Policing is a complex endeavor to say the least since these brave men and women are tasked with the heavy load of preempting social deviance and ensuring law and order. It’s however a very thin line that exists between a decent law abiding society and a lawless hopeless wasteland. The line is made even thinner by the fact that, in this modern society things are not as black and white as they would normally appear to be and grays are apparently the new order of the day (Carter, 2005).
Undoubtedly the most monumental development in policing in the United States has been the conceptualization of community oriented policing with three key paradigms about policing. The first is a structural paradigm which is of the opinion that performance of police departments is determined by their organizational structures. The second is a contextual paradigm which is of the opinion that police departments are influenced and constrained by theirenvironments. The third is a universality paradigm which is of the opinion that since the key concepts of policing are the same everywhere, a single supreme model of community oriented policing is more likely than not projected to be successful and pin point effective in police agencies of all types and sizes. Community oriented policing gained significant mileage when congress passed the public safety partnership and community policing act of 1994 which saw nine billion dollars in funding for oversight and implementation of community oriented policing in different police agencies of all sizes (Evans, 2002).
Serve and protect being the slogan and driving force behind the American police department, community oriented policing seems to be the way to go in the achievement of that slogan. It prioritizes the needs and general welfare of the community at large before any other interest.it ensures the various police departments serve in an environment and mind frame inclined towards the general good of the community and ensuring that civility and social sanity are maintained while at the same time also ensuring that the community appreciates and holds in high regard the various police departments. It ensures that the community sees the police not as its oppressor and infringer of certain personal liberty but as the single force keeping modern civilization from imploding (Shapland, 2011).
Policing provides a deterrent towards social deviance. The history of policing go way back before modern civilization where communities would set up community watch societies and vigilantes chiefly for security but also for the strict enforcement of law and order. Modern police departments continue this old age tradition of deterring criminal activity and ensuring the lifeline of modern society.
Police also play a large role in balancing the scales of justice. They ensure that law breakers are punished and that justice is dispensed to all concerned parties. The court system relies primarily on the police system for collection of evidence and expert opinion on what is right and what is wrong. The police don’t just make random arrests they carry out thorough and exhaustive investigations making sure that no stone is left unturned in pursuit of justice a good example is Dzhokar Tsarnaev who was recently charged with using a weapon of mass destruction against a civilian population at the Boston marathon on April 15, 2013 killing three people and resulting in injuries to more than two hundred people. The police also correct mistakes made by the judiciary by reopening old cases and carrying out further investigations that may help the court system to see the case in an entirely different perspective and make a better more informed judgment (Lehman, 2001).
The firmest and most comprehensive and community friendly legislation is only as effective as the moral code of conduct of the men and women entrusted with such responsibilities. The whole police system is as straight and lawful as each and every police officer in the system. The line between civil serenity and utter anarchy is so thin that the police often find themselves with a moral compass not necessarily inclined to the north. The policing system has an overwhelming potential of a force of prosperity and enforcement of civil liberties but it also has an equal potential for anarchy and impunity if misused (Evans, 2002).
In Africa for example the police serve as antagonists used by the ruling class to impose their will on the general public. In the Ivory Coast former president Laurent Gbagbo is reported to have used the police department to stay in power after losing the 2010 general elections. In Kenya the Kenya national human rights commission has reported that the police opened fire on unarmed peaceful civilians after the disputed 2007 general elections. These two cases display the police system’s potential to be used as a force for oppression of the fee people and perpetuation of impunity. The police can be used to silence a community with legitimate and just grievances at the behest of the greedy ruling elite. The police can be used as key instruments for maintenance of the status quo at the expense of the general public since the police are under constitutional oath to follow the orders of the existing elected leaders (Shapland, 2011).
Policing also displays its non-fairer side when police officers are involved in rampant corruption and expansive crime syndicates. A good case study is former police officer Rebecca Swanson who was jailed for leaking intelligence to four different criminals she was allegedly in an intimate affair with, she was dismissed by Hampshire police in November 2012 and pleaded guilty to three counts of misconduct in a public office in a period of ten months. This is a good example of a police officer who betrayed the general population she swore to serve and protect opting to pitch for the opposite team at the expense of the community.
In modern society gray is the order of the day since things are not as black and white as they may appear on the surface. Police officers are tasked with the seemingly impossible task of distinguishing the black and white from the gray all in the best interest of the greater community at large. Some officers exercise not their best distinction when instead of arresting law breakers and ensuring that they are brought to book they opt to let he offender go no their merry way for a fee of course. This leads to the creation of an even larger crime syndicate which is seemingly untouchable since it has the law men and law women on its side (Evans, 2002). Police corruption is one of the major complaints against police departments all over the world and especially in Africa and the third world. The economic state of the world isn’t doing much to help the case and is more often than not blamed for the rampant police corruption and protection of criminal cartels. This is nothing but another excuse made popular by criminals who masquerade as good and honest police officers after all everyone is feeling the economic crunch but not everyone is engaging in crime.
References
Carter, C. E. (2005). The Territorial papers of the United States. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O..
Evans, P. (2002). Bringing the state back (4th Ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge university press.
Lehman, J. F. (2001). Making war: the 200-year-old battle between the president and Congress over how America goes to war (3rd Ed.). New York: Scribner's ;.
Shapland, J, & Vagg, J. (2011). Policing by the public (2 ed.). London: Routledge.
