1. Police role and subculture

2. Police in a democracy Police have unique powers
Authority to coerce compliance & use force
Discretion – choose whom to arrest (can’t arrest everyone)
Police have democratic obligations
Police must help everyone equally and avoid excesses
Exchange relationship - citizens cede power in return for services
This “social contract” is what lends police legitimacy
Persistent issues
Who decides what is a genuine public purpose?
Who decides what “civility” means? Who decides what laws should be enforced?
Is there consensus about what police should do, and how? How much is enough?
Are police held accountable? Are sufficient constraints in place?
Police perspective
Crime and disorder are social problems with few fixed solutions
The more that citizens voluntarily comply with society’s expectations - the more “civil” they are - the less they need the police

3. Police in a democracy Police have unique powers
Authority to coerce compliance & use force
Discretion – choose whom to arrest (can’t arrest everyone)
Police have democratic obligations
Exchange relationship - citizens cede power in return for services
Police must not discriminate, help everyone equally and avoid excesses
This “social contract” is what lends police legitimacy
Persistent issues
Who decides what is a legitimate public purpose?
Who decides what “civility” means? Who decides what laws should be enforced?
Is there consensus about what police should do, and how? How much is enough?
Are police held accountable? Are sufficient constraints in place?
Police perspective
Crime and disorder are social problems with few fixed solutions
The more that citizens voluntarily comply with society’s expectations - the more “civil” they are - the less they need the police

4. Gallup polling - public confidence in police & CJ system

5. But when broken down by race and ethnicity …
Whites and older persons look much more favorably on police than minorities, especially African-Americans
September 2016
August 2014

6. When things go very wrong - the 1965 Watts riots
CHP followed a suspected DUI into the driveway of the South Los Angeles home where he lived
A disorderly crowd gathered. They were egged on by the man’s mother and family members. CHP officers arrived and dragged them away. Rock and bottle-throwing began, then things escalated.
More than 30 died, more than 1,000 were injured, hundreds were arrested. Widespread looting and fire-setting leveled a large chunk of the Watts commercial district. The area never fully recovered.
Minority residents were strongly critical of police, claiming they precipitated the riot, then made things worse
Did police fulfill their democratic obligations?
Or did police act as tools of the ruling class?

7. Police duties & responsibilities
Peacekeeping
Enhance civility and order
Resolve citizen conflicts
Promote a feeling of security
Crime suppression & prevention
“General deterrence” - deter through patrol and other means
“Specific deterrence” - identify and arrest criminals
Facilitate movement of traffic
Provide emergency services
Help victims and those at risk of being victimized
2 ½ mis.

8. Is “crime-fighting” overstated?
Conventional academic perspective
Police like to think of themselves as crime- fighters (robbery, burglary, etc.) but they’re mostly peacekeepers (neighbor disputes, family fights)
The police crime-fighting role is vastly overstated; supposedly takes only 20 percent of an officer’s time
Most officer time is spent on peacekeeping and paperwork
Are “peacekeeping” and “crime fighting” fundamentally different?
Calif. Penal Code, sec. 15: A crime or public offense is an act committed or omitted in violation of a law...
Disturbing the peace (415 P.C.)
Assault (240 P.C.)

9. What’s a “real” criminal?
Bill owns a loud dog. Jack is sick and tired of being woken up by the pooch. So Jack goes to the backyard, hooks up a water hose, sticks it over the fence and drenches Fido. Bill yells at Jack. They start calling each other names and challenging to fight. Mary, another neighbor, calls the cops.
Steve and Jane live in an apartment. They start arguing about money. It gets louder, turns into cussing, then pushing and shoving, then objects being thrown. Nancy, who lives in the apartment next door, calls the cops.
What could officers do?
What should they do?

10. Abuse of domestic partner
February 20, 2004 – LAPD Officer Ricardo Lizarraga, Newton Division Officer Lizarraga and his partner were flagged down by a battered woman who asked them to expel a boyfriend from her apartment. As officer Lizarraga entered the residence the male emerged with a pistol and started shooting, striking officer Lizarraga under his ballistic vest The suspect, a gang member and convicted felon, escaped but was arrested several hours later. He hung himself in his jail cell the next day.
On 5/15/09 Lizaragga’s mother, Christina, 50, was struck in the pelvis by an errant shot fired by gang members fighting in front of her home. The wound was not fatal.

11. Family dispute
February 22, 1994 – LAPD Officer Christy Hamilton, Devonshire Division
Officers Hamilton and others responded to a family disturbance with shots fired in a residential neighborhood. As she stood by her patrol car a 17-year old youth who had just murdered his father fired a caliber assault rifle, striking officer Hamilton above her ballistic vest. The assailant committed suicide.

12. Petty larceny
October 22, 1996 – LAPD Officer Mario Navidad, Wilshire Division
Officer Navidad and his partner were flagged down by a convenience store clerk who said a young man walking down an alley had just stolen two six-packs of beer. As the officers approached in their vehicle the suspect pulled a .380 pistol and fired, striking officer Navidad, the passenger, multiple times in the chest, between the panels of his ballistic vest. The suspect was killed in an exchange of gunfire.

13. What cops d0 (Police Services Study)
Table 2
Source: “What is Patrol Work?” Data from “Police Services Study” of patrol ops. in 60 neighborhoods served by 24 police agencies in the Rochester, St. Louis and Tampa-St. Petersburg metro areas (1977).

14. How they get it done (Police Services Study)
Table 4

15. Policing styles

16. Policing styles: Watchman / Legalistic / Service
Different social, cultural, economic and political factors may lead to different policing styles
James Q. Wilson - “Varieties of police behavior”
Watchman Focus on order maintenance. Ignore minor infractions, less bothered by vice. Preference to resolve issues informally. More common in cities with non-professional, partisan political cultures.
Legalistic Eager to invoke formal sanctions (arrests and citations). Disorderly persons viewed as a criminal threat. Reluctance to intervene when legal authority is unclear. More common in professionally governed communities.
Service Blend of the above styles, with less emphasis on making arrests. Preference to resolve situations through conciliation and by making referrals to social service agencies.
Some support for this taxonomy in later studies, summarized in “Wilson Redux, Another Look at Varieties of Police Behavior” by John Liederbach

17. Determinants of policing styles: the environment
Society and culture
Demographics (community size, population density, urban/rural)
Socioeconomics (education, wages, employment)
Crime and disorder
Availability of firearms
Law and politics
Departmental variables
Resources (personnel, training, equipment)
Leadership and oversight

18. Influencers of policing styles: role of the environment
--- A tale of two countries

19. U.K.

20. U.S.
Police Issues

21. Officers feloniously killed, U.S. v. U.K.
U.S. pop. 32 million
U.S. 5 X pop.
U.K. pop. 65 million
U.S. officers (2015) 913,161
U.K. officers (2015) 129,987
U.S. 7 X # cops
2015
U.S. cops gun death 4 X more likely in 2015
2015
Gun deaths
Gun deaths
.04/1000
.00/1000
For
All deaths
All deaths
Gun All
deaths deaths
.04/1000
.01/1000
109 X
40 X

22. Influencers of policing styles: role of the environment
--- A tale of two cities

23. “Aggressive order maintenance” v. “problem-solving partnership”
Detailed studies of policing in Indianapolis and St. Petersburg (Fla.) in the late 1990’s
An academic review of the data suggests that each agency promoted a distinct policing style:
Indianapolis: “Aggressive order-maintenance approach” to maintain order, suppress gang crime, drug activity and carrying weapons
St. Petersburg: “Problem-solving, community partnership approach” using crime data and creating strong relationships with community groups
These agency orientations reportedly “bled down” to officers, affecting what they did and how they went about doing it

24. Indianapolis v. St. Petersburg: Project on policing neighborhoods
Management-encouraged policing styles
Indianapolis
Aggressive, intrusive approach to maintain order, suppress gang crime, drug activity and carrying weapons
St. Petersburg
Problem-solving, community partnership approach using crime data; strong relations with community groups
Examples of officer “working rules”
If not enough evidence to arrest, then “threaten arrest to ensure future compliance”
No working rules related to the threat of arrest

25. If agency styles differed – why?
Indianapolis’ “aggressive, traditional approach” v.
St. Petersburg’s “problem-solving, community approach”
How did these differences supposedly come about?
Police decided?
Ruling class decided?
Community determined?
Differences between communities?
Demographics
Crime
Police coverage
Possible effects of such differences
Officer backup / number on scene
Response time
Pressures to move on (calls waiting)
Opportunity for investigation & crime solving

26. Other influencers on policing styles

27. A host of factors… Lessons of the job (physical threats, etc.)
Individual officer differences (knowledge, physical abilities, risk tolerance, etc.)
Seriousness of an offense, harm committed
Mandates to arrest (e.g., spousal abuse)
Presence of weapons, criminal record, suspect attitude
Immediately available resources (e.g., partner, backup)
Workload
Department policy (formal)
Accepted and preferred practices (informal)
Presence and attitude of supervisors
Peer expectations
Community and citizen pressures
Presence and attitudes of victims and witnesses

28. Lessons of the job Recruits learn caution at the academy
Police work can be dangerous
Stories of officers hurt and killed
Patrol work teaches powerful lessons
Reality v. altruistic, “helping” orientation
Badge + gun ≠ compliance
Almost anyone can prove dangerous
Justice not always possible
Constant exposure to the unpleasant aspects of human nature
Some consequences
Officer personalities  police environment
Shortcuts to decision-making: profiling, the “symbolic assailant”
Territoriality , solidarity, code of silence

29. Unanticipated hazards

30. Officer differences
Training, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities
Personal and psychological characteristics
Decision-making
Aggressiveness, self-control
Risk tolerance
Physical abilities
Political views, moral codes
Officer alignment with police culture
Indianapolis/St. Petersburg study suggests that officers tend to fall into one of three groups that reflect their commitment to “conventional police culture”
Pro-culture distrust citizens and supervisors, favor aggressive crime-fighting patrol tactics and selective enforcement. Tends to rely on force and coercion.
Con-culture has favorable attitudes towards citizens and supervisors, a non- aggressive style that respects legal safeguards. Tries to avoid force and coercion.
Mixed orientation
Police Issues: Who Deserves a Break? Should officers arrest an otherwise “good” juvenile caught with a switchblade?

31. Following procedure, low risk tolerance or what?
Police Issues: Kicking a Suspect
In El Monte, police tried to pull over a vehicle containing three gang members
The driver, a parolee-at-large took off. After a wild pursuit, he crashed the vehicle into a parked car and fled on foot.
He was quickly corralled in a rear yard and lay down on the grass, proned out
For no clear reason, the first police officer to approach severely kicked him in the head
The officer’s lawyer later explained the officer’s action as a trained “distraction blow”
The officer was heavily criticized by use of force experts. But the D.A. declined to prosecute him for assault.
Question: what motivated the officer? Was it really a trained “distraction” blow?

32. You judge: misunderstanding or poor self-control?
Police Issues: When Hard Heads Collide
Cambridge (MA) admin sergeant on his way to the station jumps on a possible residential burglary call
caller told the dispatcher about two males, one possibly Hispanic, and that one seemed to force his way into the residence
The sergeant met with the caller. His report will later say that she told him there were two black males with backpacks. She will deny it.
There was no burglary. After identifying himself, the resident, a black Harvard professor, challenged the sergeant’s reason for being there. He then followed him outside and kept yelling.
The sergeant arrested the homeowner for disorderly conduct. Prosecutors quickly dismissed the charges.
A report blamed both parties for missing opportunities to de-escalate.
But both the sergeant and the professor insist they were right

33. Such issues are not unique to the police
Personality characteristics help people choose occupations, including law enforcement
Some personal traits and beliefs can interact with the workplace environment in negative ways. Consequences might include:
Occupational cynicism - a “what’s the use” outlook
Ill will towards “clients” - an “us versus them” attitude
Thoughtless, self-serving and unprofessional behavior
Rejection of any helping orientation that might exist
Extreme occupational solidarity, leading to a “code of silence” and disregard of supervisory control

34. What influences policing styles? Bringing it together…

35. Communities, agencies and officers:
How do they influence policing styles?
(a possible model)
Politics
Funding Sources
Society
Agency approach (traditional-professional OR community-oriented)
Environmental forces
Individual factors
Officer styles (crime fighter OR service oriented)
Use of force, coercion, profiling, etc.