Introduction:
The Oakland Police Department (OPD) presides over one of the most crime-ridden areas in the nation. Policing Oakland is a challenging task by any measure and there have been many allegations that officers have employed inappropriate policing tactics. (Guardian article). After a gang of rogue police officers in the 1990s was accused of framing and beating suspects, the department was placed on a court-ordered monitor by a district judge. As part of a Negotiated Settlement Agreement, OPD is required to complete a list of “tasks”. The department has received other independent recommendations for reforms. There was a clear lack of accountability in the departments past, which created the impetus for reform. For the purposes of this paper, accountability entails establishing expectations, verifying performance, assessing blame, and sorting responsibility (Romzek 241). In this paper I ask, “Will accountability related reforms be institutionalized?” I evaluate the need for these reforms and use two applicable tasks to analyze reform success. I argue accountability-based reforms has penetrated the police culture and will be institutionalized because of internal support and decentralization, which improve collaboration and present an opportunity to engage with the community.
I will break my paper into three parts. In the first section, I will explore a case example of the problems of police accountability in Oakland, and argue that there is a need for change. Second, I will look at two tasks – tasks #24 and #34, which I chose to evaluate the departments’ efforts to make reforms that are aligned with the accountability-based police structure. Next, I will look at cross pressures and organizational change principles (Fe...
... middle of paper ...
...erarchical structure that divides up leadership by geography and addresses the needs of the community more efficiently.
Conclusion:
Overall, the prospects of accountability-based reforms taking hold and becoming institutionalized are fairly good. Based on the Fernandez and Rainey framework for organizational change we see that the two steps chosen to assess accountability-based reforms in the OPD show that reforms have internal support because it improves collaboration between top managers and lower level officers by creating more manageable districts that have one go-to person that has all the responsibility. The two accountability-related tasks I chose to examine also show signs that the requirements by the court-ordered monitor show either partial or full compliancy, pointing to an upward trajectory of the institutionalization of accountability-based reforms.
The author focuses on the U.S. Task Force on 21st Century Policing and Police Data Initiative or PDI to determine if it helps to restore trust and the broken relationship between and communities and police officers. The Task Force made by Barack Obama recommended the analysis of department policies, incidents of misconduct, recent stops and arrests, and demographics of the officers. The PDI has tasked 21 cities to comprehend the police behavior and find out what to do to change it. Also PDI was said to have data and information on vehicle stops and shootings by police officers. The use of statistics has a purpose to help rebuild trust and the relationship between and communities and police officers.
Schmalleger, F. (2013). Policing: History and Structure. Criminal Justice Today An Introduction Text For the 21st Century (12th ed., ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
This era is where the shift from a centralized task force has gravitated to a decentralized task force, causing some friction from both the community and the officers that serve it. Police are told that they are needed to listen to the concerns for the community; however, law enforcement is still the primary goal. Police forces now have to defend the values for which the forces were built upon. The idea of problem solving has come into question with police discretion towards certain run-ins with the law. Williams and Murphy argue it is due to the lack of sensitivity from minorities and the concern on crime itself than the community. Kelling and Moore contradict Williams and Murphy, with Kelling/Moore suggesting the era is more about listening to concerns of the community and improving the citizen satisfaction. But both the article came to the conclusion of the silent underlying problems that are becoming more of a “quiet riot” with the police and the
Police corruption is a difficult issue cities have to deal with and one of the oldest problems in the police force. Corruption can be defined as the mistreatment of public power for personal benefit or private and the use of excessive force, either emotional or physical. In this essay I will explain in detail federal indictments of Los Angeles County Sheriff officers for mistreatment of jail inmates and visitors. Another topic I will explain is the transfer of Los Angeles County Sheriff hired officers with questionable background. Finally, I will end by analyzing the hiring of new Sheriff deputies under the “Friends of the Sheriff” program.
Although accountability has always been an issue, the injustices that are currently occurring make it priority. Police officers are getting “special treatment” and are not facing charges for crimes they have committed. Police officers are not held accountable for their a...
Smith, G., “Citizen Oversight of Independent Police Services: Bifurcated Accountability, Regulation Creep, and Lesson Learning”, Regulation and Governance, Vol. 3, 2009, pp. 421-441
Law enforcement agencies nationwide have repeatedly been shaken by controversy and forced to make undesirable concessions. Has law enforcement failed to maintain the high standards required by the profession? The cost of public trust is high. It increases each time faith must be regain. Historically, law enforcement agencies throughout the nation have experienced periods of low confidence in communities preceding episodes deemed to be a breach of trust.
Within our police system in America, there are gaps and loopholes that give leeway to police officials who either abuse the authority given to them or do not represent the ethical standards that they are expected to live up to by society. Because of the nature of police work, there is a potential for deterioration of these ethical and moral standards through deviance, misconduct, corruption, and favoritism. Although these standards are set in place, many police officers are not held accountable for their actions and can easily get by with the mistreatment of others because of their career title. While not every police abuses his or her power, the increasingly large percentage that do present a problem that must be recognized by the public as well as those in charge of police departments throughout our country. Police officials are abusing their power and authority through three types of misconduct known as malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance and these types are being overlooked by management personnel who rarely intervene even though they know what is happening. Misconduct is wrong because it violates rights and causes people to be wrongly accused of crimes or be found not guilty and set free when they are still an endangerment to other people. The public needs to be educated on what is happening in the police system in hopes that someone will speak out to protect citizens from being violated by police officers.
Police accountability is an effective way to regulate police officer’s behavior. Police accountability is applied in different ways and with different approaches. Some of these approaches include routine supervision, regular performance evaluations and early intervention systems. Police accountability is implemented by using external and internal controls. External controls include citizen complains reports and internal controls consist of early intervention systems. On the other hand, early intervention systems enhance a police officer’s accountability and overall performance. Police accountability refers to holding each police officer individually, as well as the agency as a whole, accountable for effectively enforcing
The focus is on the issues of police accountability in modern society, and in particular why their accountability is more important than other professions. This is not surprising considering the amount of power and discretion police officers have, and the level of trust that the public holds with these civil servants. Police officers accountability is the biggest thing in their profession which has been an issue of concern they have to be accountable to the police department who want the officer to be an effective and responsible person, to people in the community who have best expectation from an officer and being accountable to themselves for their acts. An ordinary citizen of a country cannot obtain the powers that police officer’s have.
Perceptions of police legitimacy are shaped by whether police are seen as exercising their authority fairly and lawfully (Tyler, 2010). Traditionally, police think about crime fighting strategies in terms of whether or not the strategies are legal and if they successfully reduce crime (Kennedy, 2011). Therefore, damaged legitimacy could make policing more difficult for law enforcement. Treating a community as if it is the problem is not only an inefficient use of police resources, it also loses the goodwill of the community. Police should
In order to understand the field of police administrations, one has to look further beyond the dynamism and complexity aspects of the field. Laws are constantly modified, the environments police officers regulate in continually change, new problems regularly occur, and administrative practices that were once treated as gospels are now facing constantly modifications, often challenged and in some cases, discarded. The terrorist attacks of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, have significantly changed the ways police departments police globally. The primary mission of police in local communities has become somewhat blurred as community policing efforts from the last decade fade to the emergence of security checks, intelligence gathering, and participation in join terrorism task forces. Police organisations are now facing ever changing ordeals that require the administrators to change the ways policing is performed, by which creating a more open and responsive organisation through the positiv...
Pfiffner, J. P. (2004). Traditional Public Administration versus The New Public Management:Accountability versus Efficiency. Unied States: George Mason University.
Police departments have established policies defining police misconduct. These policies vary considerably across departments but they typically specify the types of force that are authorized in specific circumstances. The controversy lies in the extent to which the police misuse their authority. There have been various forms of police training that have been implemented to reform these occurrences. The media has presented numerous allegations of police misconduct in the United States. It is important to evaluate how training, policies, procedures and discipline can minimize police misconduct and promote proper police behavior. The intent is to discover whether police misconduct is pervasive throughout police organizations, or is limited to
Sound conduct by police improves community interactions, enhances communication, and promotes shared responsibility for addressing crime and disorder. Police departments can repair and strengthen community relationships by understanding and training officers on three key concepts: procedural justice, bias reduction, and racial reconciliation. Together and when implemented, these concepts create an environment in which effective partnerships between the police and citizens can flourish. Centering a police department on principles of human dignity is not a substitute for traditional and creative methods of rooting out corruption and inhumane conduct. Police departments must be committed to screening, training, supervising, disciplining, and proactively detecting improper conduct by officers. Departments must endeavor to convince officers that they are public trustees and that public service is ultimately self-service: that betrayal of public trust denigrates offending officers, colleagues, and all those they hold dear (O’Donnell,