Community Policing

Community oriented policing and problem solving (COPPS)

Community policing and problem solving

CompStat

Homeland security Intelligence-led Policing Language of policing Metropolitan Police Act Peel’s Principles Police-community relations

Political era Predictive policing Professional era Reform of policing Research findings Wickersham Commission

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

As a result of reading this chapter, the student will: � Understand the evolution of policing from its nonprofessional origins in England to modern-

day professional policing in the United States � Have a foundation in community oriented policing and problem solving (COPPS) � Know how research studies of policing resulted in major changes in methods and approaches � Be able to distinguish between the three primary eras of policing, including the primary focus

of each � Know the three generations of community policing and problem solving � Understand some of the authors’ concerns with the language being used in policing in

general, how it relates to a delineation of the eras of policing, and the contemporary use of three management tools: CompStat, intelligence-led policing, predictive policing

� Know how Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government is affecting policing in general, and COPPS in specific

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Community Policing and Problem Solving: Strategies and Practices, 6E by Ken J. Peak and Ronald W. Glensor. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education.

G A R R E T T , M E G A N 1 3 2 4 T S

2 Chapter 1 • The Evolution of Policing

When we pull back the layers of government services, the most fundamental and indispensable virtues

are public safety and social order. —HON. DAVID A. HARDY, WASHOE COUNTY

DISTRICT COURT, RENO, NEVADA

To understand what is, we must know what has been, and what it tends to become.

—OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

INTRODUCTION

It is difficult to accurately establish the beginning of community-oriented policing in America. This is possibly because the notion of community policing is not altogether new; parts of it are as old as policing itself, emanating (as will be seen later) from concerns about policing that were indicated in the early nineteenth century.

We also must mention at the outset of this book that community-oriented policing and prob- lem solving (COPPS) is not a unitary concept but rather a collection of related ideas. Several promi- nent individuals, movements, studies, and experiments have brought policing to where it is today. In this chapter, we examine the principal activities involving the police for more than a century and a half—activities which led to the development of community policing and problem solving.

This historical examination of policing begins with a brief discussion of Britain’s and Sir Robert Peel’s influence and the Metropolitan Police Act in England. Then we review the evolution of policing in America, including the emergence of the political era and attempts at reform through the professional crime fighter model. Next we look at police and change, including how “sacred cow” policing methods have been debunked by research, demonstrated the actual nature of police work, and shown the need for a new approach.

Following is an examination of the community problem-solving era, including what the principles of this new model are, why it emerged, and how it evolved. In this connection, we dis- cuss how local police departments and sheriff ’s offices have evolved and rewritten their agency’s history by adopting the COPPS strategy. Included in this chapter section are some brief comments concerning the language of policing in general, which leads into a discussion of some relatively new police management tools—CompStat, intelligence-led policing, and predictive policing— and how they are currently being viewed by some as constituting a new “era” of policing. We respectfully disagree with that line of thought, and offer a rationale for that belief. Next is a brief discussion of how COPPS can enhance the nation’s defense and homeland security. Then, after considering how Executive Sessions at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government have affected COPPS, the chapter concludes with a summary, review questions, and several scenarios and activities that provide opportunities for you to “learn by doing” (these are explained more below).

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Community Policing and Problem Solving: Strategies and Practices, 6E by Ken J. Peak and Ronald W. Glensor. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education.

G A R R E T T , M E G A N 1 3 2 4 T S

Chapter 1 • The Evolution of Policing 3

BRITISH CONTRIBUTIONS

The population of England doubled between 1700 and 1800. Parliament, however, took no measures to help solve the problems that arose from the accompanying social change.1 London, awash in crime, had whole districts become criminal haunts, and thieves became very bold. In the face of this situation, Henry Fielding began to experiment with possible solutions. Fielding, appointed in 1748 as London’s chief magistrate of Bow Street, argued against the severity of the English penal code, which applied the death penalty to a large number of offenses. He felt the country should reform the crim- inal code in order to deal more with the origins of crime. In 1750 Fielding made the pursuit of crim- inals more systematic by creating a small group of “thief-takers.”2 When Fielding died in 1754, his half-brother John Fielding succeeded him as Bow Street magistrate. By 1785, his thief-takers had evolved into the Bow Street Runners—some of the most famous policemen in English history.

Later, Robert Peel, a wealthy member of Parliament, felt strongly that London’s population and crime problem merited a full-time professional police force, but many English people and other politicians objected to the idea, fearing possible restraint of their liberty. They also feared a strong police organization because the criminal law was already quite harsh (by the early nine- teenth century, there were 223 crimes in England for which a person could be hanged). Indeed, Peel’s efforts to gain support for full-time paid police officers failed for seven years.3

Peel finally succeeded in 1829. His bill to Parliament, titled “An Act for Improving the Police in and Near the Metropolis,” succeeded and became known as the Metropolitan Police Act of 1829. The General Instructions of the new force stressed its preventive nature, saying that “the principal object to be attained is ‘the prevention of crime.’ The security of persons and property will thus be better effected, than by the detection and punishment of the offender after he has succeeded in committing the crime.”4 It was decided that constables would don a uniform (blue coat, blue pants, and black top hat) and would arm themselves with a short baton (known as a truncheon) and a rattle (for raising an alarm); each constable was to wear his individual number on his collar where it could be easily seen.5

Peel proved very farsighted and keenly aware of the needs of a community-oriented police force as well as the need of the public who would be asked to maintain it. Indeed, Peel perceived that the poor quality of policing was a contributing factor to the social disorder. Accordingly, he drafted several guidelines for the force, many of which focused on improving the relationship between the police and the public. He wrote that the power of the police to fulfill their duties depended on public approval of their actions; that as public cooperation increased, the need for physical force by the police decreased; that the officers needed to display absolutely impartial service to law; and that force should be employed by the police only when the attempt at persua- sion and warning had failed and only the minimal degree of force possible should be used. Peel’s statement that “The police are the public, and the public are the police” emphasized his belief that the police are first and foremost members of the larger society.6

Peel’s attempts to appease the public were well-grounded; during the first three years of his reform effort, he encountered strong opposition. Peel was denounced as a potential dictator; the London Times urged revolt, and Blackwood’s Magazine referred to the bobbies as “general spies” and “finished tools of corruption.” A national secret body was organized to combat the police, who were nicknamed the “Blue Devils” and the “Raw Lobsters.” Also during this initial five-year period, Peel endured one of the largest police turnover rates in history. Estimates range widely, but it is probably accurate to accept the figure of 1,341 constables resigning from London’s Metropolitan Police from 1829 to 1834.7

Peel drafted what have become known as Peel’s Principles of policing, most (if not all) of which are still apropos to today’s police community. They are presented in Box 1–1.

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Community Policing and Problem Solving: Strategies and Practices, 6E by Ken J. Peak and Ronald W. Glensor. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education.