Law enforcement officers, or the police, have always had a fundamental role in our society. These brave individuals take an oath to protect and serve the American people. Their method of law enforcement had always been to react. The goal was to respond to crime. In the later half of the twentieth century policing began to see reform. Slowly, the role of police had morphed from a reaction, call driven, system to a proactive system that focus on preventing crime and protecting the community. This idea of community policing is a practice of law and order that is effective for promoting the common good of the community, but its practices may threaten an individual’s civil liberties. Community Policing changed the fundamental idea of the role of
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The Broken Window theory is that “if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken” (Kelling). This theory was put test in an experiment where an old abandoned car was placed on the street would eventually be completely vandalized. In summary, the Broken Window theory suggests that “untended behavior also leads to the breakdown of community controls. As these controls break down, community standards are not upheld. Over time, this breakdown adds up. Eventually, the community could not have any serious major crime, but the community will have the feel of a high crime area. This is known as a process called urban decay, the complete breakdown of an area, community, or neighborhood. Having a police presence within the community, establishing order maintenance, will promote high community standards and can deter crime and create a safe …show more content…
The main two arguments to community policing are that its practices can infringe on civil liberties and alienate minorities. Since 1994, The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services of the Department of Justice has given out fourteen billion dollars of funding to police agencies all over the country to improve the way police and citizens interact. Fourteen billion dollars is a lot of money to be given out to help organization protect citizens they swore to defend (Moraff). Community policing measures have caused problems with police and civilian relationships and the federal funding is not helping. Police and civilian relations seem to be at an all time high and many think extreme crime prevention procedures like Stop, Question, and Frisk cause the problem. An individual police officer 's power has risen increasingly high as measures like Stop and Frisk have been implement. (Moraff). This system gives unique power to individual cops. As a result of this, reported police misconduct has been on the rise and many Americans feel like these officers, whose conduct is in question, are not being held accountable for their actions. During Stop, Question, and Frisk, there have been cases where individual 's civil liberties have been taken away and in extreme cases civilians have ended up dead. These incidents, were civil liberties have been taken away or
The Broken Window theory is that “if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken” (Kelling). This theory was put test in an experiment where an old abandoned car was placed on the street would eventually be completely vandalized. In summary, the Broken Window theory suggests that “untended behavior also leads to the breakdown of community controls. As these controls break down, community standards are not upheld. Over time, this breakdown adds up. Eventually, the community could not have any serious major crime, but the community will have the feel of a high crime area. This is known as a process called urban decay, the complete breakdown of an area, community, or neighborhood. Having a police presence within the community, establishing order maintenance, will promote high community standards and can deter crime and create a safe …show more content…
The main two arguments to community policing are that its practices can infringe on civil liberties and alienate minorities. Since 1994, The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services of the Department of Justice has given out fourteen billion dollars of funding to police agencies all over the country to improve the way police and citizens interact. Fourteen billion dollars is a lot of money to be given out to help organization protect citizens they swore to defend (Moraff). Community policing measures have caused problems with police and civilian relationships and the federal funding is not helping. Police and civilian relations seem to be at an all time high and many think extreme crime prevention procedures like Stop, Question, and Frisk cause the problem. An individual police officer 's power has risen increasingly high as measures like Stop and Frisk have been implement. (Moraff). This system gives unique power to individual cops. As a result of this, reported police misconduct has been on the rise and many Americans feel like these officers, whose conduct is in question, are not being held accountable for their actions. During Stop, Question, and Frisk, there have been cases where individual 's civil liberties have been taken away and in extreme cases civilians have ended up dead. These incidents, were civil liberties have been taken away or