Police Organization
and Administration
CJ 3600
Professor James J. Drylie
Week 3
Politics and Police Administration
Two meanings of the word:
Politics refers to the attempt to impose external,
partisan political influence on the operation of the
department.
Also is affected by internal pressures
Both forms are negativistic and often times can
rendered the organization dysfunctional, fractured
and impotent, or
politics can mean the governance of the city
Police accountability
Accountability of the police conforms to the
American notion of a system of checks and
balances.
The police are a part of the political system
Executive branch
Politics in this sense is appropriate and necessary
Policing in the United States has historically been
rooted in “home rule”
Maintained through the local political
apparatus
Politics beyond Home Rule
The federal government has had long standing
influence over local police vis-à-vis the United
States Constitution
Through the US federal courts the interpretation of
the Constitution has been applied to local and state
police agencies
Chief Justice Earl Warren
Provided strong leadership to the Court that strengthened
the rights of accused persons in criminal cases
The Due Process Revolution
The Warren court (1961 – 1966) took an activist
role in interpreting the law
The Warren court filled a vacuum created by a
failure of the police to provide the necessary
leadership role in protecting citizen’s rights
The Supreme Court, under Warren, began to reform
criminal law before any social activism began in
earnest
Key Cases
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
Banned the use of illegally seized evidence in
criminal cases in the states by applying the
Fourteenth Amendment guarantee against
unreasonable search and seizure
The due
process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
provides for the application of the Bill of Rights to the
states.
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
Escobedo v. Illinois (1964)
Affirmed that equal protection under the Fourteenth
Amendment requires that legal counsel be appointed
for all indigent defendants in criminal cases
Affirmed that a suspect is entitled to confer with an
attorney as soon as the focus of a police
investigation shifts from investigatory to accusatory
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
Required police officers to inform suspects of their
constitutional rights before questioning them about
the crime they are suspected of being involved in
Impact of the Due Process
Revolution
Many felt that the decisions attributed to the
Warren court would “handcuff” the police
Police tactics often relied on means that would
justify the end
The decisions were seen as way of curbing
questionable and improper police tactics
The barring of evidence in this regard resulted in
a judicial tool:
The Exclusionary Rule
The Exclusionary Rule
Rested on the judgment that deterring police
conduct that violates the constitutional rights of
an individual outweighs the importance of
securing a conviction
The rule created new procedures in areas such as
Interrogation
Lineups
Seizures of physical evidence
Other Decisions
Massachusetts v. Shepard & United States v. Leon
The Court held that evidence obtained by the police
in “good faith” even if it was obtained illegally could
be used
The Court in Leon reasoned that the exclusionary rule was
designed to prevent police misconduct, not to penalize the
police for judicial error
Carroll v. United States (1925)
The original decision on motor vehicle (MV) stops
Based on a reasonable stop, plain view search was
permissible
Racial & Ethnic Profiling
Racial profiling – the use of race as a key factor
in police decisions to stop citizens
Pretext stops – MV stops or field interviews using a
legal pretext
Relatively new as a phenomenon
How long has it been practiced?
9/11 and racial profiling
Are we biased as a Nation?
Ethics
How do police establish and maintain an ethical
foundation?
Establish a solid ethical background
Leadership
Training
Morality
Integrate ethics into the
Departmental mission
Managerial philosophies that emphasize
Fairness
Due Process
Empathy
CALEA
A private, non-profit organization formed in 1979 by
four major LE professional associations
ICAP
NOBLE
NSA
PERF
Stated goals are
Increase capability to prevent and control crime
Enhance effectiveness an efficiency
Improve coordination and cooperation in CJ system
Increase overall confidence in goals, objectives, policies, and
practices of the agency.
Police and Politics
James Q. Wilson identified three distinctly
different styles of policing
Watchman
Emphasizes
order maintenance function
Legalistic
Found in heterogeneous populations and reform oriented,
professional governments
Service
Found in homogeneous suburban communities
Politics and the Chief
A study of California police agencies revealed that the
average tenure of police chiefs was 3 years
The reasons for change are numerous
Either fired
Or resigned
Retirement
Resignation
Removal
To survive requires a blend of skill, talent, and
knowledge.
External pressure
Police chiefs find themselves in conflict, or
“political arenas” that are difficult at best to
survive. There are 3 types:
Confrontation – the most common type, is intense,
but brief and often confined to a single incident.
LAPD – the Rodney King incident spelled the end
of
Daryl Gates
Shaky alliance – conflict is less intense, but
pervasive. The conflict can be at both ends.
Politicized organization – commonplace in
American policing and os tolerable for a period of
time.
Tenure & Contracts
The average tenure of most chiefs is 3-6 years.
Contracts are limited in number
Subject to renewal at end of term
May be an “at-will appointee”
Community policing is an evolving
contemporary strategy that emphasizes
enhanced relations between the police and the
public
Requires chiefs to possess new skills and attitudes
They must be visionary leaders
Politics and the Sheriff
Approximately 3,100 county sheriff’s
departments in the US
Unique in role and legal status
Roles between sheriffs and police have been
fundamentally different
Sheriff’s departments are constitutional offices
Many are relegated to sparsely populated areas
Typically elected
Routinely have custodial role in jails
Elected in 50 states
Often the most powerful political force in a county
The role of sheriff
Bridge three components
Law enforcement
Patrol, traffic, and CI
Courts
Civil process and bailiff
Corrections
County jails and probation
Like police, most agencies are small
Nearly two-thirds have fewer than 25 officers
Prosecutor
Prosecutor
State’s attorney
District attorney
Attorney general
They are the chief LE officer
Overall supervision of cases prepared by the
police
Tremendous influence in what laws are enforced
Citizen Involvement
Citizen involvement in the policymaking process
is frequently met with considerable resistance
Many administrators feel their effectiveness rests
with a certain level of autonomy
In the recent past the police have placed
distance between their operations and partisan
political interference
Groups to consider
Senior citizens
Service clubs
Churches
The Media
It is the responsibility of the police to establish
and maintain a cordial relationship with all
media representatives.
This is true of the leaders over any other personnel
The conflict arises when the choice of
protecting the public and informing them places
the media and police at odds.