Police in America. Steven G. Brandl
racial minority neighborhoods. So, at least in urban settings, the police pay more attention to some areas and some people than others. Indeed, the police spend more time in some public spaces than others.22 This can lead to criticism about overpolicing in some neighborhoods and underpolicing in others. Citizens who perceive too much police action in their neighborhoods may be just as upset as citizens who perceive too little in their neighborhoods. Either way, the police may be subject to criticism.
overpolicing: The perception of too much police presence and action in a neighborhood.
underpolicing: The perception of too little police presence and action in a neighborhood.
Law enforcement agencies other than local police departments are also more concerned with some types of crimes than others. For example, federal law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), devote more resources to combating predatory crimes and terrorism than other types of crimes. Although the strategies used to combat criminals differ, federal law enforcement agencies also devote more resources to certain places than others and pay more attention to some people than others.
The Police Have Other Responsibilities
Besides their important crime-related duties, local police departments have a multitude of other responsibilities. Because the police are a twenty-four-hour-a-day resource that is just a phone call away (via 911), citizens call on the police for all sorts of troubles. The local police department is often the social agency of first resort for people in need of assistance. Officers regularly deal with family members and neighbors who do not get along; they deal with homelessness issues and people with mental illness and substance abuse problems. None of these issues necessarily relate to criminal behaviors, but all require police resources.
Figure 1.2 Crime Rate, 1960–2017
Note: 2017 was most recent data available at time of publication.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics
The Police Use Discretion in Dealing With People
Police officers often must use discretion, or their own judgment, in making decisions about how to handle situations. This discretion can affect people’s lives in dramatic ways. Whether the situation involves a decision to ticket or just warn a speeding motorist, what to do about a barking dog, how to resolve a dispute between neighbors, or whether or not to use force on a resisting suspect, the use of discretion is a critical part of the job and can raise all sorts of issues. For instance, the decision made could be an improper one. Since officers make a lot of decisions during the course of a work shift, there is the potential for many mistakes. It is very important to understand that with a critical decision comes the possibility of a critical mistake.
discretion: A police officer’s personal judgment of how best to handle a situation.
Another issue is that often discretion involves officers making moral or ethical judgments about who is right, who is wrong; who is the victim, who is the offender. Sometimes these distinctions are easy to make, sometimes they are not. Usually at least one of the parties involved does not like the decision that the officer has made. The reality is that officers seldom leave a situation being appreciated by all the participants. It is no wonder that citizens have strong and divergent feelings about the police, either positive or negative.
The Police Have Authority to Use Force and Arrest Citizens
The ability to make an arrest is a critical but basic form of police authority. Citizen’s noncompliance with the law may lead to arrests being made by officers. Further, officers have discretion about other critical actions, such as whether or not to use physical force on citizens and what type of force to use. As discussed in more detail later in this book, many scholars argue that police authority to use force is what differentiates the occupation from all others. Workers in no other occupation can use “essentially unrestricted” force against citizens.23 The use of force, especially deadly force, is often the most controversial discretionary decision made by police officers. Even if the force was legally justified, its use is often controversial. This fact has been repeatedly and dramatically highlighted with recent incidents in which the police have used deadly force against unarmed subjects. From these incidents have come calls for police reforms and especially for the use of body-worn cameras to provide greater transparency, accountability, and control over police actions in deadly force situations (see Technology on the Job feature on page 7).
Measuring Good Policing Is Difficult
Assessing police performance is important so that corrections and improvements can be made. With police work, however, it is extremely difficult to measure good performance. For example, crime prevention is a good goal, but how do you measure crimes that do not occur? It is simply impossible for the police to accurately say that they prevented X number of crimes during the past year. Often comparisons are made to the number of crimes that occurred the previous year, but there is nothing inherently meaningful about a previous year’s numbers. If there were 100 crimes last year but only 90 this year, is that a police success? Is it possible the number of crimes may decline from year to year not because the police are effective but because citizens reported crimes to the police less often? If the number of homicides went down but the number of shootings stayed the same, is that a police success? Sometimes the number of arrests made by the police is used as an indicator of performance; the reasoning is that making more arrests equals better performance. The problem with this reasoning is that if an arrest was made, it means that a crime was not prevented. Additionally, an arrest may not be the best or most effective way of handling a particular incident. Indeed, identifying accurate measurements of good policing has been, and remains, problematic for the police. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify specific examples of good policing practices and good qualities and actions of police officers. Such examples are provided throughout this book in the Good Policing features.
Photo 1.6 The media tend to distort the realities of policing. Some people argue that the intent of the media is more to entertain than to educate.
AP Photo/Detroit News, Steve Perez
The Media Do Not Necessarily Accurately Represent the Police
Citizens often see the police through the filter of the media, including social media, entertainment media, and the news media. The problem is that the media do not necessarily accurately depict the police and their work. In particular, news media sources tend to be superficial and selective in their coverage. In some respects, they use the police as entertainment, or more precisely, “infotainment.”24 They focus on violent, random, and bizarre crimes and often call into question police abilities in controlling crime, especially when there seems to be a large amount of it occurring. The news media tend to focus on bad officer behavior, especially instances of supposed police brutality,25 although stories about police heroism also usually make the news. Entertainment media also offer an unrealistic portrayal of the police, often exaggerating the exciting or bizarre aspects of the job (e.g., the television show COPS) as well as the mysterious (e.g., Criminal Minds). Social media are also selective in their representation and unfortunately are the sources of much misinformation about the police. As such, the media may distort citizens’ views of the police.26
A Research Question
What is the Impact of Media on Views of the Police?27
A 2018 study reported