Police administration: organizational structure and management practices

Emotional and social intelligence is extremely important in regards to modern policing and the characteristics of contemporary officers. Without emotional and social intelligence, police officers with stand alone, hostile to their environments as they attempt to solve and prevent crime. According to the research, emotional intelligence "is the ability to interpret, understand, and manage one's own and others' emotions," (Saville 2006). Essentially, emotional intelligence is the ability to cognitively understand others well-being and emotions. It is essentially empathy on behalf of officers serving within a community. Saville (2012) also suggests that emotional intelligence "is not about becoming emotionally detached, it is about becoming emotionally mature and confident." Modern officers also need social intelligence, which is the ability to remain in tune with the society, despite potential cultural or racial differences. According to Williams (2012) social intelligence is built on social awareness, increasing our ability to relate to one another based on our understanding of our society and the cultures that live and reside within it (Swanson 2012). When an officer has a high level of social intelligence, that officer is well informed of the cultural characteristics of those within his or her district. Having a high level such intelligence increases their ability to work with the community and effectively find solutions in preventing crime and forcing the law.

Yet, despite the clear importance of emotional and social intelligences in regards to police characteristics in a contemporary law enforcement environment, the two types of intelligences have largely been ignored by modern agencies. Here, the research suggests that "often, Academy educators believe it field trainers to help new officers through emotionally charged and stressful situations. Departments occasionally provide stress management programs or use untrained mentors to help officers manage their emotions. But few of these approaches consider emotional intelligence" (Saville 2006). Thus, there are very little resources for many in law enforcement agencies to turn to when they need emotional support in maintaining an appropriate emotional state in the field. This combined with low social intelligence creates an instable police force, emotionally, and can lead to problems dealing with community members. Still, advancements in technology are providing officers with greater tools to empower themselves with higher levels of social intelligence based on research (Williams 2012). This will undoubtedly allow them to better interact with the society that they serve and protect.

Question 2

In any successful police department is a good and efficient strategic plan. This includes a strategy for how to prevent and solve crime, as well is dealing with emergency situations. Individual police departments must come together with their unique community and create a strategic plan that is appropriate for the needs and the demand of the society at large. A strong strategic plan empowers individual police departments with the ability to understand the communities in which they serve and how they can achieve goals set out by their leadership. Understanding and evaluating community factors is a huge element to a strategic plan that lead to the benefits of finding real and practical solutions. "As a result of the strategic planning process" a police department can create "an evolving set of goals and corresponding plans to reach them with the renewed support and cooperation of the community it serves" (International Association of Chiefs of Police 2006). This highly tailored and individualized strategic plan can benefit the police department enormously. Essentially, it helps identify the needs of the population it aims to protect, build strategic relationships with community partners, and improves internal functioning of the overall administration in question (Swanson 2012). Such a plan provides a strong foundation for individual officers in the field to be able to react and interact within a variety of situations. This plan empowers them the sense of experience within the community and a sense of general guidance to fall back on in times of need.

There are a number of steps in regards to creating a plan for policing. Essentially there are three phases plotted out by the research, "1) a survey of citizen satisfaction with police services, 2) an internal agency survey of police officer satisfaction and 3) a one day planning session attended by police officers and community leaders" (International Association of Chiefs of Police 2006). Community and academic research both help improve the nature of strategic plans and execution of the various elements of each strategic plan created by individual police departments. Gathering research from both the community and from inside the department itself can help identify major problems and provide the benefits of leading leadership to find potential solutions based on the unique context of each particular situation. From this research, real solutions can be made. However, these solutions must be tailored to the unique community environment both in design and strategy for execution.

Question 3

Officer examinations are crucial part to building a stronger police force. Yet many law enforcement agencies rely on outside providers for their examinations. Essentially, new hires and promotions within police departments traditionally use the succession of written tests and interviews (Swanson 2012). This is often a very lengthy period and requires a lot of effort in terms of administrative and managerial work in regards to how officers are chosen for new hires and promotions. Even when law enforcement agencies hire people specifically to work in this aspect of the industry, it can become a mess quickly. Unfortunately, "due to budget cuts and low staffing levels, many police departments take a year or more to provide the new supervisor with the training necessary to manage personnel" (Santa 2012). This creates a lack time within getting equipped officers out onto the field and protecting the citizens that need them. In order to meet the high demands of pumping out new officers, without such a lag on performance and budget capabilities, many outside agencies have been brought in to handle some of the workload. Additionally, "high turnover rates and the unpredictable nature of law enforcement often result in vacancies in specialized and supervisory positions within a department" (Santa 2012). With most efforts focused elsewhere in providing protection services, many management positions are lacking the capabilities in order to administer testing and examinations internally. Thus, law-enforcement agencies turn to third-party organizations that work with the agencies nonprofit budget to provide examinations for new hires and promotions on a more timely manner. This helps increase the foundation of law enforcement agencies, providing them support with some of the administrative tasks that would otherwise bogged down. Planning becomes a way for police departments to meet challenges and cooperate with one another and with the community in order to overcome such challenges. These challenges could be both abstract and tangible, either being in terms of cultural diversity or even administrative workloads. Strategy helps empower police departments all over the country, as well as the world. This has become a successful strategy employed by a number of law enforcement agencies that help support the officers in the field while not ignoring the importance of administrative duties.

Question 4

The United States is a huge mixing pot of different cultures and ethnicities (Shusta 2005). As such, police officers often encounter people from different cultural backgrounds on a daily basis, especially in more populated areas like large cities. There are a number of issues the police administration and officers have to deal with on a daily basis. However, two issues in particular are directly involved intermediation between law enforcement and citizens from other cultures. Both language barriers and differences in cultural behavior can become a serious issue in regards to what could potentially break down communication between a police officer and a citizen of different cultural backgrounds. First, language barriers are huge problem within law enforcement in diverse communities, such as in the case of urban areas which attract a number of people from different cultures and ethnicities. Cultural and language barriers often on relations between police officers and people coming to them for help. For example, the research shows that many battered women of different cultures often hesitate coming to law enforcement based on cultural language barriers and a fear that they will immediately be deported. Although many government agencies have literature in a variety of languages, many police officers in the field are not fluent in many other languages other than English and secondly Spanish. However, in areas such as Los Angeles or New York, thousands of citizens speak a variety of other languages. When he citizens are in need, they find it incredibly difficult to reach out to law enforcement agencies with such a strong language barrier in the field.

Additionally, differences in how people behave based on cultural influences can become a problem in regards to how police officers and citizens their designated to protect interact with one another. According to the research, "the presence of different cultures can affect the very nature and perception of crime itself" (Shusta 2005). Essentially, the way people think about crime is often highly dependent on the cultural and ethnic influences within society. One culture may view one action of the crime, while a completely different culture sees the action is perfectly normal or at least something to be condoned. Many cultures may not have the same ideas of law that is present within American society, and sometimes people may break American laws without truly understanding that they have even committed a crime. This can create a conflict between cultures, when a police officer of one culture is enforcing a law that may not be quite understood or respected from the perspective of another culture (Swanson 2012). Because of such cultural differences in diverse societies, like the one present in the United States, police officers need to immerse themselves in cultural knowledge and education. It is extremely important for police officers to learn the values and set of codes of particular cultures encounter in the field in order to better communicate and serve back particular community (Swanson 2012). Officers need to be perspective and understanding of cultural differences, potentially making decisions based on such cultural understandings.

Question 5

Police administration can employ a number of anticipatory strategies in order to reduce the possibility of potential dangers and hazards on the job for officers and citizens alike. For one, police agencies can use what is known as the CompStat system, which is short for computer comparison statistics. According to the research, this "is a multifaceted system for managing police operations" that is used to help incorporate communication between departments and spread information at a faster speed, thus increasing the rate of preventing crime (Godown 2010). CompStat can help spread news about dangerous criminals, putting them on Police Department's lists well before they enter in to the district. Its primary goal is to allow police officers to know exactly what is happening as fast as possible, so that they can make quick decisions in the field and possibly prevent further incidences from occurring. The use of such systems helps empower local departments' group communication and cooperation.

Secondly, certain operating procedures should be laid out in order to better provide an environment that prevents unnecessary accidents on the job. For example, many police agencies around the country have adopted policies that do not engage in high-speed pursuits. The research suggests that "each year in the United States, several hundred persons (including some police officers) are killed, and many others injured during the course of pursuits" and that "pursuit related accidents, injuries and deaths caused significant emotional and distress for officers, and frequently result in negative public relations for departments" (Ashley 2004). Engaging in dangerous and risky high-speed pursuits have come to bring a bad name upon various police departments, especially in urban districts where the risk for accidents are a lot higher. As such, many police departments have adopted policies were officers will hang back and not engage in a dangerous pursuit in order to prevent accidents and injuries from occurring. The degree of risk is often assessed in a matter of moments, and decision made by field officers as to whether or not pursue the vehicle or to hang back and wait for better circumstances to apprehend the subject.

Thirdly, one of the most successful strategies for crime prevention that can be used but police administrations is the use of community policing. Modern research suggests that "cooperation of the public is vital in providing intelligence to the police, keeping law and order, and implementing anticrime strategies" (Levitt 2012). Working with community members can be a powerful tool for helping prevent both youth and adult crimes. Also, community policing provides community members a greater sense of support from their police administrations, which increases their motivation to help walk rate with officers during investigations in the field.