at the scene. According to Johnson, Brown attacked Mr. Wilson in his police vehicle to prevent the officer from firing towards him. The altercation escaladed. Then, Wilson shot Brown twice. Brown and his friend fled the scene, but Mr. Wilson began to pursuit of Brown. During the entire scene, Wilson shot Brown twelve times but only six bullets hit Brown towards the front of his body. This issue made others in the community not to trust officers. The people in the community felt Brown was racially profiled and the use of deadly force was unnecessary. Furthermore, other witnesses says that Mr. Wilson was responded to a call that took place stating that Brown was inside the convenient store stealing. Was Mr. Wilson in the right or wrong ? We would never know the actual truth, but after this situation this led to officers wearing body cameras. So, now the police department can now have live footage during the scene of a crime.

Motor vehicle checkpoints is not based on reasonable suspicion or probable cause , it is to make sure the driver have a valid driver’s license and registration. Unfortunately, Stacey Biggerstaff was pulled over in Taney county Missouri. She was driving with a suspended driver’s license. Suddenly, the officer detected that Stacey was intoxicated. She was automatically arrested and charged for being intoxicated. Secondly, Biggerstaff said evidence that was taken through the checkpoint was unconstitutional. Stacey begged the difference. She argued in court that they were three issues that went wrong at the checkpoint. First the checkpoint was not determined using specific data, checkpoint had no written procedures or guidelines, and there was no warning or signs stating that there was going to be a checkpoint. “The trial court found that the checkpoint was not unreasonable and denied Biggerstaff’s motion to suppress evidence” (Harris, 2017). In Taney county Missouri, checkpoints for the most part are located where there are likely to have high crime with a lot of people. Police officers in the community stop and inspect every vehicle because they can’t stop one and not the other. Law enforcement can also order drivers and passengers out of the vehicle . Officers may check the vin number located on the vehicle to make sure the car isn’t stolen. Most of the breathalyzer , only implied consent but if the officer notice that the driver is intoxicated he or she will be taken into custody.

Another police tactic used while patrolling the community is the stop and frisk. Stop and frisk is typically used for stopping individuals that seem to be suspicious, and it is the officers job to judge to see if the person carrying a suspicious weapon on them. For example , anything that bulges in the suspects pockets, or seem to be reaching into their pockets drawls a red a red flag. The individual should be stopped which involves limited movement, and the duration time is twenty minutes. This will help keep criminals off the street as well, but most police officers stop and frisk the individuals in high crime areas. Once again others feel stereotyped. Most of the time officers are there to do their job, and help keep the community safe and not to start any trouble. Some individuals make it tough for the officers to do his or her job. For example, if the person they are stopping fits the description of a armed robbery at a local gas station. Then, the police have the right to stop the person by asking to see their license. Especially, if it is late at night at twelve o’clock in the morning and the person hanging around the store that was just robbed at gun point. Another example that happened back in 1968, Terry and Chilton was walking up and down the street for about six hours. Officer McFadden finally confronted the men . The officer asked them for their names and patted down both of them. McFadden found two revolvers from Terry and Chilton, but the men were innocent come to find out. Even though both men were acting accordingly with the officer, on the other hand they could have been planning a crime. “Supreme Court to formally establish stop-and-frisk as a constitutionally permissible policing tactic in the landmark 1968 decision in Terry v. Ohio” (White,2016). The court also held that law enforcement are able to stop and frisk if the person committed, or committing a crime and has a reasonable belief that the person is dangerous. Terry V. Ohio was the first case that Supreme Court approved a search and seizure under the fourth Amendment by using reasonable suspicion. If Terry was dressed as a business man would he have been stopped? Maybe the police officers was doing his job to make sure he was protecting the community. Officers also use their call of judgement by the time of the day, if they see anything that may have been suspicious of a criminal act they will most likely observe the scene and proceed to see what’s going on.

Part B- Practical Application1

Technology can make a major impact towards community policing. Police officers are using drones to help reduce crime. “Drones also have a lot of potential uses in criminal cases. For instance, drones could be used to track the movements of suspected drug dealers or human traffickers. Police could use them to observe robbery suspects or trespassers” (Dwyer-Moss, J. 2018). Law enforcement are advancing in technology in a way that it can change the whole aspect of community policing. By police officers using drones this helps draw out someone getting wrongfully shot. Officers can surveillance the area and get a better understanding of the crime before any mistaken choice is made. Also having drones law enforcement has a larger view of the crime being done than having a whole police force task on foot and having the mistake of an officer or innocent civilian getting injured. Having more drones will save the police department money and using drones are more effective than on foot surveillance. According to Dwyer-Moss, there can be issues with invading civilians privacy but with the right training and knowing where to use the drone will help decrease those chances of invading a person’s privacy.

Another solution that can enhance community policing is having police officers get involved with the community. Yes, community policing is suppose to involve the community but as we all know from different media outlets, shows that many police officers lack this. The way police officers are viewed today is negative. And everything starts with our youth. If we can get officers to get viewed as a positive role model than when teenagers are being asked questions by an officer; they will not get scared or afraid and then an officer makes the mistake to shoot them. According to Leroux, there has been studies where the youth and the officers get a more positive attitude towards one another. If officers spend some time with the community in which they patrol in then the residents of the community will be less likely to be afraid to approach an officer if they are in need.

Police departments can host seminars where officers learn about different cultures and about how to handle certain scenarios.

Did you like this example?

855

36