Introduction: Policing Contemporary Society (From Hard Cop, Soft Cop: Dilemmas and Debates in Contemporary Policing, P 1-19, 2004, Roger Hopkins Burke, ed. -- See NCJ-206005)

• NCJ Number: 206006
• Author(s): Roger H. Burke
• Date Published: 2004
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: Willan Publishing
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter introduces the debate about policing strategies and styles in a contemporary society that is fragmented, pluralistic, and postindustrial.

Abstract

The opening section of this chapter provides an overview of the "zero tolerance" policing strategy adopted by the Bratton (police commissioner)/Giuliani (mayor) administration in New York City. Informed by the "broken windows" thesis, this strategy is based in the belief that just as an unrepaired broken window is a sign that nobody cares and leads to more damage, minor public incivilities, such as begging, public drunkenness, vandalism, and graffiti, produce an atmosphere in a community that encourages more serious crime. Opposition to zero-tolerance style policing has focused on two closely linked arguments, i.e., that such strategies reflect the failed military-style "hard" policing in the inner city neighborhoods of the United Kingdom during the 1970's and early 1980's, and that there is no clear evidence of a direct causal link between such "hard" policing styles and the decline in recorded crime figures. Another section of this chapter examines criticisms of police ineffectiveness in England and Wales due to an average 5.1-percent annual increase in recorded crime since 1916, with a particularly sharp increase in the last two decades of the 20th century. This has occurred while the police clearance rate in England and Wales has decreased from 40 percent in 1980 to 23.5 percent by 2003. This is followed by discussions of the competing perspectives on the purpose of the police and the identification of five broad and interlinked developments that have accelerated the growth in unrealistic expectations of the police. These developments are the increase in criminal opportunities, the increase in motivated offenders, the increasing "embourgeoisement" or civilizing process whereby standards of acceptable behavior have changed, the increasing social construction of crime and the criminalization of a range of new offenses, and the increasing complexity of society. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the purpose of the book, which is to develop the theme that both "hard" and "soft" policing styles -- whether conducted by the public police service, the private security industry, or social service agencies -- are all part of the contemporary "all-seeing multiple-agency corporate crime industry." 9 notes