Changing Roles of Law Enforcement
Due to the dynamic nature of many communities, the roles of law enforcement have also been forced to change with these changes in societal values and beliefs. Based on the criminological theories and the role that societal factors play in the development of criminal behavior, it is prudent to expect changes in how the law is enforced, more so considering that with time, law enforcement has become evidence based, requiring a flexible approach (Cohen, 1986). Currently the role of police officers mainly entails peace keeping, crime fighting, social work and public service. However, as the community continues to change, and crime continues to evolve, the role of law enforcement must also change with it, with emphasis increasingly shifting towards crime prevention rather than crime fighting Mack, 1999). As more studies are carried out and more evidence is unearthed in support of the various existing criminological theories, it would be prudent to expect the role of law enforcement to change as well, and incorporate these discoveries into practice.
Further, factors such as immigration and the changing nature of crime in terms of and technology have also in addition to the factors mentioned above contributed to role changes for police officers. Even local and state law enforcement agencies have been forced to adapt to new fairly new facets of crime, such as terrorism and illegal immigration, which is taking on new forms everyday. In addition, training programs aimed at helping law enforcers adapt to these changes as well as incorporate evidence based practices into how they carry out their duties, have further served to modify the role of the contemporary police officer, within the community. Programs such as police athletic leagues, give law enforcers new roles: those of mentors, while others aimed at disaster management essentially give police officers roles as crisis managers (Sinha, n.d). Considering that the environment within which law enforcers operate continues to be dynamic, their role cannot afford to be stable or defined.
Given an opportunity to make changes, I would make changes aimed at improving the law enforcement’s ability to predict and prevent the development of criminal behavior. This would entail an increase in community involvement and greater cooperation between law enforcement and the public. Training would therefore have to be redesigned in such as way that it not only improves demeanor and therefore public opinion, but it encourages law enforcement to establish informal relationships within the community (U.S. Department of Justice, 2003). Further, training on criminological theories would equip law enforcement with a better understanding of criminal behavior which would then enable officers to detect situations or conditions that might encourage criminal behavior (Todd, 2008). In order to utilize this knowledge however, I would, therefore, further change the current roles of police officers to ensure officers spend more time within the community as mentors, enablers, and even counselors, as this would ensure that they are in prime position to carry out the tasks specified above. In order to promote greater interaction, I would also establish programs that ensure the community and law enforcement interact on a more regular basis, such as sporting tournaments, or joint community improvement programs and social work. These changes I believe are fundamental to law enforcement, as not only are they fundamental to prevention of crime, but they would also ensure that law enforcement is able to keep up with the changing face of crime as well as apply evidence based interventions such as mentoring more effectively and respond to crises more promptly (Banks, 2009).
References
Banks, C. (2009). Criminal Justice Ethics, Theory and Practice. Sage Publications.
Cohen, H. (1986). Exploiting Police Authority. Criminal Justice Ethics 5, 23-31.
Mack, R. (1999). The Proper Role of Law Enforcement. Richard Mack.
Sinha, R. (n.d). Role of Police in Disaster Management. Retrieved from http://nidm.gov.in/idmc2/PDF/Presentations/Armed_Forces/Pres3.pdf
Todd, C. (2008). Interpersonal Conflict Management Training for Police. Retrieved from http://angeronmymind.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/interpersonal-conflict managementtraining-for-police/
U.S. Department of Justice (2003). Factors That Influence Public Opinion of the Police. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/197925.pdf
