Critical issues in policing

¶ … Policing:

The 21st Century has put policing in a different situation in which the causes of crime and criminal behavior usually lie outside the immediate community. As a result of the new situation, dealing with crime has necessitated the use of new and innovative approaches from the police. The new challenges brought by the new situation have resulted in new trends that are affecting policing as well as critical issues that may have significant impacts on this aspect. Actually, the success of police agencies with regards to the critical issues depends on the ability of these agencies to adapt and change rapidly and evaluate the emerging trends in various communities.

Dangers of Policing:

Since police officers are in a position to protect people and the community, their job is generally accompanied by significant amount of risks. One of the major dangers of policing is that police officers risk their lives for the sake of the communities they serve every time they step into the world to carry out their job. This is a significant danger in policing, especially with the recent trend that indicates an increase in the murder of police officers in the past few years. According to Schmidt & Goldstein (2012), the rising numbers of police officers being killed is a disturbing trend despite of the decrease in the number of violent crime across the country. The other dangers in policing include physical damage to the body, stress originating from exposure to disturbing scenes, various health issues, and mental damage.

Less-than-Lethal Weapons:

Less-than-lethal weapons were developed to limit criminals and criminal activity without the use of force. These weapons were also designed as a result of the controversy surrounding the number of cases when police officers decided to use deadly force. Some of the most common less-than-lethal weapons include thermal guns, temporarily blinding strobe lights, shotguns that fire nets, pepper spray, and bean bags filled with metal shot (Johns, n.d.). In the past few years, more police forces have increasingly turned to the expanding pool of less-than-lethal but incapacitating weapons because of the controversy surrounding the use of force. However, the less-than-lethal weapons have not been fully adopted by police agencies since the use of these weapons is not without danger to the target and not without controversy. The less-than-lethal weapons have the potential of causing serious injury and even death in certain circumstances. Therefore, while these weapons are not perfect, they provide police agencies and officers with options between lethal force and physical muscle.

Technology Used in Policing:

With the rapid technological advancements, technology has played a crucial role in policing, especially in aiding police officers in their daily activities. Actually, without technology, police officers experience numerous difficulties in carrying out their daily requirements and activities. As a result, police agencies and officers have often looked to technology for improving their effectiveness (Foster, n.d.). Generally, technology is used in policing to help police agencies and officers in solving crimes.

There various technological measures that have been used to enhance the effectiveness of police officers include crime laboratories and finger printing. The other technological measures used in policing include the two-way radio used in police cars to help the officers to multiply their productivity in responding to and dealing with incidents. Police agencies across the nation are obtaining new technology that is developed to lessen response time and speed of information dissemination. The use of these efforts has helped in improving patrol function and capitalizes on the impact of community policing programs.

Homeland Security and Law Enforcement Relationships:

The relationships between intelligence, law enforcement, and homeland security organizations at the federal, state, and local level have continued to experience a revolution since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Before these terrorist attacks, the Department of Homeland Security created the wall at the federal level between law enforcement and intelligence. Furthermore, none of the states had a strong intelligence capability because of the wall between intelligence and law enforcement. Since the attacks, the wall has been virtually annihilated as some law enforcement organizations are being governed to become like intelligence agencies (Steiner, 2009). The main issue in homeland security and law enforcement relationships is improving homeland security at the state level. In order to address the issue, many states have reacted by combining the existing public security, emergence response capabilities, and law enforcement.

Police Corruption:

The other critical issue in policing is police corruption, which basically involves the abuse of authority by a police officer for personal gain. This is a major issue in policing because police corruption has been in existence in the society since the beginning of policing. The main reason behind police corruption is greed because of the seeming inability of police officers to resist the temptation of increased pay through unlawful means. Since this issue has been inexistence for long, the prevention of police corruption is a relatively tough task. Therefore, this is a critical issue in policing that needs to be dealt with effectively.