A police officer is a worker of the criminal justice system, who is not limited in the meaning of a particular rank. As an employee of the police force, officers are the lowest rank, as well as the profession with the most generalized responsibilities. A probation officer, in turn, is rather a supervisor of a limited circle of people. A probation officer is connected to a particular non-custodial criminal, who as well can be a prisoner, released from the incarceration. A prison guard is an officer of the criminal justice system, who works with the imprisoned lawbreakers.
The most significant link between these three occupations is prisoners. If a police officer needs to get information from or about an imprisoned person, one can turn to the prison guards. If a released or non-custodial prisoner is involved in any of such business, a police officer can as well ask the probation officer. During the legal search, a probation officer, and a prison guard are the connecting links between a police officer and the object of his search.
If the police officer needs to obtain the information, which is not at the disposal of one’s field of activity, it is logical that the necessary step is to cooperate with the capable structures (THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS OF POLICE, 2007). In the case of needing the information about an imprisoned person, it is crucial to get the legal permission from the prison’s authority. Therefore, the police officer ought to find a person in charge of the outer connections of this particular prison, who can provide a legal permission to obtain the information about its prisoners. Such a person is most likely to work in the chancellery of the prison, as well as it can be a prison’s chief officer. Then, after receiving the legal permission from the prison’s authority, it is necessary to find the prison guard, who is responsible for the phone calls and any other information the police officer requires.
Conducting a pre-sentence report is extremely important under the terms of the people’s imprisonment because it contains the extremely important details about the crime’s character. Therefore, in the case of Lou, who is a convicted lawbreaker, the pre-sentence report is more likely to be conducted by the probation officer. Still, designing the document of this type, it is necessary to cooperate with the police officers, as well as with the prison guards, if a criminal has been already imprisoned (Fiftal Alarid & Montemayor, 2009). The work on the pre-sentence report is somehow a revealing act, which focuses on the history of the criminal. Therefore, such a cooperation between the agencies can improve the general system of the inter-system connections.
In the case of Gamble v. Estelle, the setbacks of the correctional system are proved to be a considerable issue. However, even the impact of such a trial in the supreme court, the medical system of most of the prisons remained incapable of meeting its responsibilities (Wells & Eaton, 2002). Discussing the progress of the correctional systems of the American prisons, the collaboration between different branches of the criminal justice revealed the disadvantages of the prison medicine. Still, except for pointing out the issues in the correctional practitioners’ activity, the system remained almost unchanged.
In the conditions of my own collaboration and communication practices, the most relevant profession is a probation officer. I consider this occupation to be a responsible job with numerous opportunities to cooperate with other branches of the criminal justice system. Taking into account that such a process as conducting a pre-sentence report, which is only one of the probation officers’ complex responsibilities, requires obtaining the information from different fields and people of several ranks and positions.
References
Fiftal Alarid, L. & Montemayor, C. (2009). Attorney Perspectives and Decisions on the Presentence Investigation Report: A Research Note. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 21(1), 119-133. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0887403409344166
THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS OF POLICE. (2007). POLICECORRECTIONS PARTNERSHIPS. COLLABORATING FOR STRATEGIC CRIME CONTROL.
Wells, M. & Eaton, T. (2002). Constitutional remedies (1st ed., pp. 84-85). Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
