-job security
-job benefits
-job advancement
-helping community
-early retirement
What are the motivations of becoming a police officer?
-Civil Rights Act
-Equal Opportunity Act
-Equal Pay Act
What acts are responsible for equal employment qualifications?
Equal Opportunity Act of 1972
more power than the Civil Rights act including power to investigate and litigate claims of violations of equal opportunity employment against employers, unions, and employment agencies
-educational institutions included
-federal, state, and local governme
bona fide occupational qualifications
job criteria must be related to the job
-compensatory or noncompensatory: depends on department
-written test
-background check
-oral interviews
-physical exam
What are the general selection processes for police officers?
-administrative activities (briefing, reports, crime alerts, return phone calls, filing citations)
-officer-initiated activities (traffic stops, running plates, Terry stops, visiting businesses)
-assigned calls for service (calls you are dispatched to)
-f
What are the common patrol activities of officers?
routine preventative patrol
general practice of driving around a patrol beat and making presence known to citizen's
directed patrol
freeing some officers from routine patrol so they can focus on specific locations/offenders/crimes
4 characteristics:
-proactive and aggressive
-unassigned time used for directed patrol
-officers instructed on how to focus their efforts
-instructions base
location-oriented patrol
a form of directed patrol that involves crackdown by saturating particular problem geographic areas
offender-oriented patrol
a form of directed patrol that is based on premise that a dew individuals commit disproportionate share of crime and should receive more attention
allocation by geography
deploy evenly across and area
allocation by hazard formula
deploy based on each type of crime given weighted score and each area is analyzed for incidence of crime
allocation by queing
deploy by combined calculation of probable demands for service with geographic location
-attempt to overcome subjectivity of hazard formula and tone-deafness of geographic model
allocation by prevention of crime
deploy by using mathematics and probability to maximize crime suppression
-attempt to identify probability of crime taking place and probability of intercepting crime in progress
basic allocation model: (N=[40/PTT9RS)]^2 x [(A)(WC)/7(S)])
N= average number of on duty officers
A= area
WC=coverage/week
PTT=average response time
RS=average response speed
s=shift length
police crackdowns
allocation of additional police resources to the enforcement of laws with the intent of deterring illegal content
-geographic or offense specific
foot patrol
second most common form of patrol, more common in larger departments
-implemented to reduce crime, fear of crime, and create more personal relationships with community
-research shows crime does decrease and community feels safer
offender focused strategies
strategies in which the police depend on criminal intelligence to identify high-rate offenders on whom the police then focus enforcement efforts
-has been shown to decrease violent crimes and violent felonies
criminal investigation
process of discovering, collecting, preparing, identifying, and presenting evidence to determine if a crime in fact occurred, what happened, and who is responsible
criminal evidence
knowledge or information that related to a particular crime or perpetrator
-evidence established is crime occurred and who committed particular crime
forensic science
field of science that addresses legal questions
sting
a police operation that involves an investigator posing as someone who wishes to buy or sell illicit goods, such as drugs or sex, or execute some other sort of illicit transaction
exculpatory evidence
form of evidence that clears suspect from blame
physical evidence
anything that has real substance that helps establish facts of case
trace evidence
evidence that is extremely small items
direct evidence
form of evidence that establishes proof of fact without any other evidence
indirect evidence
form of evidence where crime-related information in which inferences and probabilities are needed to draw an associated conclusion
circumstantial evidence
evidence that merely tends to incriminate someone
locard's exchange principle
when two objects come into contact with each other, there's always a transfer between them no matter how small
standard of comparison
object, measure, or model with which evidence is compared to in order to determine if they come from same source
class characteristics of evidence
features that place an item into a category
individual characteristics
features that distinguish one item from another of same type
hydraulic effect
all three parts of the system posses discretion and when one part of system uses discretion, it limits the discretion of the other parts
-laws are too vague
-police have limited resources
-community alienation (speeding tickets)
-individualize laws (juveniles)
-many violations are minor
why do we permit discretion?
-denial of due process
-denial of equal protection under the law
-poor community relations
-poor personal management
-poor planning and policy development
what are the concerns about discretion?
-officer characteristics (education, age, gender, experience, family)
-situational/contextual factors (mobilization, demeanor and attitude, gender, type of offense, presence of weapons)
-organizational factors (bureaucracy, shift work, culture)
-environme
what factors influence police discretion?
studies show that internal mechanisms like department policies and police supervision as well as external mechanisms like court cases and legislation have shown to control discretion
What do studies say about mechanism for controlling discretion?
stereotype
perception-oriented shortcut
valence
are inferences made of perceiver positive or negative
accuracy
do the inferences of perceiver match objectively measured qualities of group
deleware v. prouse
police need reasonable suspicion to make a stop
florida v. wells
police cannot use inventory searches as a pretext for investigation
whren v. US
if there is an objective basis for stop, court would not go into motives of the officer
reasonable suspicion
articulable facts that would lead a reasonable officer that a crime/infraction has possible been committed
<50%
probable cause
articulatable facts that indicate crime has likely been committed or being committed, or evidence of some exists and is located in particular place
>50%
beyond a reasonable doubt
evidence results in high level of certainty about guilt of an individual charged with committing crime
>95%
fourth amendment
right of people to be secure in their persons house, paper and effects, against unreasonable search and seizure, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause
incorporation doctrine
due process clause of 14th amendment incorporates Bill of Rights, including 4th amendment, and thereby grants protections against state and local authorities
-private actors
-border searches or searches in other countries
-open fields
-commercial property areas where general public is invited to enter
-abandoned property, automobile inventory searches
-consent searches
when do you not need a warrant?
curtilage
enclose space of ground surrounding the dwelling
inventory searches
searches of impounded vehicles which are considered administrative searches when they are conducted according to standard police procedure
-contraband found is not ignored
search warrants
a legal document authorizing a police officer or other official to enter and search premises
-need probable cause
-supported by an affidavit articulating probably cause-affidavit is sworn to by affiant
-specificity: must be specific to places searched and
-exigent circumstances
-plain view
-emergencies
-preservation of evidence
-vehicles
-incident to arrest
-hot pursuit
-stop and frisk
when do you NOT need a warrant?
exigent circumstances
situation where you don't need a warrant due to circumstance where without immediate police action, suspect may destroy evidence or pose danger to themselves, police, or public
exclusionary rule
evidence obtained illegally by police must be excluded from use in court
good faith exception
if an officer relies on an defective warrant in good faith, evidence may be admitted
miranda warning
use when suspect is in custody or being questioned
-right to remain silent
-anything you say can and will be used against you in court
-right to attorney and to have them present during questioning
-if you cannot afford attorney, one will be provided with
custody
officer has decided a suspect is not free to leave, considerable deprivation of liberty, or suspect is under arrest
public safety exception to miranda
threat to public safety takes precedence over being read Miranda warnings
arrest authority of peace officers
officers can make a probable cause arrests for all felonies, all misdemeanors committed in one's presence, and some misdemeanors not witnessed if arrest authority is specified in statue