Chapter Five: Peacekeeping and Order Maintenance
Lecture Outline
I. Introduction
A. Most police work involves peacekeeping and order maintenance
B. The police role
1. Some of the public and many officers regard order maintenance as unimportant,
as it produces conflict between what police actually do and what they value
2. Mastrofski's 4 ways non-crime calls can help improve police effectiveness
a. "crime prophylactic" model
i. police intervention can defuse potentially violent situations
ii. police intervention can prevent escalation into criminal violence
b. "police knowledge" model
i. gives officers broader exposure to the community
ii. provides more knowledge to help solve crimes
c. "social work" model--can guide lawbreakers into law-abiding behavior
d. "community cooperation" model--can help police establish greater credibility with the public
3. All models assume crime fighting is central part of police role
4. Experts argue that order maintenance is at least as important as crime-fighting
II. Calling the police
A. Public expectations
1. Citizens have come to expect police to respond to all problems
2. Meyer's four reasons for calling police in non-crime situations
a. to maintain a social boundary
i. citizens want police to remove persons who do not belong
(EX: teenagers loitering, vagrants)
ii. in many cases no crime has occurred
iii. response from police is to ask or order people to leave
iii. most people comply with requests despite no legal requirement
b. to relieve unpleasant situations
i. police are called to take care of noise, arguments, family disputes
ii. police role is to restore order and keep peace
c. to divert attention away from caller--counterpunching
d. to obtain emergency service
(EX: missing children, medical crises, suicide attempts, etc.)
B. Police response
1. Police exercise great amount of discretion in non-crime calls
2. Police typically handle situations informally with no official action
3. Bayley and Garafalo conducted a study on officer handling of situations
a. passive officers only observed and took notes
b. active officers
i. took control of the situation
ii. asked questions, gave advice or warnings
4. Citizens generally comply with police requests
5. Mastrofski found citizens comply with police requests 80% of the time
a. requests include to leave, calm down, stop illegal behavior etc.
b. less citizen compliance when:
i. the situation is more serious
ii. officers approach the citizens with higher authority or disrespect
c. more citizen compliance when situations occur in public rather than private spaces
III. Traffic enforcement
A. Most common type of police order maintenance activity
1. It creates significant tension between police and the public; due to citizen resentment,
police find traffic enforcement distasteful
2. Traffic stops are one of the most dangerous police tasks
3. All patrol officers are responsible for traffic enforcement; larger departments typically
have a separate traffic unit
4. Traffic units vary widely among departments
5. Generally results from formal or informal department policies
a. community pressure may create vigorous enforcement
b. chief police administrator may dictate policy
c. formal or informal ticket quotas
6. "Crackdowns"
a. mixed evidence about effectiveness
b. Dayton Ohio study--crackdowns had no effect
i. increased enforcement may not have deterrent effect
ii. increased enforcement level too small to make a difference
iii. evaluation methods may have been flawed
B. Drunk-driving crackdowns
1. 1980s--national crusade against driving while intoxicated (DWI)--led to increased DWI
penalties and crackdowns
2. Debate whether crackdowns reduce DWI
a. England and Scandinavia study found short term reductions
b. contributing factors
i. publicity may change peoples' behavior
ii. when publicity wears off, people return to previous behavior
3. Risk of arrest for DWI is extremely low
a. small percentage of drivers are drunk
b. proportion of officers to drivers is low
c. not all drunk drivers exhibit impaired driving
d. each DWI arrest reduces chances of catching other DWIs; arrest is a time consuming
event--takes officers "out of service"
e. crackdowns are difficult to sustain; officers, like citizens return to normal patterns
4. Factors contributing to reduction in alcohol-related fatalities
a. safer cars
b. better roads and traffic safety measures
c. seat belts
d. air bags
e. increase in legal drinking age
f. anti-DWI programs have made some contribution
IV. Policing domestic disputes
A. An important order maintenance situation for police
1. Police response to domestic violence has been controversial for past 25 years
2. Public attitudes about domestic violence has led to:
a. new laws and policies
b. increased criminal penalties
c. treatment programs for batterers
d. police department policy changes
B. Defining our terms
1. Disturbances (EX: bar fights, arguments between neighbors, etc.)
2. Domestic disturbances
a. involves two or more people engaged in an intimate relationship
b. (EX: married or divorced couples, lovers, problems between adult and children, same-sex relationships)
3. Domestic violence
a. involves same types of participants in domestic disturbances
b. only incidents that involve actual or threatened violence
c. violence is usually an assault (felony or misdemeanor)
C. The prevalence of domestic violence
1. Straus and Gelles study
a. 13% of all wives have experienced some form of domestic violence
b. 33% of these women have experienced severe violence
2. Kentucky study
a. 10% of married women in the state were victims of domestic violence in the previous year
b. 20% of women had suffered domestic violence in their marriages
3. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) study
a. 1997--22% of all violent incidents against women were committed by intimate partners
b. from 1993 to 1998, intimate violence had decreased substantially and intimate partner
violence against women had decreased by 21%
D. Calling the police
1. Many domestic victims do not call the police (NCVS data: female victims call the police 50% of the time)
2. Reporting varies by victim status
a. women who report most frequently
i. low income
ii. working women
iii. non-white women
b. middle-class women are more likely to:
i. turn to private sources for help
ii. be embarrassed and worried about what others think
iii. be economically dependent upon their spouse
3. Reasons for not reporting to police (NCVS study)
a. regard incident as a private matter (35%)
b. fear of reprisal (19%)
c. thought it was a minor crime (7%)
d. thought the police would not want to be bothered (7%)
4. Domestic violence is concentrated in certain families; repeat calls to the same address are common
E. Danger to police?
1. Controversy over danger to police
2. Officers killed--FBI found low probability; robbery and burglary incidents were most dangerous
3. Officers assaulted--some data indicate high risk while others indicate low risk
4. Domestic situations are more often frustrating than dangerous
a. police may solve immediate dispute
b. police cannot address underlying cause
(EX: unemployment, drug or alcohol abuse, psychological problems)
V. Police response to domestic disturbances
A. Police exercise great discretion in cases
B. Alternative responses
1. Arrest--not the most common response
2. Mediation-includes various verbal responses
a. talking sympathetically
b. talking unsympathetically or in hostile manner
c. asking complainant what he/she wants done
d. ordering parties to be quiet
e. threatening arrest
3. Separation
a. police ask one of the parties to leave the premises
b. if party is legal resident of dwelling, police have no legal right to force the party to leave
c. most people comply with police requests to leave
4. Referral
a. police may refer parties to social services
i. EX: marriage counseling, alcohol or drug treatment, legal aid
ii. many departments provide officers with list of social services
b. police have no legal power to compel parties to seek help
5. No action
C. Factors that influence arrest decision
1. Crime severity
2. Victim's preference for arrest
3. Victim and suspect relationship
4. Suspect's disrespect (demeanor) toward police
D. Factors that discourage arrest
1. Domestic violence is a private matter; some officers believe husband has a "right" to beat his wife
2. Officers believe victim will not pursue the case
3. In the past, departments discouraged arrest
4. Arrest is work
a. requires officer to perform many tasks, some which may be dangerous
b. raises "visibility" of officer's actions
i. brings actions to the attention of officials who find it improper
ii. officers try to reduce workload
iii. departments traditionally have not valued these types of arrest
(EX: place higher value on arrests for murder, rape, robbery)
E. A revolution in policy: mandatory arrest
1. 1970s--revolution in public attitudes toward domestic violence
a. women's movement
b. lawsuits
i. equal protection of the law
ii. Bruno v. Codd (1978)
iii. Scott v. Hart (1979)
2. Mandatory arrest policies-some of the first attempts to control officer discretion
F. The impact of arrest on domestic violence
1. Many people believe arrest deters future domestic violence
2. Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment (1981-1982)
a. design--examined deterrent effect of actions on domestic violence
i. arrest
ii. mediation
iii. separation
b. cases randomly assigned to each treatment
c. findings--arrests produced lower rates of repeat violence than mediation or separation
d. implications
i. received national attention--major impact on public policy
ii. resulted in mandatory arrest policies
e. experiment flaws
i. officers violated experimental design
ii. small % of officers generated majority of arrests
iii. subject attrition
iv. call for changes in public policy based on one study was irresponsible
f. experiment replications
i. sites: Omaha, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Colorado Springs, Atlanta
ii. none were able to replicate Minneapolis results
iii. some studies found no deterrent effect of arrest; others found arrest escalated violence
G. Impact of mandatory arrest laws and policies
1. Full impact is still unknown
2. Do officers carry out mandatory arrest policies? Arrest trend data suggests they do.
3. Implications
a. mandatory arrest policies may discourage victim reporting; victims may fear they will also be arrested
b. may have disproportionate impact on lower class and African American
men; non-arrest approach may be denial of equal protection of the law
H. Other laws and policies
1. Many departments provide special training on family violence situations
2. Revision of laws on domestic violence
i. officers directed to identify "primary aggressor"
ii. written policies
iii. expanding police arrest power
iv. arrest for violation of protection orders
I. The future of domestic violence policy is unclear--mandatory arrest policies remain popular,
but their full impact is uncertain
VI. Policing vice
A. Requires special enforcement--"victimless crimes" with no complaining party
1. Police must initiate investigations on their own
2. Wiretaps, informants, undercover work raise legal and moral issues
3. Victimless crime behavior regarded by many as legitimate and private
a. conflicting public attitudes about enforcement
b. enforcement is often selective and inconsistent
B. Prostitution
1. Streetwalkers
a. represent low end of social and economic scale
b. highly visible to both police and general public
c. also include male prostitutes soliciting male customers
d. in many cities low level of streetwalking is tolerated by the police
e. usually confined to parts of the business district
(EX: Phoenix, AZ)
f. essentially an order maintenance problem
g. primary police objectives
i. containment: keep streetwalking confined to a certain area
ii. keep the peace: prevent related disturbances
2. Prostitution often accompanied by ancillary crime
(EX: customers robbed, prostitutes assaulted)
3. Arrest of prostitutes
a. conviction and punishment not always the primary goal
b. arrests designed to deter it or confine it to a certain area
c. convictions are usually misdemeanors--routine "business expense"
4. Occasional crackdowns result from public outcry
5. Call girls
a. represent upper end of economic scale
b. cater to wealthier customers
c. make arrangements over the telephone
d. no street presence--activities not visible to police or public
6. Legal problems for the police
a. entrapment: if officer initiates the idea of payment for sex
b. equal protection: police traditionally arrest prostitute and ignore the customer despite equal fault
c. selective enforcement: enforcing the law only in some areas
C. Gambling
1. Status of gambling has changed over last 25 years; some legalized gambling now exists
(EX: lotteries, casino gambling)
2. Enforcement
a. problematic
i. victimless crime
ii. considered by many as a legitimate form of recreation
b. covert proactive investigative techniques that use
i. informants
ii. undercover officers
iii. wiretaps
c. tactics involve difficult legal questions
VII. Policing the homeless
A. The old homeless problem
1. "Skid row"--central business district where the homeless congregate
2. Contains various public and private agencies that serve the homeless
(EX: soup kitchens, cheap hotels, liquor stores)
3. Consists of:
a. adult males
b. the unemployed
c. chronic alcoholics
d. those who have fallen through society's "safety nets"
e. those not eligible for benefits--no family support
f. survival
i. temporary work
ii. panhandling, scavenging, selling blood
3. Police response
a. peacekeeping
b. 2 principal objectives
i. maintaining boundaries--containment of homeless area
ii. keeping the peace--establishing limits on behavior
(EX: disruptive behavior, overaggressive panhandling)
c. arrest serves to control immediate situation
4. Bittner's findings on officer attitudes
a. regard homeless as children who cannot care for themselves
b. see them as weak and morally flawed
B. The new homeless problem
1. Homelessness increased significantly in the 1980s; actual number is unknown
2. Homeless now includes
a. families--women and children
b. mentally ill
3. New challenges for the police
a. homeless established camps in public parks
b. they resisted transportation to shelters
c. they slept in bus stations and subways
d. they are more likely to commit predatory crimes; in the past, homeless more likely
victims than offenders
e. Police Executive Research Forum (PERF): in 1996, over 70% of large departments
reported homeless created a major or moderate problem
4. Police response
a. reactive--police respond to more calls regarding homeless; result: responding to
complaints rather than proactive assistance
b. containment--police focus on confining homeless to certain areas
c. Seattle Police Department-proactive strategies
i. "street team" refers homeless to public and private services
ii. distributes clothing and sleeping bags in cold weather
C. Police and the chronic alcoholic
1. Prior police response
a. arrest and charges of public intoxication, vagrancy
b. sweep arrests to clean up the streets
c. escorted men to the city limits and ordered them not to return
2. Experts argued arrest is not appropriate
a. overloads the criminal justice system--diverts valuable police resources
b. fails to deal with underlying conditions
3. Police response--detoxification programs
4. Problems with detoxification programs
a. in states that have decriminalized such programs, it's unclear that police have
authority to compel persons into treatment
b. they're expensive
c. there is no evidence that short-term treatment solves underlying problems
d. officers do not regard public drunkenness as an important role
5. Changes in laws and public attitudes have reduced police arrest activities
VIII. Policing the mentally ill
A. Another order maintenance problem; exact number of mental illness incidents unknown, difficult to define
B. Police response to the mentally ill
1. Incidents come to the attention of police from:
a. calls by family members
b. calls by business persons and landlords; person may be interfering with business
c. calls that a mentally ill person is seen as threatening
2. Calls involving the mentally ill require great amount of time
3. Police options
a. hospitalization
b. arrest
c. informal disposition
4. Response may also vary by resources; if resources are available-less likely to use
arrest or informal means
5. Impact of institutional and legal factors on police response
a. law limits ability of the police to commit someone involuntarily
i. must show person is a danger to him/herself or others
ii. amount of paperwork required discourages commitment
b. mental health services are highly fragmented
i. most have their own admission criteria
ii. refuse to accept people the police bring to them
c. arrest of the mentally ill is infrequent--affected by:
i. seriousness of apparent illness
ii. complainant's willingness to sign complaint
iii. medical facility refusal
d. officers believe that individual will continue to be a problem
6. Informal measures
a. neighborhood characters
i. are known to the police--often referred to by nicknames
ii. not dangerous
iii. methods: "cooling them out", calming them down
b. troublemakers
i. too difficult to handle through formal means
ii. police decide arrest or hospitalization is not worth the effort
c. unobtrusive "mentals"; obviously disturbed, but do not seriously offend anyone
7. How accurate are police in identifying mentally ill?
i. little training
ii. judgments generally consistent with mental health professionals
C. Old problems/new problems
1. 3 model programs
a. Madison, WI
i. officers receive over 20 hours of training
ii. 24 hours emergency mental health center
b. Galveston, TX
i. department dispatches specially trained officers respond to all mental health calls
c. Birmingham, AL: social workers are sent with officers to mental health calls
2. Justice Department Report emphasizes importance of relationships between police
and social service agencies
IX. Policing people with AIDS
A. Due to frequent contact with persons with AIDS, some risk of officer infection
(EX: through biting, scratching, spitting)
B. The potential for AIDS exposure is higher for officers than many other occupations
C. Few officers have contracted AIDS through work-related exposure
D. Unique threat for officers
a. HIV/AIDS contracted through small microbe rather than observable threat
b. Takes 3-6 months to determine if officer has contracted the virus
c. Unlike most threats to police, HIV/AIDS is incurable and deadly
E. Consequences of fear of contracting HIV/AIDS
a. officers have become reluctant to render medical assistance
b. precautionary measures
(EX: wearing latex gloves when assisting someone who is bleeding)
c. police agencies unofficially keep records of infected persons; while intended
to protect officers, this practice may violate privacy rights
F. Training
a. by 1996, 86% of state police agencies offered HIV/AIDS training to recruits
b. 78% offered training through in-service training
c. almost half of all police agencies are required by states to offer training
X. Policing juveniles
A. Unique challenges to the police
1. Police have high level of contact with juveniles; contact typically on streets
where juveniles "hang out" or "cruise"
2. Young people have more negative attitudes toward the police than adults
a. juveniles represent a significant crime problem
b. high involvement in 3 crimes
i. arson
ii. vandalism
iii. motor vehicle theft
3. Homicides by juveniles soared in mid 1980s and early 1990s
a. sharp increase in firearms-related homicides
b. partly attributed to increase in juvenile gang activity
B. Controversy over the police role
1. Some favor strict law enforcement role emphasizing arrest
2. Others favor crime prevention role--emphasis is on helping young people
3. Department policies regarding juveniles cause role conflict among officers
a. social work role considered unimportant by police
b. police expected to maintain order by controlling juveniles on the street
(EX: creation of juvenile curfews and gang loitering ordinances)
c. responsibility to protect right for juveniles to assemble
4. Due to increased public fear of crime, especially violent juvenile crime
a. police have given greater emphasis to law enforcement role
b. there is a de-emphasis on crime prevention programs
C. Specialized juvenile units
1. Contact with police divided between patrol and juvenile units
2. Patrol: most contact with juveniles in normal patrol duty
(EX: kids hanging out, people suspected to be gang members)
3. Juvenile units
a. typically found in large police agencies
i. 1997: 67% of all municipal agencies had a unit
ii. D.A.R.E.--popular drug education program found in schools
iii. 81% of all police departments have drug education programs
b. responsibilities
i. investigating reports of juvenile crime
ii. arresting delinquents
iii. preparing cases for court
iv. appearing in court
c. other responsibilities (EX: Ross, PA)
i. investigating offenses against children (neglect, abuse)
ii. acting as liaison to juvenile justice agencies (courts, probation, schools)
iii. maintaining juvenile records within the police department
d. units tend to be small, may be declining in importance
D. On-the-street encounters
1. Reasons for higher police contacts with juveniles rather than adults
a. young people more likely to be on the streets
b. police more likely to regard juveniles as suspects
2. Officers exercise great discretion--alternative responses
a. take no official action
b. take juvenile into custody, release to parents/guardians
c. take juvenile into custody, release to another agency
d. arrest juvenile, refer to juvenile court
3. Arrest factors are the same as for adults
a. offense seriousness
b. victim or complainant preference
c. relationship between complainant and suspect
d. suspect demeanor
E. The issue of race discrimination
1. Police proportionately arrest more African-American juveniles than whites
2. Factors
a. patrol officers assigned to minority neighborhoods
b. minority youths stopped and questioned at a higher rate
c. racial disparity in arrest associated with other arrest factors
i. complainant preference
ii. suspect demeanor
F. Crime prevention programs
1. Traditional prevention programs have focused on prevention rather than arrest
2. Spokane, WA--COPY Kids program
3. D.A.R.E.
4. G.R.E.A.T.
XI. Summary
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education