Literature review on a Law based Topic: Who will guard the guards - Research Paper Example

? Literature Review on a Law-based Topic Who Will Guard The Guards? School Affiliation For the well-being and prosperity of a nation, it is of utmost importance that the activities of the local population are kept in check. The government and administrations of all countries have therefore devised a system called Criminal Justice to uphold peace and control by creating certain rules, to stop the rules from being violated and to punish those who are involved in the violation of these rules. These are the basic aims of the criminal justice system and according to these it is divided into three main subgroups. One of them is the policing or the law enforcement department of the criminal justice. It deals with the correction of the errors found in the community, and to a higher level in the nation as a whole. Our topic is based on this subdivision of the criminal justice system. Police deals with the maintenance of social control and the eradication of crimes prevailing in the society so they can be termed as both the peace makers as well as the crime fighters (Hess, Orthmann & Cho, 2011). Running systems as huge as these are extremely difficult as they require tremendous man power, brain power and split second decision making. Many administration and managerial problems arise in these departments and it is essential to get rid of them as they hinder in the efficiency of the system. Keywords: Criminal justice organizations, police, law enforcement. When we think of criminal justice organizations and especially the law enforcement department, the first image in our head is of shiny badges, guns and sirens. Yet, there is more to this department than merely these above listed things. Policing is a subdivision of the criminal justice but due to its diversity and various functions it can be taken as an organization as whole. An organization is a social association or a unit, structured in a systematized way to achieve a common goal. An organization can further be divided into many parts and of the most important part of any organization is its administration and management (Cooper 2006). These terms are involved with supervision, control and handling. So, the administrators and managers in an organization are responsible for providing guidance and leadership along with managing the affairs of the company. It is also the job of the administration and management to facilitate the different parts of the organization in all ways. Like every other department, the administration and management of the police department is the most important part as all the other divisions of the department are controlled by it and are ultimately dependent upon it for the shaping up the strategies and methods of their implementation. The main responsibility of police administrators is to provide structure and leadership to the organizations so all the respective members can work effectively and meet the demands and needs of the community (Gailes & Worrall, 2003). Tracing back the history we can see that in nearly all communities and settlements, there has always been a certain group of people responsible for the maintenance of peace in the region and for the decisions of punishments and paroles for the people found guilty of charges. Similarly there has always been a division among that group, a part of which has been involved in the direct action against crime while the other half has a no less time consuming and difficult job of planning the strategies of the first part – when and how they will act under special circumstances, what needs to be done for the betterment of the society, and what are the methods to fulfill the requirements and needs of the local people? Although the administrators and managers are not involved in the direct action, they are the real back bone of the organization (Seba & Rowley, 2010). The job of the administration and management has been evolved now, it is tougher and more demanding than ever as the new progress and development has resulted in higher security problems and the citizens are demanding better security and protection. The means of committing crimes have been changed a lot since that time too, so it is a very difficult job. As the Criminal Justice system is a very large and diversified system, the problems related to it have been appearing in literary content for a long time in order to the identify these problems and to seek a solution for them. Scholarly works on the identification of these problems are available for the benefit of both the police personnel as well as the people who are in the supervisory and authoritative posts in these departments (Hill, 2012). There is no hard and fast rule applicable to all police agencies and their problems, as these problems differ from agencies to agencies depending on their resources and circumstances, however it is agreed that the scholarly works on these topics will help the administrators in combating the problems in general. The administration department in policing is further divided into three categories. The personnel involved are of three types: the ones who perform the tasks, the ones that facilitate others in performing the tasks, and the ones who are responsible to supervise the tasks performed by other personnel. All three of these jobs require immense attention and patience as administrators have to be very meticulous in their work because even the slightest error can result in a tremendous upheaval. Good administration and management in policing is very crucial as the boundaries of this organization are supposedly identifiable i.e. they have clear aims and goals which do not change constantly like maintaining peace and arresting criminals but this is the point of view from the broader aspect. Nowadays these boundaries are changing everyday with the advancement of the world. Terrorist activities are growing and the security demands of the citizens are changing with them. This puts a lot of pressure on the policing administration as they have to take split second decisions, achieve multiple goals, and work under high stress levels. As the well-being of an organization depends upon the administration, so does the deterioration. If the managers are performing their jobs effectively then the organization will flourish but if the managerial team is not fulfilling its duties, the organization is bound to suffer. The law enforcement departments all over the world are facing the same problems nowadays; their organizations are in shambles while they are putting up a cover to conceal the reality. However, the truth is that the management and administration of most law enforcement companies and organizations are deterring rapidly. This is due to many factors and combining them all will show us why the lives of citizens are not being protected today. A good administrator should possess great leadership qualities. An organization is a social unit comprising of hundreds of people. An administrator should have the skills to cooperate with the people working with him. He should not overpower or over shadow the personnel working under him as that would create an intimidating effect on the staff and the problems and ideas can never be discussed in an environment like that. In policing there are a variety of jobs that have to be performed so a much diversified community is formed in the organization; it is the responsibility of the managers to handle all of the staff with integrity, no matter what it takes to liaise with them in a reasonable way. Law enforcement is a department where one is nearly always working under time pressure; therefore, the administrators do not have the luxury of sitting idle. Decisions have to be made and matters have to be settled under the looming constraint of pressure and deadlines. Problems start arising when the administrators start getting too relaxed or too nervous about the dealings. It is the kind of responsibility where one has to be up for anything while keep the nerves calm. Too much stress can also ruin things for a police administrator. In policing, time is of critical value; postponing decisions and work can result in serious consequences (Stojkovic, Kalinich & Klofas, 2003). Similarly hesitating in taking action and changing plans over and over again are also the indicators of failure. A good law enforcement manager should be able to work calmly under stress, take quick decisions, think things through in a rational manner and devise plans to implement the best possible solutions and strategies. The administrator should think about the greater good and the betterment of the society, not of his personal motives while taking a decision. He is a public fiduciary and he should act upon what is best for the citizens and his organization, and not what is the best for him as an individual. The ever growing problems in the administration and management of personnel in the policing department are increasing day by day because the leaders do not possess the ideal leadership qualities. They find it hard to manage the staff and control the tasks which have to be performed for the better functioning of the organization and ultimately the company (Folger & Cropanzano, 1998). The manager's job is that of a communicator; s/he should be articulate enough to discuss and convey the policies in a way that is comprehensible to all the staff members. Sometimes the managers and the administrators are calm under any stress and perform their jobs perfectly but there is lack of motivation in the personnel and they fail to cope up with the stress. This represents the failure of the manager's leadership, because a manager should exercise the same principles on the staff as well so that they can learn to cope up with stressful situations. Due to lack of interaction between the administration and the personnel, the law enforcement organizations have weak foundations and the tasks cannot be handled effectively. The impact of leadership on a law enforcement organization is vital for its long term functioning. Without proper guidance, the organization will fail to meet the changing environmental demands. Lack of leadership is the largest problem faced by the police personnel, as action has to be taken at many points. Even with the availability of resources, timely action cannot be taken to correct the prevailing errors as there is no sound leadership to assist the staff in carrying out the functions. The society is not a dead thing; it has the capability of changing and growing at the same time. A growing society has more needs and these needs change with the changing time. Similarly, the policies and strategies of law enforcement also need to be updated and revived with time. If there is no good leadership and decision making power, then the same primitive techniques prevail and the organization fails to meet the demands of the citizens. Since policing is a department which has to be one step ahead of the society, it is required in this profession to foresee the issues and to seek a solution for them as soon as possible. The size of the department is another factor which tells us about how effectively the organization will function. The bigger the department, the harder it is to coordinate between the members which eventually has a negative effect on the functioning of the organization. Surveys were conducted in ten different police departments to determine if size of the organization has any effect on the stress ratings and nine of them showed that the stress level in police personnel is greater in larger companies as compared to the ones on a smaller scale (Brooks, 1998). This shows that law enforcement organizations should have the minimum amount of staff which are required for their correct functioning and the coordination among these people is of utmost importance. It is the responsibility of the administrators to assign such work and encourage activities which help in the interaction of staff with each other. Such work place relationships are the essence of organizations and no organization can function properly without interaction and cooperation of its staff (Swanson & Territo, 2006). The police staff nowadays lacks flexibility, which is of prime importance in this department. Rigidity is another cause of the demise of the law enforcement department. The staff is not open to new techniques and revolutionary ideas about security. Most personnel are more comfortable in following the already set rules passing from generations to generations; this ends up making the organization useless as the social and environmental requirements also change every day. In order to meet the fast pace of the society, the personnel of the law enforcement department should be adaptive and quick. The administration should focus on inculcating such activities in the staff which will broaden their minds and make them ready to face any challenge as this kind of behavior will lead to increased effectiveness in the organization's performance. The policing department has three main goals: Identifying and responding to criminal activities in local areas. Devising steps to reduce the crime rate and to maintain the peace. Ensuring that the department is meeting the security needs of the local area. The different personnel involved in these three tasks carry out orders to perform these activities but if the strategy behind these three aims is not well defined and clear then crimes may start prevailing in the community and a continuous fear may develop in the hearts of people (Stojkovic, Kalinich & Klofas, 2003). They might lose their trust in the policing department and the personnel who worked day and night to carry out these operations will have their hard work wasted and their dedication will go in vain. These cases are very common these days and nobody is paying much attention to what is going on inside these organizations. The young and the gullible are being blamed for the mistakes of others and people have lost their faith in the law enforcement because of continuous failed plans. Another major problem in the policing department is corruption, especially in the third world countries. The higher authorities are exploiting their positions instead of doing something beneficial for the organization and the community. This is destroying the entire reputation and credibility of the law enforcement department and the honest hard working people are also suffering because of this. The administration and management of policing departments should keep an eye on their workers, and all sorts of unfair means and utilization of public recourses for one's own benefits should be discarded completely (Surette, 2007). The policing, or the law enforcement department, are considered the guardians of the community. They are the force on which people rely in tough times but if these organizations are being hollow from inside and their foundations are no longer strong, then no one will be able to put their trust in them. The administration and the management of the policing department should be more active than all the other personnel so that they are aware of the problems faced by their workers. These staff members are the ones that protect others but who will protect them from themselves (Terrill, 2009). References: Brooks, L. W. (1998). Police stress: does department size matter? (pp. 600-617). MCB UP Ltd. Cooper, T. (2006). The responsible administrator: An approach to ethics for the administrative role. (5th ed., p. 23). Jossey Bass - Wiley Folger, R., & Cropanzano, R. (1998). Organizational justice and human resource management (foundations for organizational science. (1st ed., p. 89). Foundation for organizational Sciences. Gailes, L. K., & Worrall, J. L. (2003). Police administration. (Third ed., pp. 27-32) CengageBrain Hill, S. (2012). Police administration: a leadership approach. doi: 10.1080/15614263.2012.654936 Seba, I., & Rowley, J. (2010). Knowledge management in uk police forces. 611-626. doi: 10.1108/13673271011059554 Stojkovic, S., Kalinich, D., & Klofas, J. (2003). Criminal justice organizations: administration and management. (fourth ed., pp. 28-89). Thomson Wadsworth Swanson , C., & Territo, L. (2006). Police administration - structures, processes, and behavior. (pp. 123-156). Surette, R. (2007). Media, crime, and criminal justice: Images, realities, and policies. (1st ed., p. 114). Belmont, USA: Wadsworth. Terrill, R. (2009). World criminal justice systems: A survey. (7th ed., pp. 56-90). Elsevier. Read More