Law Homework Help

(1) As a police officer, describe how important is it to support community problem-solving and broken windows policing by applying problem-solving techniques?  

Peer 1:

Community problem solving is a focal point in law enforcement attentiveness on the issues of the occurrences and conflicts within and not just looking at it through a simple len. Community policing features the cooperation between the citizens in the community and law enforcement to minimize criminal activity and improve defense and protection to the community. Community problem solving reaps the benefits of increasing community support, but it all comes down to the leadership of the law enforcement agency to enforce and train law enforcement to accept the idea of working together with their citizens. According to Jenkins (2016) individual characteristics in law enforcement yield different results in various tactics and strategies for community problem solving methods. The broken window theory introduces the concept of the influences of the neighborhood condition on criminal activity and presents the idea that improvement of the neighborhood can lead to decrease in crimes. Jenkins (2016) emphasizes on the broken window that chaos and fear of criminality can be related. Various communities and neighborhoods post various norms and unspoken rules. Accidental mismanagement can lose community control and neighborhoods that have less control are prone to criminal attack. Based on the theory law enforcement have a better idea on working to improve the community thus helping decrease crimes.            Problem- oriented policing is an approach in relation to new responses that has a high value of preventative methods, not totally dependent on the criminal justice system and involves other law enforcement agencies, community and private sector in situations and circumstances that the aide will help reduce the issue and solve huge problems. Leadership in problem oriented policing is crucial when it promotes ethical practices, adaptability to environment, enforcer new ideas and modern research to the organization (Mazerolle, Darroch, and White 2013). It’s up for leadership within the organization to begin developing stable support for problem oriented policing. Motivation and inspiration of the approach to all employees especially law enforcement for strong moral behaviors, technical support, and conquer risk aversion.        

PEER 2:

The idea of community policing is for police officers to collaborate with the people they have sworn to protect. The objective is for law enforcement officers to decrease the amount of fear felt by people within these communities and improve their quality of life. For example, instead of police officers patrolling these communities in their squad car, officers are now walking beats inside their communities. Community policing is not limited to only patrol officers. The entire organization, as a whole, is responsible for solving problems within these communities. While patrol officers have their own mission to carry out throughout the community, other department are responsible for assisting these officers in carrying out that mission. Finding ways to resolve problems and removing the conditions that create them is a joint effort within the police department.  As a result of community policing (police officers walking beats), officers are able to reduce the amount of crime in that community. Furthermore, interaction with people provides a sense of safety and reduces fear within these communities. With the community policing strategies, police officers try to establish rapport with individuals inside these neighborhoods. Having this two-way communication allows police officers to build trust in society. For many years, and in today’s society, many people across the United States remain skeptical of law enforcement officials. Community policing strategies focuses on three key components. These components are, organization transformation, community partnership and shared problem solving. Organization transformation focuses on organizing police departments to involve civilians within these communities. Departments started to hire civilians as support staff within their departments. Jobs such as, dispatchers, crime scene technicians, administrative roles and many other jobs play a huge role in community policing. This strategy frees up more officers to be on the street as well as giving departments more interaction with the civilians they employed.       Community partnership is a partnership between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Going out to schools, businesses and religious organizations allows police officers to be more involved within the community. By doing this, citizens are more willing to approach officers and identify local problems. Shared problem solving gives police departments the ability to prevent crimes from occurring rather than reacting when a crime has happened.            The famous “Broken Windows” theory was a theory that signs of incivility, like broken window, signify that nobody cares, which would lead to greater crimes. The thought behind the Broken Windows theory is if police officer takes steps to prevent low level crimes like, jaywalking, graffiti and drinking beer on your stairs, then it would represent an effective tactic in preventing higher level crimes (rape, homicide, robbery, etc.) (Martin, 2019). The Broken Window’s approach is one way in reducing crimes and does deter individuals from preventing future crimes. The Broke Window’s Theory is an effective way of policing areas and preventing crime. With officers patrolling areas and stopping people from committing small infractions, individuals in these areas would be less likely to commit a violent crime.Although some may consider the Broken Windows can an effective way to police, the ways in which departments are implementing these practices are not as effective. The weakness in this theory is, the areas that police departments are implementing these practices are predominately minority areas. Furthermore, using broke window gives police officers a vast range of to detain individuals. (2) Explain and discuss leadership in problem-oriented policing. Problem-oriented policing is a method that law enforcement departments use to solve problems that are increasing the crime risks in certain areas. These areas normally consist of high levels of crime. This method required police departments to first identify the problem, then figure out a solution (which could be a wide range) to the problem. This requires leadership to be in tune with the officers on the front lines. Formulating a plan to find out what the problem is in the community and relaying that information back to leadership so that they can collaborate and find a solution. For example, in San Diego California a troller station was the center of gang fights and violent crimes. Leadership sent a team of officers to gather information to show the local transit board. Through their investigation, these officers found that the design of the station contributed to crime (Problem Oriented Policing. n.d). These officers used the Scanning, Analysis, Response, Assessment (SARA)method. Scanning to identify the problem. Analyzing the problem was the next step. After these officers analyzed the problem, they came up with a response. The assessment of this problem was the final step, with evaluating whether their response solved the problem.