Police in America. Steven G. Brandl
responsibilities of the police and explain why different police departments tend to emphasize different aspects of the police role
Fact or Fiction
To assess your knowledge of the role of the police prior to reading this chapter, identify each of the following statements as fact or fiction. (See page 77 at the end of this chapter for answers.)
1 Police officers spend most of their time enforcing the law.
2 Crime control is relatively easy to measure accurately, and where there is less crime the police are obviously more effective.
3 The police do not deter some people from committing crimes and do not need to deter others.
4 Seldom is law enforcement controversial. It is just a matter of identifying the criminals and arresting them.
5 Media depictions of police work are similar to the realities of police work.
Police Spotlight: “Scoop and Run” in Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Police Department has a unique policy when it comes to rendering assistance to gunshot and stabbing victims: Instead of waiting for emergency medical services (EMS) to arrive on-scene and provide medical assistance and transportation, officers rush victims to the nearest trauma center in their squad cars, so called “scoop and run.” In 2017, one-third of Philadelphia’s 1,223 shooting victims were transported to one of the city’s five trauma centers in this manner. While this practice is not unheard of in other major cities, Philadelphia is the only city known to have made this practice standard policy, subject to officers’ consideration of proximity to a hospital, availability of EMS, and nature of victim injuries.
This practice is not without its critics. Some police officials point out that victims could be further injured during transport and typically do not receive medical care on the way to the hospital, raising liability concerns if victims do not survive. According to Philadelphia police, however, the city has never been sued over police transport of victims. Medical professionals add that less medical care during transport is made up for by faster arrival at a hospital, but they explain that this practice may not be wise if trauma centers are few and far away. Critics also highlight that police have other important responsibilities at crime scenes like finding and interviewing victims and collecting other evidence in order to solve the crime. Advocates respond that the practice may help strengthen relationships and goodwill between the community and the police and gives police officers a rare opportunity to save a life in the line of duty. As Philadelphia Police Department Captain Stephen Clark stated, “We don’t join the Police Department to watch people die.”1
This chapter addresses the question, Why do we have the police? The answer is not as simple as it may first seem.
What is the mandate of the police? In other words, what is their purpose? What is their role in our society? Most fundamentally, why do we have the police? These seemingly simple questions have not-so-simple answers. Indeed, it takes a chapter to adequately answer them. The police have many important responsibilities; they are absolutely essential in our society. However, their mandate is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Given their mandate, they are also inherently controversial. To attain an adequate understanding of the police in America, it is necessary to examine their major responsibilities and why their mandate is so difficult and controversial.
The Police Enforce the Law
Perhaps the first and most straightforward responsibility of the police is to enforce the law and identify and apprehend criminals. This is clearly an important duty. The police have been given the power and authority to arrest citizens when it is believed they have violated the law. If the police did not enforce the law and arrest offenders, then the courts would have no one to adjudicate and corrections would have no one to “correct” (or provide treatment to, administer punishment to, maintain custody of, etc.). The entire criminal justice system would cease to operate. In this light, the police, as enforcers of the law, serve as the gate keepers of the criminal justice system, determining who comes into the system and who stays out.
gate keepers: The role the police play in determining who comes into the criminal justice system and who stays out.
Give Meaning to the Law
It is also important to understand that as enforcers of the law, it is police officers who give the law meaning. The law means little without the possibility that the police will enforce it. Consider the example of speeding enforcement. What does a speed limit of 35 mph really mean? Does it mean if you are going 36 mph you are going to get a ticket? It is not likely, because the police are usually concerned with more serious violations of speed laws. How about if you are traveling 50 mph? In this situation, it might depend on whether there is a police officer looking for speeders on that road. Without a police officer or other means to enforce the law, such as a speed camera, there are no worries about getting a ticket. This is what is meant by the police giving the law meaning.
Implement the Law
Another way of saying the police enforce the law is by saying the police implement the law. Without the police implementing the law, laws are just words on paper. Not all laws are implemented at equal levels; some are enforced all the time while others are seldom if ever enforced. Every state and city has laws or other ordinances that are so seldom enforced that they are not even viewed as serious rules. For example, in Kennesaw, Georgia, it is required that every head of household own at least one firearm. In California, it is against the law to consume a frog that has died in a frog-jumping contest. In Aspen, Colorado, it is illegal to start or participate in a snowball fight.2 In East Lansing, Michigan (home of Michigan State University), it is illegal to sing, hum, or play the University of Michigan (the cross-state rival) fight song. These laws (ordinances) exist with little chance that the police will actually enforce them. A more serious example is how many state legislatures have attempted to reduce the frequency of driving under the influence (DUI) by creating laws with severe sanctions. However, research has shown that the enforcement of these laws by police officers is not automatic; it depends on the priority the police chief gives to DUI enforcement, incentives to enforce the law, officer-peer influence, the availability of time, and other factors.3
It is also important to note that the police do not pay equal attention to all laws and all crime. Local police in particular are more oriented toward the enforcement of predatory crimes, such as murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, and theft, than other sorts of serious crime, such as insider trading, money laundering, investment fraud, insurance fraud, and so on. The latter are more of a priority for federal agencies and insurance companies.
The Controversy of Law Enforcement
Police enforcement of the law is one reason why the police are controversial. In enforcing the law, the police use discretion. In other words, within limits, police officers can use their own judgment in deciding the right course of action. They can decide what laws to enforce, when to enforce them, and against whom they should be enforced. These decisions can affect citizens in dramatic and negative ways. Sometimes the law enforcement decisions of officers can look more like discrimination than objective discretion. Police body-worn cameras are commonly used to make officers’ decisions more visible and therefore possibly less controversial. However, with the use of body-cameras comes other controversies, such as instances when officers do not activate the cameras or when body-camera video is not released in a timely manner.4 Indeed, it appears that in spite of attempts to reduce it, controversy is always present in law enforcement.
Photo 4.1 Laws are words on paper until police officers decide to enforce them.
©iStockphoto.com/kali9