Cop in the hood: A book report Cop in the hood is a book about Peter Moskos experience as a police officer in the eastern district of Baltimore. First, as a sociologist at Harvard, he was very curious about the job of Policing. There is a lot of misconception and myth about the job so what a better way to learn than become one? His coworkers were at first wary of the Harvard liberal, expecting him to do a poor job due to being primarily concerned with his research. Police culture is naturally untrustworthy of outsiders as most citizens have no idea what the job is actually like. Officer Moskos research work was usually done after shift. He would sit in front of his computer and put his nightly notes down and interpret them. The author acknowledges …show more content…
Officers were rewarded and reprimanded appropriately for the amount of arrests that were made. When Officers successfully prevented or deterred crime it didn’t show on paper. This tied in with officer morale in a big way. The book illustrates that when departments put out arrest quotas for the east side arrests fell, usually to the minimum. Mosko is often very critical of upper police managements distance and ignorance to the actual problems out there. The best chapters in this book were the last two: Prohibition and School Daze. Here the author touches on the underlying effects of this phenomenon and the war on drugs. He can’t believe that after prohibition the country did not learn its lesson the first time. Moskos believes we can learn a lot from the tobacco crusade, which reduced tobacco use by half without jailing any smokers. Moskos offers many suggestions for public policy, officer training, and drug rehabilitation. I think this book should be required reading for any officer who wants to enforce illegal narcotics. It is an eye opening real account and both police supporters and critics have a lot to learn from Peter Moskos. The first step to healing our modern day police/public relation divide is ending this drug war and failed
...lue was going on. The way our police have adapted these aggressive and violent tactics of Mr. Balko showed us how both liberals and conservatives have allowed the militarization of our police forces to flourish In our country. The police and military are very different even in the way they conduct their raids, a lot much safer compared to police how is less accountable than the military and a lot less disciplined than the military. After read this book I would more likely not be able to work because I see the point and I can see its not heading in a good direction. These Para military tactics are something that really isn’t a big deal now but it will soon becoming a big deal. Not all police officers are bad like Mr. balko say’s. There are very good police officers in the United States but polices have elevated police over the people they are supposed to be serving.
Gilmartin begins by describing the typical rookie officer. Most are energetic, idealistic, enthusiastic and very driven. Quickly this enthusiasm can change from one of positivity to one that is very cynical and emotionally charged. These behaviors and thoughts over time if not corrected become exacerbated leading to noticeable mental and physical changes. The author, Gilmartin, uses personal experiences and other real life stories effectively so that many officers can relate and identify with the topic of the book.
In the early 1900’s the Boston police were ranked among the best law enforcement groups in the world. Underneath this reputation of being one of the best in the world, the police department was having some trouble. Most of the police stations were old and deteriorating. An officer would have to many hours a week. The pay for most policemen were very low. While inflation was in much affect the policeman’s salary stayed the same. And the men were promised raises but never saw much more than they had already made. The Boston city policemen were very angry over these iss...
The Chicago Police Department has come a long way. It actually came about before Chicago became a city. On August 15 of 1835 a man by the name of Orsemus Morrison was elected as Chicago’s first constable, along with Luther Nichols and John Shrigley. They were a three-man police force that served and protected about 3,200 people. In 1855 there was a major reorganization. Captain Cyrus P. Bradley combined the day and night watches, increased the force by six times the number of officers, divided the City into three police precincts, and introduced a more professional, efficient command staff. Over the years female officers began to join the force, police cars were introduced, as well as police motorcycles and boats, and the first crime laboratory was established. In 1993 the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) was introduced. Superintendent Rodriguez introduced Chicago's community policing program (CAPS) in five districts. The program was implemented in all police districts in 1994 and serves as a model for several community polic...
During the duration of this paper, I will discuss an issue that has been controversial for over a century; prohibition and how it has effected, currently effects, and will, most likey, continue to effect American society. The aspects that I choose to address from this issue are political, historical, they make you wonder, and they should effect anyone who reads this paper. For decades, the American government has had a restriction or ban on drugs and alcohol. Also for decades, these restrictions have been met with resistance from our society. In the early twentieth century, from 1920 through 1933, it was the prohibition of alcohol. A corrupt time, in which, so called, "criminals" and law makers both manufactured and sold bootlegged alcohol. There was high demand then and everyone was in it for the money, everyone. A time which proved to be a failed attempt by the government to take away what is now one of the United States' top commodities. During the 1970's President Richard Nixon started an ongoing "war on drugs" and every president since Nixon has continued this fight to, somehow, rid the entire country of illicit drugs. Today, a few states have taken a new approach to one of these drugs and eyebrows are being raised to the war on drugs all together. States, such as, California, Washington, and Calorado have loosened their tight grip on prohibiting marijuana and even have medical marijuana dispenseries. This idea has been proven to have boosted those economies, and it has allowed people with cancer to use a medication that actually gives them comfort. However, marijuana is still illegal. Why would we restrict the nation from something that beneficial...
Cop in the Hood by Peter Moskos is a book concerning a sociologist named Peter Moskos wanting to know more about the ways of American cops. A Harvard student going to work in Baltimore in the eastern district for one year, writes about his learnings and findings from firsthand experience. Some people say cops are not prepared when they leave police academy. From the book it says police officers learn more in the first two years than they will learn at the police academy. Becoming one of the deadliest profession cop’s duties are eye opening and even jaw dropping. Cops are known either has “gatekeepers” or even “pigs” in slang term. What if there were no cops in America? What would happen if they all just vanished and there was no one to protect
At some point in our lives, everybody eventually comes in contact with a law enforcement officer, some people for different reasons. Law enforcement officers work around the clock to keep citizens safe. Many people do not know a lot of things about law enforcement, some of those will be discussed. Those topics are agency administration, issues with law enforcement in today’s society, and law enforcement history.
The Political Era of policing occurred in the early 1800’s and lasted until the 1930’s, and was under the direct influence of the local government and politicians. There were benefits of political influence; police departments began to develop intimate relationships within their communities offering a wide array of services to citizens. For example, the police worked soup kitchens and provided temporary housing for immigrants searching for work (Peak, 2015). In addition to providing an array of services to the community, officers were integrated into neighborhoods, which helped to prevent and contain riots. Typically, officers were assigned to neighborhoods where they lived or had the same ethnic background. Police departments
The California Narcotic Officers' Association consists of over 7,000 criminal justice professionals who are dedicated to protecting the public from the devastating effects of substance abuse, whether cocaine, methamphetamine, or marijuana. We have seen first hand the debilitating and often tragic results, both psychologically and physically, of those who choose intoxication as part of their lifestyle. We have studied the medicinal use of marijuana issue, compiling information from medical experts to present to those we are sworn to protect. It is our firm belief that any movement that liberalizes or legalizes substance abuse laws would set us back to the days of the '70s when we experienced this country's worst drug problem and the subsequent consequences. In the '80s, through the combined and concerted efforts of law enforcement, prevention and treatment professionals, illicit drug use was reduced by 50 percent. Teenagers graduating from the class of 1992 had a 50 percent less likely chance of using drugs than those who graduated in the class of 1979.
Walker, S., & Katz, C. (2012). Police in America: An Introduction (8th Edition ed.). New York:
The drug problem affects all types of students. All regions and all types of communities show high levels of drug use. Thirty percent of 1990 high school seniors in non-metropolitan areas reported illicit drug use in the previous year, while the rate for seniors in large metropolitan areas was 33 percent. Although higher proportions of males are involved in illicit drug use, especially heavy drug use, the gap between the sexes is closing Bibliography lists 4 sources. California has been considered a leader in the fight for drug control. With its 'three strike and you're out' program, the west coast state has demonstrated its firm stance on the issue of illegal drugs. However, the writer discusses that at the helm of this controversial topic is the mandate of minimum drug sentencing for what some consider to be insignificant usage; as such, people caught with what would have one time been considered a negligible amount of cocaine are now – under new and forceful laws – looking at a mandatory minimal jail sentence. An 8 page paper that argues against the legalization of marijuana from a sociological and psychological perspective. The writer suggests that while there is considerable data about the usefulness of this drug from a medical standpoint, the general legalization would have considerable social and psychological implications. A 6 page research paper that examines the effects of parental substance abuse on their children and argues that such abuse greatly increases the chances that their children will, likewise, develop substance abuse problems.
Wilson, J. (1978). Varieties of Police Behavior: The Management of Law and Order in Eight American Communities. American Journal of Sociology, 75(1), 160-162
Prohibition has been called the “noble experiment” that failed (Hanson 26, 27). One of the reasons behind its monumental failure is that it made criminals of ordinary
Recreational drug use has been controversial for years. Government has deemed the use of certain drugs to be dangerous, addictive, costly, and fatal. Governmental agencies have passed laws to make drugs illegal and then have focused a great deal of attention and money trying to prohibit the use of these drugs, and many people support these sanctions because they view the illegality of drugs to be the main protection against the destruction of our society (Trebach, n.d.). Restricting behavior doesn’t generally stop people from engaging in that behavior; prohibition tends to result in people finding more creative ways to obtain and use drugs. However, just knowing that trying to control people’s behavior by criminalizing drug use does not work still leaves us looking for a solution, so what other options exist? This paper will discuss the pros and cons about one option: decriminalizing drugs.
...Cocaine, PCP, and Alcohol) have led to more crime then citizens want to believe, actions are being taken in support of the War on Drugs. Either the actions being presented are a more stable and efficient law enforcement, cleaning and ridding the streets of the drug related crime, or a rise in the advancement and growth of drug rehabilitation centers across the country. Furthermore, the relations between drugs and crime are decreasing more each year, providing hope towards this nation’s growth and stability. Prevention, and the correlation between drugs and crime, are the backbone to make the stand against the seemingly never ending “black hole” illegal drugs bring upon this world each day. With law enforcement and the help of the public and every defense mechanism that can be used towards drug prevention, one day there will be a light at the end of the dark tunnel.