Police in America. Steven G. Brandl
notes that summarize key concepts on a chapter-by-chapter basis to help you with preparation for lectures and class discussions;
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all tables and figures from the textbook.
Student Study Site
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Interactive eBook Version
The dynamic interactive eBook version of this text goes way beyond highlighting and note-taking, giving you access to SAGE Premium Video—curated and produced specifically for Police in America, Second Edition. Read your mobile-friendly eBook and access SAGE Premium Video and multimedia tools anywhere, anytime across desktop, smartphone, and tablet devices. Simply click on icons in the eBook to experience a broad array of multimedia features, including:
VIDEO: Boost learning and bolster analysis with SAGE Premium Video! Recapping the fundamentals in every chapter, each video activity is paired with chapter learning objectives and tied to assessment via SAGE coursepacks, offering an engaging approach that appeals to diverse learning styles.Career videos feature interviews with professional law enforcement discussing their day-to-day work and current issues in policing;Criminal Justice in Practice videos feature animated, decision-making scenarios challenge students to explore how they would respond to real-world situations faced by criminal justice professionals; andSAGE News Clips feature relevant news footage to help students apply knowledge to current events.
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About the Author
Steven G. Brandl(PhD, Michigan State University, 1991) is a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Professor Brandl worked in local and federal law enforcement prior to obtaining his PhD. At UW-Milwaukee, he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, including Introduction to Policing, Criminal Investigation, and Issues in Police Practice and Policy, among others. His research interests include police use of force, criminal investigation, and health and safety issues in police work.Professor Brandl has conducted numerous research studies and consulted with numerous national and local police departments and other state agencies on law enforcement issues. In addition to this textbook, he is the author of Criminal Investigation (SAGE) and many articles in professional journals. He is co-editor of The Police in America: Classic and Contemporary Readings and Voices From the Field: Readings in Criminal Justice Research.
Part I Foundations for the Study of the Police
Chapter 1: An Introduction to the Police in America 3
Chapter 2: The History of the Police in America 19
Chapter 3: The Characteristics and Structure of Police Organizations 37
Chapter 4: The Role of the Police 63
1 An Introduction to the Police in America
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Objectives
After reading this chapter you will be able to:
1.1 Explain the challenges associated with policing a free society
1.2 Discuss the tension between citizens’ rights and police power
1.3 Explain how the police are accountable to citizens
1.4 Identify and discuss the controversies and difficulties of policing
1.5 Discuss how police use of discretion and police use of force can make the police controversial
1.6 Discuss why ethical conduct of police officers is an especially serious concern
Fact or Fiction
To assess your knowledge of the police prior to reading this chapter, identify each of the following statements as fact or fiction. (See page 16 at the end of this chapter for answers.)
1 The best source of knowledge about the police is your previous interactions with them.
2 There is a trade-off between citizens’ rights and police power. If there is more of one, there is less of another.
3 As long as the police avoid overpolicing, they will not be subject to criticism.
4 The use of deadly force is often considered the ultimate discretionary decision made by police officers.
5 Defining good policing is not difficult; it is simply the number of arrests made, the number of crimes solved, and the number of citizen complaints received.
6 The media tend to focus on bad police officer behavior.
7 As long as the police pursue reasonable and legitimate goals, the means used to achieve them are not a major issue.
Police Spotlight: What It Takes to Be a Good Police Officer
“Policing a democracy is not an easy task. It’s difficult and messy. Yet police in a democracy must always operate within the rule of law. They must always apply our shared values to the difficult daily tasks of resolving conflict, protecting unpopular people and causes, and always acting fair and respectful to those who at the time are not conducting themselves properly—those who are intoxicated, affected by other drugs, surly, disrespectful, and even violent. That’s what police in a Bill of Rights do. And those who wish not to do that should not be our police.
So who can perform such a difficult task? I have said this before and I will say it again—only those who are the best of us, only those who are well-educated and well-trained, and only those who know about and can put into practice our closely-held and core values of freedom, individual rights, rule of law, fairness, and equality.”1
—David C. Couper, former Madison (WI) police chief
The aim of this chapter is to introduce the fundamental purposes of and