Police Events in Miami Beach - Assignment Example

Policing Special Events: Miami Beach Introduction This paper outlines the strategies, plans, and policies for policing of events in Miami Beach Traffic Control Question #1 The police are going to use different strategies to control the traffic both people and vehicles that will be coming to Miami Beach during this season. According to the plans revealed by the police Chief, some roads in the region will be closed during specific times to vehicular traffic and restrictions to residential areas will be reinforced for visitors at Miami Beach. The Miami Beach Chief Police Martinez believes that Memorial Day weekend “is unlike any other major event”, ever held in the town. Therefore, the traffic control strategy in place is an issue of capacity. The following are the traffic control strategies that have been put in place in Miami for the special event this year. 1. Road closures 2. Proof of residency. People will be required to produce prove of residency documents to access certain areas 3. A Traffic Loop will be activated to control vehicular movement 4. Some areas will be completely closed off to vehicular traffic 5. A DUI checkpoint will be operational 6. Erecting four surveillance towers that can see up to four miles away 7. Cameras, which can see up to a mile, will be perched on four towers 8. Using license tag readers for the first time to identify wanted vehicles 9. Stoppage of vehicles with tags that kick back violations to police 10. Report service issues that need immediate attention and answer visitors’ questions 11. Restricted access based on the honor system to some beaches 12. Use of goodwill ambassadors 13. Goodwill Ambassadors all wearing red shirts, for easy of identification by visitors 14. Distribution of courtesy litterbags and safety brochures to the visitors 15. Pairs of police will be stationed up and down selected streets such as Fifth Street, Ocean Drive, Collins and Washington Avenues The police should implement plans to educate road users in future on how to use roads during special events to avoid closure of roads, which is expensive and costly to both the police department in terms of labor needed to control traffic and to the residents in terms of time wasted in a crowded road. Zero Tolerance Strategy Question #1 The police have issued guidelines and regulations that are going to ensure order during the major events at Miami Beach. According to Miami Beach Police Chief, the police analyzed the previous events and came up with a strategy to ensure a safe environment. The strategy will include directive orders to arrest people who are going to disrupt tranquility in Miami Beach. The police chief has said that the Police are hoping to avoid problems during this season by arresting people who are going to cause disturbance. According to Miami Beach’s police union the order, this weekend is for “patrol officers will need to meet an arrest quota of 2,000 arrests.”This number is two times the record of a thousand set in the previous years. In my opinion, this strategy is good except that the police should only make arrests to the offenders and not simply as a matter of meeting their target of 2,000 arrests. Question #2 In my opinion, the police department has put in place extra measures which are different from the previous years and this is because of the increasing number of visitors that keep coming to Miami Beach each year. In previous years, the number of policy officers that were on the patrol was not as much as this year, and this is because of the increasing incidences of visitors who caused disturbance in the area. Similarly, the police have not been closing as many roads as it plans to close during this season. In my opinion, the police department should include the residents of Miami Beach to police the region during high season when many visitors are expected to come to the region. Crowd control Question #1 The police are going to use residential requirements to control the movement of people, with some roads specifically preserved for residents only while others are opened for public. Other measures include controlling the movement of vehicles in certain places. The police are also going to use goodwill ambassadors to give information to the visitors and answer their questions. The use of goodwill ambassadors in identifiable clothes is effective because it will enable visitors who want assistance to get at the point of assistance very easily. However, using more police on the roads is intimidating to the visitors and this has even attracted criticisms from visitors who view Miami Beach turning into a police state. Question #2 In my opinion, the police department needs to use more goodwill ambassadors to assist the visitors with direction. This is because the people can easily identify themselves with civilians than the police who have been given orders to make arrests. Nevertheless, the police should remain on the streets to control the vehicular traffic though they should not have helmets because that will signal to the attendees that they need to cause disturbance since the police are already prepared for any eventualities. Staffing Question #1 The police department will use 600 officers who will be on patrol together with extra communication unit personnel who shall be stationed on surveillance towers. In addition, there will be goodwill ambassadors who will assist the police with distribution of courtesy bags. The goodwill ambassadors will be acting on the mutual aid to the police. The police department has invested heavily in training the police force on things such as “use of force, deadly force, even the public’s right to film them with their cell phones”. Question # In my opinion, the police also need to include the residents of Miami Beach to give directions to the visitors because they are the ones who knows the area well. This will also give confidence to the residents that the visitors are not going to cause a disturbance in the area because the residents will be involved in policing their community. References CBS Miami. Miami Beach putting finishing touches on weekend preps. Retrieved on 29 October 2012 from: http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/05/22/miami-beach-putting-finishing-touches-on-weekend-preps/ Read More