Police and the Courts

Policing Lecture Outline Very Special Role of Police in our society as State representatives with broad authority to enforce law and use force legitimately to do so. This may lead to some of the public holding them to higher standards and being more critical of abuses of their unique authority. Models of Policing: Crime Control Model Vs. Due Process Model (Barkan, ch 16) Police Use of Discretion—Unavoidable & ideally used fairly and wisely Barkan’s (Ch. 16) concern with extra-legal uses of police discretion (based on race/ethnicity, class, gender, suspect attitude / demeanor)

Race & Arrest and Use of Force --Race of offender—NCVS data and UCR arrest data – differences between 2 data sources in greater than Barkan (Ch. 16) asserts… What that implies about possibility of police discrimination in arrests --War on Drugs race & arrest inequalities (Barkan Ch 16 & lecture info) -- Racial Profiling & Searches and likelihood of finding contraband (Barkan Ch 16 & lecture info on racial profiling in MD) --NYC Police “Stop & Frisk” data -- Use of Force & Race & Age and Gender – Lots of inequalities (esp. race), even after holding other factors constant. (Kramer et al web rdg.) --Use of Deadly Force race inequality (Barkan Ch 16) Difficulties in measuring police brutality frequency (especially as a % of police contact with “Criminal Suspects”) (Barkan, ch 16) Arrests & Possible police Racial & Ethnic bias evidence or not (my data vs. Barkan’s view), & R&E bias in War on Drugs specifically… (Barkan, ch 16) Again. Compare with Moskos (ch 6) on why certain areas get more attention & how this leads to R&E inequality in arrests. Women less likely arrested or victims of police use of force, except sexual violence (Barkan ch 16)

View of Arrests differ: Police officers (lots of paper work, & old vs. new officers) vs. Police Managers (quotas and productivity) vs. State Prosecutors (decide to drop charges often). – Lots of discretion here, esp. for less serious offenses which is most arrests (Moskos Ch 6) Problems with high arrest strategy (Moskos Ch. 6, Goffman conclusion. Barkan Ch 16)

Advantages of foot patrol compared to car patrol (Moskos Ch.5, 6 & afterward) Car Patrol model vs. Watchman Guardian model of policing (& problems with car-patrol model) (Moskos Ch. 5)

Aggressive Hyper-policing & frequent arrests harm community relations with police, weaken social bonds among community members, though unites community against police (they want police protection from serious crime but not aggressive arrest-for-everything policing); police have some family and friend ties among community members (via romance and family). Police put in impossible situation – their tools (arrest & jail) cannot solve community needs & social problems (poverty, unemployment, fragile families, drug addiction, etc.) that cause much of the crime in first place. (Goffman, Conclusion) Police Discretion & Arrests – most common arrests, conflict between police and prosecuting attorneys, flaws in using arrest stats as measure of police, demeanor & arrest (Moskos ch. 6) race & ethnicity and arrest (Barkan ch. 16) vs. Moskos (ch 6) says not police personal discrimination but rather that police focus on certain areas (where public drug dealing is more common) and make more arrests there (& those areas are more low-income, minority group ones). vs. Moskos (chs. 5 & 6) more practical approach to use of police discretion re arrest or not [sometimes extra-legal, but tries to be fair, such as in Grandma case], with goal of problem solving in complex situations encountered on streets & calls for service; and police can always arrest someone for something if they want, but typically very minor offense… Most common types of arrests in E. District of Baltimore are for very minor offenses (which?) (Moskos Ch 6)

Other things to know, not lectured on (or very little): Police work – how most time spent [& Police Working Personality –Us vs. them, suspicious, etc. ](Barkan, ch 16) Moskos Chs 5 & 6 adds a lot of detail to this, esp. on how responding to calls is bulk of work, and then processing arrests, going to court, etc Peace Officer Model of policing Vs. Arrest-Focused Model of Policing –Strengths of former over latter. Importance of developing relationships and public contact & accessibility to prevent and solve crime… Most common types of arrest for high-arrest approach (Moskos Ch. 6). Problems with Reactive Policing & 911 system (Moskos Ch 5) 3 R’s of modern Policing (& problems with this model) (Moskos Ch 5)

Police Effect on Crime / Policing Strategies (Barkan, ch 16): 1. Does just increasing number of police officers reduce crime? 2. Directed patrols & Hot spots 3. Zero Tolerance & Crackdowns 4. Increasing Arrests 5. Community Policing

Police Corruption – “Meat eaters” & Grass eaters” (Barkan Ch. 16) Who are the police in terms of race, ethnicity, and gender? (Barkan, ch 16)