Retrenchment, the Constitution, and Policing (From Police Leadership in America - Crisis and Opportunity P 340-347, 1985, William A Geller, ed. - See NCJ-98325)

• NCJ Number: 99257
• Author(s): H Williams
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 8 pages
• Sale Source: Praeger Publishers
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper describes four order-maintenance programs conducted by the Newark Police Department (New Jersy) as well as a management policy for increasing the cost effectiveness of police services.

Abstract

All four programs were mounted only after the police department determined there was strong community support for them and that the programs did not violate citizen constitutional rights. Truancy was reduced by 10 percent in Newark with the establishment of five teams of school-attendance officers and a police officer, who patrolled the city looking for truants. Truants were transported to a designated school, where education officals conducted notifications, youth and parent counseling, and followup checks. The Selective Area Field Enforcement program (begun in 1982), involved planned sweeps of known street trouble spots to disperse loiterers and arrest those who had formerly received warnings. A roadcheck program, established to demonstrate police presence and control in Newark neighborhoods, stopped every fifth vehicle for driver and vehicle examination. A bus inspection program involved patrol officers randomly stopping public buses to board them and identify any passengers engaged in disruptive or disorderly behavior. A Newark police resource allocation model adopted to improve cost effectiveness uses auxiliary and support personnel 1 day per month to perform general patrol and service delivery duties.