NCJ Number
183268
Date Published
1999
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines the problems and practices of the police in keeping the peace in "skid-row."
Abstract
The description and analysis are based on 12 months of field work with the police departments of two large cities west of the Mississippi. Eleven weeks of this time were spent in skid-row and skid-row-like districts. The observations were augmented by approximately 100 interviews with police officers of all ranks. The findings show that peace-keeping procedures on skid-row consist of three elements. Patrol officers seek to acquire a comprehensive body of concrete knowledge about people by cultivating personal acquaintance with as many residents as possible. They tend to proceed against persons mainly on the basis of perceived risk, rather than on the basis of culpability; and they are more interested in reducing the aggregate total of troubles in the area than in evaluating individual cases according to merit. Most of the criticism voiced by officers regarding potential police tactics in skid-row had to do with the use of undue harshness and with the indiscriminate use of arrest powers when these are based on personal feelings rather than the requirements of the situation. According to prevailing officer opinion, patrol officers who commit such abuses make life unnecessarily difficult for themselves and for their co-workers. Policing in skid-row demonstrates that police peace-keeping cannot be systematically generalized and programmed. It must involve the use of police discretion based on officer experience, knowledge of the people and community involved, and seasoned insight regarding police actions that best serve citizen and community welfare. 28 notes