NCJ Number
127169
Journal
Police Journal Volume: 63 Issue: 4 Dated: (October-December 1990) Pages: 298-305
Date Published
1990
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Police officers are a costly and scarce resource whose traditional human, communal role should be maximized.
Abstract
Basic goodwill is essential to policing because of its very nature -- it becomes involved with people usually on their worst or most vulnerable terms -- as victims or villains. Technology does not make policing easier, but it changes the methods and possibilities. The question is often asked of how cost-effective police forces are, but the question and the answer to it are not so simple. The cost of manpower increased 52 percent during the 1980s. The establishment is not likely to change, but recruitment trends will follow the demographic shifts expected for the mid to late 1990s, when there will be a drop in the teenage population. Each police function should be critically examined and evaluated for its essentialness to the goals of policing, as should the means of implementing them. Any way to minimizing the use of officers should be considered so that they can focus on the human aspects of their work.