As Hanson, Venturelli and Fleckenstein note, enforcement of prohibition in some parts of the U.S. was relatively strict (222).
Changing the Perception: Steps Which May Have Been Taken
Given the negative perception the general public had of law enforcement officers during the prohibition period, there was an existing need to undertake deliberate measures aimed at changing such a perception. In my opinion, such measures had a direct impact on winning public cooperation and compliance. As Miller, Hess and Orthmann note, the behavior of law enforcement officers "has a direct impact on their image" (42). In the opinion of the authors, the acceptance of gratuities is one of the behaviors that could impact negatively on police image. Some of the approaches that were undertaken to restore police image in our case was the express dismissal of officers who were found to be corrupt. Indeed, according to Hanson, Venturelli and Fleckenstein, "law enforcement experienced more than 50% turnover in its ranks" due to issues related in one way or the other to corruption (222). This in my opinion could have played a significant role in the restoration of public confidence.
Next, to repair the already battered image of law enforcement officials, efforts could have been put in place to control the authority of officials as they sought to enforce the prohibition. Here, key considerations that may have been taken into account include the personal image of law enforcement projected during operations, as well as...
During the period, interaction with the public could have been critical as law enforcement officials sought to crack down on illegal liquor distribution channels. In my opinion, had there been some insistence on professionalism from the start, the relations between law enforcement officials and members of the public could have been enhanced. This would have been a timely boost for those seeking to defeat illegal cartels that specialized in selling liquor during the prohibition period.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be noted that from the onset, discussions regarding alcohol prohibition and the subsequent enforcement of the law became one of the most contentious and hotly debated issues of the 20s. Proponents and critics of the same were locked up in a bitter debate regarding the relevance as well as long-term applicability of the prohibition provisions. Such opposition combined with laxity on the part of law enforcement officers made prohibition hard to enforce.
Works Cited
Deitch, Robert. Hemp: American History Revisited: The Plant With a Divided History. Algora Publishing, 2003. Print.
Hanson, Glen R., Peter J. Venturelli and Annette E. Fleckenstein. Drugs and Society. London: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2011. Print.
Miller, Linda S., Karen M. Hess and Christine H. Orthmann. Community Policing: Partnerships for Problem Solving. New York: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
