Abstract
Police department is considered to be evolved throughout the world on the basis of criminals and their modern ideas of the criminal activities. We will try to look at the various aspects of the society and its connection with the police or role of the law enforcement agencies. We will try to lay the foundation of the study on the information gathered from several sources that are subjected to the researched reports and intellectual work done on the book written by Roberg. The police department is considered to be an important governmental institution and it must be organized merely based on the comprehensive research and analysis with adequate implementation features. The study will try to cover various social segments and reasons of the lawlessness by stating various causes related to the expert opinions and solid evidences supporting the study (Bayley, 1977). This study aims to discuss certain aspects about the police and its impact on the society. The role of the police department is considered as very important in terms of regulating the crime and management of the internal security. This department is considered as the front line against the criminal elements among the law enforcement agencies and departments. This paper will highlight the role of the police department and will also discuss the Impact of the police department on the society.
Introduction
The police department has been administered on the modern lines with establishment of relationship with the society on positive terms. The chances of people getting into the supportive role as that of the police becomes more evident as the initiation of the non-emergency service of 311 in some cities. This program helped in the better management of police specific operations and the work load on the emergency complaints administration department.
The society specific studies depict the fact that there are more chances that people and various races would be identified as main causes of crime. Most of illegal activities indicated are among the category of racism, ethnic basis or family-oriented problems of minor nature. It means that the problems caused can be dealt at the local level with efficient police administration.
The police administration can be organized and rectified as per the research and analytical studies related to access the performance of police. This approach clearly indicates about the fact that the chances of police administration indulging are the resolution of nearly every minor natured case registered to them. The matter will be thus resolved in an efficient manner.
The research conducted with regards to the Police administration in the developed countries and its relationship with society, criminal system and crime by Roberg demonstrate some of the noticeable facts. It is an established fact that in the developed countries the crime related statistics indicate that the communities other than the locals are more likely to be watched and searched.
The racism, ethnicity and cases of hatred toward other communities come under heavy criticism in these countries. The advanced countries such as United States that claim to possess liberal environment rather than rest of the world, also is caught up with these sorts of racism problems. The police administration can be made better in order to deal with these sorts of problems at local level and any person with racist mind should not be recruited in the police department under given scenarios (Becker, 1974).
Police Patrolling
One important aspect that needs to be considered by the police is to make efficient ways of crime analysis. Roberg mentions that, the advanced technology based methods are used in the developed countries in an efficient manner that facilitates in tracing the roots of any crime. The social problems can be resolved and taken care of by making the police response in a better way.
The patrolling staff needs to be trained in a way that they can respond to the emergency situations in a professional manner and they should need to be taught all the techniques that can serve as fundamental in securing the society and the travelling from any unwanted and criminal activities.
Combating Terrorism
One of the new phenomena that is a serious threat to the social fabric and the lives of the civilians is the matter of terrorism. A terrorist has to be dealt as a potential threat that can challenge the social fabric of the society; and unlike, a normal criminal a person who is considered as potential terrorist becomes more dangerous for the security of a society.
The counter insurgency wings and specific terrorism acts are made by the governments and countries that are affected with this problem; but the police department again has to remain at the front line in dealing with the problem of terrorism. The police department has to be trained in a way, that, they can perform the event analysis along with the crime analysis for solving the case of a potential terrorism (Adelman, Erez, & Shalhoub-Kevorkian, 2003).
Cyber Wing
With the advancements made in the field of technology the crime has become a new challenge on different fronts. One of the important fronts that need to be looked at, is the field of Internet based crime or better known as the Cyber Crime. This type of crime usually involves the usage of a computer and information technology to perform the illegal activities.
Roberg adheres that, this type of advanced form of crime involves the usage of the computer systems or devices in a smart and illegal way in order to carry out the personal gains. The intent of the criminal may be to damage the data of a subscriber or a business entity or an organization using the informational technological resources in an illegal way that is unacceptable by the international or national laws.
However, today, in the field of information technology, there are many ways to deal with this problem in an organized way. The police department today, is capable of dealing with every potential threat associated with the cyber security breach. We know that it is very easy for any negative minded person to use and share the computer resources globally (Roberg, Novak, & Cordner, 2011). Thus, it can become a major threat to the given nation.
The world has emerged in the form of a global village in a real sense providing the people to use the computer and information resources in an elegant manner. The governments, educational institutes and other organizations have to keep their information available over the Internet for the convenience of their users or clients or citizens in order to access it. These activities are performed using the tools and software that are readily available on the Internet such as social media, blogs, chat rooms, voice messengers, general purpose messengers or web sites.
People are getting used to the deployment of latest form of crime specific approaches on the Internet. The information security companies have to look into the development of counter-measures in order to protect their potential and existing clients in an efficient manner.
The most unfortunate thing that is observed about the illegal activities is hacking and the usage of the malicious codes for destruction purpose. The students and teens are easily targeted by such culprits who can use the technology to perform certain malicious activities for the attainment of their goals.
The biggest challenge that is involved during a given computer crime is in handling the anonymity and secrecy factor about the person or the culprit who is trying to cause a given aggression. The anonymity allows the culprits to do this job barely and with more bravery in order to achieve their objectives by adopting a negative approach (Becker, 1974).
As the information technology has been advanced the criminals started to work on a new style of using the informational resources of other people in order to carry out their criminal activities. Following are some types of criminal activities that are considered as a challenge for the police authorities across the globe (Roberg, Crank, & Kuykendall, 2000).
With the advancements of the technological methods, the ways adopted by the criminals to carry out computer-specific crimes have also changed. The old methods involved usage of computer systems in order to keep the legal information without consent of the stakeholders or authorities. It was also used for keeping the illegal information related to the criminal activities.
This type of computer crimes usually involves attempts to defeat the security capability of an informational resource in order to obtain an illegal access to that computer or information system. This access may be for retrieving and using the information stored on the accessed system in order to misuse it or to steal it.
This has been a challenge for the governments and institutes that are involved in the cyber security or implementation of information security policies to deal with the culprits and illegal groups that are involved in carrying out activities that involve computer crimes of any form. The government institutions and the law enforcement agencies have to take all the necessary steps in order to make the information available for the concerned authorities and subscribers in order to save them from the ill-effects of such activities.
Tracing the Root Causes of Negative Attitude and Behavior
One of the important aspects that need to be considered for the regulation of crime and for the improvement of the police department is to establish institutions that can work on a continual basis for addressing various criminal problems (Roberg, Novak, & Cordner, 2011).
The branches of medical science such as forensic and behavioural psychology should be taught frequently to the psychological and medical students. They should be assigned with the task of studying the case studies of the criminals so as to establish their deep understanding about their criminal behavior.
The applied branch of psychology and other medical sciences need to be taught to the forensic experts from the police department so that they may get familiar with the views that how a criminal plans and implements his criminal activities. Roberg confirms that, the research in the field of criminal psychology has been reached at an advanced level and the experts in this field can work on a professional level to deal with the criminal elements in the society.
However, the police department’s investigation wind needs to be trained and prepared by considering the application of criminal psychology in an adequate manner. The police department’s investigation needs to coordinate with the psychiatrists and medical science experts for understanding the reasons behind the criminal behavior.
The different psychological theories and their application on the devising of adequate mechanisms to deal with the criminal mindset existing and evolving within a society need to be taught to the investigators. The technology can be used in an efficient manner to record the witness of memory, psychological thinking of the criminal and the role of investigators.
The main point should be an overhaul and implementation of the latest proven standard operating procedures devised for the law enforcement agencies to deal with the criminal activities in an advanced and efficient manner. The concerned authorities should focus on the theories and research work related to the advanced police administration and functioning in order to effectively analyze the approach of the criminals for their different criminal activities (Roberg, Novak, & Cordner, 2011).
As per Roberg’s research, there are many research-specific aspects that indicate about the rationality and criticality of the crime occurrence in a society. The social aspect of the police deals with the certain desires that cannot be fulfilled. And, hence, the negative mindset may get indulged into the criminal behavior and activities.
It is a fact that the organized criminal mindset is rational and very critical in their approach to understand the ground realities and the information that is needed for committing various crimes. Most of the times, the criminals understand the possible results in case of their success in the commitment of a particular crime. They try to get some form of approach toward the attainment of their desires (Bayley, 1977).
There are certain researched facts that indicate about the development of a criminal mindset. Roberg mentions that, it is an established fact that human nature looks for the luxurious and easy ways of living a life and this nature would lead a negative effect on personality and nervous system factor of the criminal with a feeling of inferiority complex.
The fact remains at the mind of investigators and police department that, due to an interaction between the given environmental conditions and the nervous system of a given individual, a criminal activity exists in the society. The researchers focus upon the mental disorders for a given criminal within the society.
The neuro-psychological problems will be different for each criminal and the police needs to deal with the case accordingly. The possible reaction for each and every individual will be different as compared to the other people of the society. The police department has to investigate the matter on a serious note (Roberg, Novak, & Cordner, 2011).
It is but obvious that the mental thinking abilities will be different for every offender; some of them want to contribute on a positive note to the society, whereas others may harm the social fabric of a given society. Generally an individual under extreme mental stress will tend to lose the temper and may turn aggressive in nature (Goldstein, 1977). These negative-minded will eventually end up in associating them with the criminal activities and anti-social actions. These negative activities and unwanted actions will affect the overall society; and thus, the police department has to play its role in order to counter this problem.
The government of any nation provides the power to such police officers, to arrest the people, to interrogate them, to detain them, and even to beat them in certain cases. These are the cases, wherein deadly criminals need to provide useful information to the police department, on the basis of which, the police will try to find and identify the next clues of some of the important cases (Roberg, Novak, & Cordner, 2011).
Hence, some of the police officers are trained for special duties such as surveillance, counter-terrorism, VIP protection, and child protection. They are provided with the intelligence and investigation techniques, through which, they would be able to work easily upon major criminal activities such as rape, drug trafficking, murders, and even the terrorism activities.
Roles & Responsibilities
Roberg mentions that, the basic duties and the functions of any police officer could vary a lot, depending upon his rank and his location. Even, the given political context plays an important role in the life of any police personnel. Some of the police officers have greater influence over the ruling political parties, and hence, they could transfer their jobs to their desired locations. On the other hand, the innocent police officers, who do not have such influence, are automatically transferred by the home minister of that state, to far-off locations. But, still the typical and assumed duties of any police officer will be to keep peace within the given society, by enforcing law and order (Roberg, Novak, & Cordner, 2011).
They need to protect the people, and need to always look out for the different criminal activities that are constantly taking place. They need to investigate the highest criminal activities, in order to bring its increasing rate below in the give city and location. They are always expected to respond to any crisis situation, during any time of emergency need.
Conclusion
The fact remains established that the police department plays a vital role in establishment of internal peace and security within any society. This research study discusses some of the old and modern uses of computer resources and information technology to carry out criminal activities that have become a challenge for the law enforcement agencies and the governments across the globe.
Roberg mentions that, some of the countries have adopted the Gold-Silver-Bronze structure in order to improve the communications, and at the same time to effectively make the police reach the investigation scene. The Bronze Commander is the police personnel who is a working senior officer, and is working with the field details. He is constantly in touch with the control room, in order to coordinate all the efforts in a better way. Silver Commanders are those police officers who are handling the operations from the Control Room, and are regulating all the other relevant activities. And, finally the Gold Commander would be the police-in-charge of the entire operations, who will be managing the entire operation along with the Silver and the Bronze Commander. All these strategies and frameworks are designed in order to improve the police services, and help all the people in a better way (Roberg, Novak, & Cordner, 2011).
Governments and the law enforcement institutions need to carry out measures needed to enhance the existing policing strategies in these countries and introduce reforms that would address the infiltration of racism and ethnic discrimination in the institution of police (Berman & Fox, 2010). The scope of this study provides a basis to research about the topic in a journalistic and investigative perspective that can be further enhanced by conducting intellectual level research.
It is not a matter of one government or one institute; in fact, it is a matter that is no doubt a very serious threat to the global security as these types of crimes are carried out across the globe without seeing the boundaries or limits. The study also provides us a basic set of statistics and a careful analysis with regards to the ethnic discrimination affecting the policing strategy of some of developed nations.
The present age is considered as an information age that involves adequate usage and sharing of informational resources with the other people across the Internet and web. Every reputable organization and institute globally works on the functions and lines to keep its web presence for its organizational or business specific purposes. It is surprise for many readers and even for the researchers to come to see this face of the some of great democracies and liberal cultures of the globe that are normally considered as the role models for other developing nations.
This aspect needs to be considered among public of these countries and it should be highlighted at the governmental level. The efficient functioning of police department must be ensured as a matter of fact at the local, state and the federal level. The police department must be provided the best opportunities to equip with the modern state-of-art technologies and the ways that are needed to establish peace and harmony within a particular society.
The policing methods need to be improved with an advanced application of modern psychological research based features employed during the investigation and fact finding assignments of the police officers. The police department has to remain in contact with the society to keep a close eye on the negative things going on and facilitate the society in every way that is feasible and practical. The developed countries model can be followed by the other countries in this context to study specific policy specific guidelines and rules of engagement with the criminals (Walsh, 1977).
The police department will be playing a key role, by presenting all the evidence, which they have collected during the initial investigation stage. They would be having all the records and proofs, which will be of course in against of the culprit. Under such conditions, the court first examines those evidences, and then finally gives the judgment on the basis of those evidences. So, if those evidences and proofs were not presented by the police department, the culprit would be proved innocent in the criminal justice system. And, the complaint would not be able to get proper justice for his case. So, after all, all the decision regarding any particular criminal rests in the hands of the police department.
References
Adelman, M., Erez, E., & Shalhoub-Kevorkian, N. (2003). Policing violence against minority women in multicultural societies: “Community” and the politics of exclusion. Police & Society, 7, 31-47.
Bayley, D. H. (1977). Police and society . London: Sage publications.
Becker, T. M. (1974). The place of private police in society: An area of research for the social sciences. Social problems, 438-453.
Goldstein, H. (1977). Policing a free society . Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company.
Roberg, R. R., Crank, J. P., & Kuykendall, J. (2000). Police & society. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury.
Roberg, R., Novak, K., and Cordner, G. (2011). Police & Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Walsh, J. L. (1977). Career styles and police behavior. Police and society, 149-175.
Berman, G., and Fox, A. (2010). Trial and Error in Criminal Justice Reform: Learning from Failure. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press.
