Consolidation Of Police Departments example essay topic

The future of policing is fairly clear in what direction it is heading. It has been slowly reforming to meet the needs of the people, reduce crime, and make policing more efficient. Some of the reforms that will probably take place in the future include, better educated police officers and police managers, consolidation of police departments to save on money and resources, upgraded technology, race and gender equality, better testing techniques to recruit and promote within the department, and improved proactive planning techniques. One of these proactive tools that will surely become more widely used and implemented better is community policing.

It has been evolving since its first introduction into the police world and will see more reforms in the future. Compstat should also become more widely used by almost all police departments to make those in charge more accountable and for improved crime mapping. Current economic and political trends will affect how, and if, certain reforms take place. Some trends like the increased costs for medical services will affect officer's salaries and benefits, while the growth of inexpensive technology with instant communication through cell phones and personal computers will improve response time and distribution of information quickly and effectively.

Changes population demographics, with the increase in the cultural and ethic diversity of the population will create more of need for career equality. This will also be pushed forward by the immigration of more highly educated professionals from third world countries. Increased multinational organized crime activity will create a bigger need for better communication between countries and joint efforts to stop it. Increased concerns with crimes committed by violent juveniles and individuals with modern weapons, terrorism and threats against our infrastructure will also shape the way policing reforms to solve these increased threats.

Because of greater concern with terrorism, more resources will be allocated to homeland security. These are resources that could have helped domestic crimes and police management and will have to compensate for. Even smart credit cards, DNA identification and global positioning systems will all help shape the new policing model. One of the main problems facing most police departments is using cost-effective police services.

So, consolidation should be the first aspect of policing used to cut costs and dispose of duplicated services. State police, county police, village police, sheriffs department, and private police can all share the same area of jurisdiction and all be spending money and resources on the same things. Instead of this, consolidation of some of these would reduce the amount of money spent on the same areas, and patrols could be redirected to hot spots or further areas that could not be reached before. This would also eliminate the problem of sharing information between departments, because it would all be gathered in on department and accessible to all officers. Consolidation of some of the departments would also eliminate the competition between departments for calls, resources and personnel.

The next reform should be the use of all the new technology that is available today. Police agencies need to take full advantage of all the new technologies that could help them fight crime easier and become even more proactive. One great way is having laptop or hand held computers in police cars. They can show street and map response time grids, demographic characteristics and time of crime committed. They can even show the time, place, and nature of crimes by number and color for easy identification.

Listings of the crimes as burglaries, robberies, traffic deaths, juvenile crimes, and other grids would be available at the touch of a button. Demographic characteristics of location like density, distribution and vital statistics of population could also be obtained instantly. Trend-analysis grids for traffic control, civilian disasters, and energy blackouts would also be available for planners if a disaster occurred. All of this at the touch of a button on a handheld computer could make a police officers life much easier and make them a more useful crime fighting tool. We should also see in the near future, an improved personnel selection process. Associate's or bachelor's degrees should be required for all new recruits.

The shift needs to be made from a military trained to educated officers. The way the police force is moving, the military model is almost extinct, with a more educated and community relations oriented approach. Men and women and minorities should be assigned to all aspects of the police mission and promoted to specialty units and supervisory positions on an equal basis. Even the way that departments recruit their new officers need to be changed.

It needs to move from a pencil and paper test, to a general test emphasizing role playing, interviews, aptitude and other skills needed for the job. Being a bad test taker doesn't mean a person won't make an excellent police officer. Even selection of supervisors and administrative staff members should be done in this way. Test taking years of experience, or being appointed because of who you know should not be the only ways someone gets a promotion. For promotions to higher rankings, more credentials should be required. A master's in police administration or a related field, at least three years of experience in police planning, patrol or investigation, and successful completion of a state-certified training academy for police patrol officers and supervisors are some things they should need.

Another tool that needs to be used by more police departments is the Compstat system. Compstat was developed by the New York City Police Department and is now available to other departments. With this system, crime mapping is extremely effective and can reduce crime greatly. These crime maps can show hot spots that need to be cleaned up, and help police managers distribute officers more effectively.

It can even enhance community policing when community policing guidelines are added. Or this information can be available to the community which could help improve communications between residents and police. Beyond the fact that Compstat helps to lower crime, it also makes police managers more responsibly, by making them accountable for their actions or stagnation. With this system, meetings are held regularly which any of the police chiefs in the jurisdiction can be called to.

When at the meeting, each chief displays the statistics of crime in his area, what his department is doing to combat the remaining crime and what they plan to do to bring crime rates even lower. This is all presented in front of a board and all of the other police chiefs. The ideas shared are then discussed and can be implemented by other departments that may be having the similar problem. This is the best way to hold the heads of the departments responsible for the actions of their entire department, making them work harder to correct any problems that they know will be brought up at their next meeting.

This sharing of their plans and ideas is the best form of communication between departments. One last area that needs to be addressed in the future of policing is a universal police force. A police force made up of members from all nations that would investigate and arrest international criminals and help with the sharing of information between countries. Many countries lack the ability to fight organized crime in their country, such as Columbia. Drug cartels run the country and will kill any government official who stands in there way. Without the money or tools to fight this type of crime, the government is helpless.

If a universal police force existed, it could help in a situation like this where drugs were being exported all over the world. A universal police force could receive funds from many counties giving it almost unlimited funding and could also pursue criminals anywhere. Usually if a criminal crosses a border, a country must ask there neighboring country for help locating the person and depend on them to find the individual or to crack down on the group. A great example of this is in Israel, with fighting militant groups like Hamas. Groups like this receive funds from other countries all around the world that support terrorism.

An international police force could more easily gather information on the group and also serve as a barrier between the Israelis and Palestinians. This organization would be much like the United Nations, but instead of politics and an army it would be a world police force that could actually go in and arrest individuals and put them on trial in front of the world. Finally, the future of policing seems to already be headed in a good direction, focusing on improved communication between departments and with the public. The strong emphasis on community policing will help people feel more comfortable with the police and not as their own society. Some reforms need to be more focused on though, like the international police force, because of recent events like September 11th. Overall policing will seem to remain the same because the transition will be slow and gradually take effect, but it will always be improving in any way that it can.