Executive Management and Ethics in Law Enforcement - Assignment Example

Executive Management and Ethics in Law Enforcement 1. Discuss the basic principles of the Proactive Police Management Model and describe in detail its advantages for police departments and their communities. The Proactive Police Management Model deals with the anticipation of events by means of appropriate planning relevant to police resources and personnel and provision of police services to the whole community (Dantzker, 1998). The Proactive Police Management Model is concerned about efficient provision of security facilities to the people in order to make them feel secure. The police personnel are required to be always ready for decision making and problem solving jobs. The basic principles of the Proactive Police Management Model are commitment to the community, usage of controlling techniques in order to accommodate the community, multitasking as it is thought that the police department should be able to perform multiple tasks in order to facilitate the community, usage of communication models in order to understand the needs of communication and its usage to a good extent (Dantzker, 1998). The Proactive Police Management Model also takes into consideration planning as it regards planning a crucial step to move forward towards success. Consulting and planning both are vital for the Proactive Police Management Model. Usage of modern technology is also one of the basic principles. Therefore, it is quite clear that the Proactive Police Management Model is concerned about community welfare and the whole police department. According to the description of the model, the police should be able to sort out multiple problems faced by the community. The police personnel should be highly efficient and trained to handle any kind of adverse situation and they should be able to plan events. The Proactive Police Management Model is very much advantageous for police departments and their communities. This model is not reactive but proactive. It involves planning, consultation and anticipation before taking any step (Dantzker, 1998). It would not be wrong to say that it is the practical form of dealing with police related affairs. The police officers are not only required to handle security issues but also others that can be problematic. For handling all kinds of different issues, the police personnel are trained and a proper planned design is followed in order to avoid any risky or sudden situation. All negative, adverse and probable outcomes of an act are thought and planned before getting into it. The planning and preparation is there due to which, the actions that are taken are much effective and effectual. 2. Explain in detail the various characteristics of the police subculture and describe how you, as a police executive, would change the organizational culture to obtain more optimal results.  Subculture is separated from main culture and usually belongs to a smaller number of people or a group. Therefore, police subculture means the culture of the police officers in terms of their beliefs and norms pertaining their profession (May, et. al, 2007). There are various characteristics of a police subculture and these characteristics make the police community different from other communities or people related to different departments. The subculture of police is able to differentiate the police personnel from other people. The police officers keep a sense of mission, which can be considered as a characteristic of the subculture. Police officers are never without any mission or aim. They also are suspicious of certain things and they do not consider aspects without suspicion. The suspiciousness that prevails in the police subculture can be regarded as a quality of the department. They are able to recognize the people with flaws on the basis of their suspicious nature. The police personnel also consider themselves as a part of different community on the basis of their relation to the police department (May, et. al, 2007). Another characteristic that can be found in the police subculture is the resistance to change. The resistance to change can be found in many other subcultures similarly as in police subculture. It is difficult to accept a change as people become used to their environment and tasks. The police officers are usually chauvinistic or prejudiced towards women or it can be said that they have some biased opinions regarding gender (May, et. al, 2007). They also keep some prejudice towards minorities. This characteristic of the police subculture needs to be looked into. In addition, the police personnel show much concern towards realism and practicality (May, et. al, 2007). They do not believe in any kind of imagination or unpractical aspect. I as a police executive will deal with the issue of prejudice that is not a good characteristic. I will make sure that the police personnel do not keep a negative perception regarding certain issues. There should be no chauvinism towards women or minorities. For this purpose, there will be hiring of women police officers. Change is not bad if it is for the good of the department. Therefore, the resistance to change will be dealt properly. The police personnel will be informed and meetings will be conducted to ensure that the police personnel accept and adopt the change. With no prejudice towards anyone, there will be more optimal results and change will also improve the department’s performance. Some features are necessary for the police department and should be there; for example, the suspicious nature of police personnel, consideration of belonging to a separate community, keeping an ambition or mission and practicality, all these can be regarded as advantageous features of police subculture. 3. Assume that you have recently been appointed as police chief of a department that has had a history of ethical problems among its members. Discuss the steps/actions that you would take to correct the deficiencies, improve morale, and increase professionalism.  After becoming the police chief of a department, the first step that I will take in order to know the ethical problems that have existed previously and currently, is to gather data about the problems. I will hire someone trustworthy to conduct a research about the nature of ethical problems and the reasons for their existence. The research will take into consideration the detailed overview and analysis of existing ethical problems. After collecting enough data, I will conduct meetings with the police personnel in order to get their opinions regarding ethical problems. I will also encourage the employees to come up and inform me about any problem that occurs. I will adopt a leadership style that will be encouraging and supportive for my colleagues and subordinates. I will make sure that people working under me do not consider me as an oppressive leader. To correct the deficiencies, I will make a board that will look into the conducted research and will be responsible for sorting out the issues faced by the people working in the department. Specific rules and laws will be set that should be followed by everyone working in the department. I will make sure that the laws and rules are set according to the needs and requirements of the workers. For setting rules and laws, again there will be a meeting that will consider all the ethical problems that have existed till then. To improve the morale of the police personnel and to increase professionalism, the employees will be expected to follow the rules set for them. Every member of the team will have to follow the same set of rules with no exception. Every member will be given a chance to speak and notify about his thought opinions and considerations. It will be made sure that no person behaves in a chauvinistic manner, which is troublesome to the others. 4. Describe in detail the evolution of the community oriented policing model from its earlier roots to its current status in American law enforcement. Include in your discussion its merits and whether or not it has reduced crime in America.  Community oriented policing deals with the interaction between the community and the police officers in order to control crime and to solve problems faced by the community (Beito, 1999). The COPS work for the community due to which, they are backed by the community. The Community Oriented Policing Model evolved in American law enforcement in the 1960s to 1970s when the police department felt a need of better police community relations (Dantzker, 2005). There were attempts made towards the establishment of better relations of the community and the police department and for that purpose, there were policies made. Initially, the struggles towards bondage come up in failure but later on, this struggle started to give some positive output. There was development of strategies in order to evaluate the problems faced by the citizens concerning crime and police policies. The police personnel were asked to listen to people of the community in order to know their opinions regarding police policies and crime control. COP is regarded as a revolutionary step in the history of American law enforcement. With community policing, the police department was working to eradicate or at least lessen the crime and disorder existent in the society (Dantzker, 2005). According to Dantzker (2005), in 1997, only 34 percent of the police agencies had full COPS as their community policing officers but till the year 2000, the ratio improved to 66 percent. By viewing and noticing the effectiveness of the COP model, the police agencies were made to adopt the model in order to provide better facilities to the community. With poor police-community relations, there was a rising crime rate but with improvement of the police-community relations, the crime rate has also reduced (Dantzker, 2005). Now, because of adoption of community oriented policing model, the police agencies working in America as well as in other countries are offering better services to the people of community. Now, the police officer is a community relations person working for the welfare of community as a whole. The merits of the community oriented policing model are many in number. Major goal of the COP is to prevent crime but according to the policing model, the causes to the happening of crime are also judged and targeted with the help of which, further happenings can be stopped (Dantzker, 2005). With the help of community oriented policing model, the COPS are committed towards the empowerment of the community. They work for the welfare of the community and assist the community, as a result of which, they are also assisted by the community. The COPS do not look only on the resolution of immediate problems but also plan and consult for the long term problems in order to solve them efficiently. The COPS take care of people with special needs. According to the policing model, the COPS also consider the matters of ethics and legalization concerning different issues and problems. It is said that the community oriented policing model has reduced crime in America as with the help of community, the police personnel are able to work better in terms of controlling crime rate (Dantzker, 2005). 5. Select the most appropriate leadership model for police. Discuss in detail its advantages and disadvantages, and how it contributes to successes in organizations.  Leaders are highly influential persons in an organization and they have a strong impact on the organization and its employees. No one can deny the influence of the leaders, as they are the one who have to lead a certain group in order to facilitate the organization in terms of making revenue or gaining success. The employees working under the leaders are more devoted to their leaders as compared to the organization because of the persuasive style of leadership of the leaders (McGovern, et. al 2008). Leadership can be defined as to show the way by going first, to direct, to guide, to conduct and to convey. Leaders see a vision and communicate that vision to their followers or subordinates. They focus on tomorrow rather than today. They inspire action and change. They are characterized by their people’s skills, their ability to motivate and get the last ounce of effort from their staff in time of crisis (McGovern, et. al 2008). On the other hand, they frequently dislike detail and routine, and can appear wildly disorganized to their colleagues. The most appropriate leadership model for the police is democratic model of leadership. It allows people to suggest their views in relation to decision making, so an effective communication is there, which is strength of democratic leadership (Parry and Hansen, 2007). As far as leadership is concerned, for leadership communication is a tool that can be employed for continuing to be a leader. An active leader is one who knows how to handle the tool of communication to manage and lead the members of an organization under his/her control. The democratic model of leadership is very supportive in creating an environment that is encouraging and heartening. It contributes to the success of organizations because all the employees are given a right to inform about their opinions regarding any decision making that is there. Through democratic model of leadership, the police department will be facilitated with appropriate leadership, which will be selected on the basis of democracy. As far as the role of democratic leader is concerned, he gives much value and importance to the opinions of his colleagues and subordinates due to which, the decisions that are made are accepted by all. All the matters that are crucial are discussed through group meetings and after discussion, an opinion is formed and decisions are made. Communication is very much essential for the success of a job and this aspect is not negated in democratic leadership. The reason why this kind of leadership is successful in organizations and helps the organization to move forward is because of the communicative style of leadership and an encouraging relationship that is formed between the leadership and followers. 6. Many believe that each police officer should be a community relations person. Discuss in detail why this may be true.  The concept that each police officer should be a community relations person is believed by many because people regard the police officer as a servant of people who has the duty to serve the community. The police officers with community relations are considered to be much successful in controlling any problematic issues that occur within a community. According to Dantzker (2005), the police officers are required to establish good community relations in order to control crime (199). It is also informed that patrolling techniques that are adopted for controlling crime are also a reason that creates hindrance in establishing good community relations between the police officers and the community (Dantzker, 2005). The crime control becomes very complicated if the police officers keep themselves isolated from the community (Dantzker, 2005). In order to control crime and to perform their jobs with supportiveness, it is essential for the police officers to be communicative and become a community relations person. It is thought that police department can work better if they have good relations with the community. This fact cannot be negated because of the efficacy of the concept. The word COP (Community Oriented Policing) used for the police officers identify them as Community Oriented Police due to which, it is quite clear that community relations are essential for the successful performance of police officers (Dantzker, 2005). Community involvement is necessary in terms of controlling crime and transgressions existent in a community. The officers who are community relations officers are able to interact and gain information about any problematic situation in a positive manner. In addition, the police officers are also helped out in maintaining law and order in a community. 7. Discuss the major issues in collective bargaining for police today.  Through collective bargaining, many issues can be considered such as wage issues, working hours, work load, ranks in a department, promotional policies, transference and much more and all these issues can be resolved (Dantzker, 2005). The police officers today play a crucial role in terms of collective bargaining. The police officers are allowed to bargain on the behalf of community for the above mentioned issues and they can prove themselves supportive to the community. The police officers form a union that is involved in collective bargaining whenever, a problematic situation is considered and efforts are made towards its resolution. In today’s time period, the major issues in collective bargaining faced by police officers are wage issues as the police officers are in need of higher wages because of the complexity of their jobs and the threat that they face related to their life and physical security. Along with the wages, the problems such as incentives and rewards are also considered and efforts are made towards their betterment and improvement. Police officers are also in need of timely promotions on the basis of their performances and efforts towards crime control. For this purpose also, efforts are made pertaining collective bargaining. Another major issue is the availability of technical facilities for the purposes of police department. There are also efforts towards usage of modern techniques towards sorting out criminal issues and problems. For the usage of modern techniques, the police officers are also in need of training and support from higher authorities so that they can be able to solve the problems faced by the community. 8. Describe the major obstacles to communication in the day-to-day work of a police agency, and detail the major strategies you would use to overcome these obstacles. Communication is essential in our day to day existence. No one can regard communication as an irrelevant concept. Communication plays an effective part in terms of correspondence between people and also people are able to deliver their ideas and views to other people with the help of communication. Communication is multifaceted, it is not just talking. Sharing, exchanging, transferring, passing on or conveying messages, ideas, opinions, news or information from one person or thing to another or between organizations is called communication (Caputo, et. al, 2003). For police, communication is also necessary as it is through communication that we are able to get any kind of information. However, there are obstacles for communicating effectively and these obstacles should be eradicated in order to come up with good and successful communication. While reporting to police officers or giving them any kind of information, people are sometimes threatened about the negative response that they will receive after their information (Thomas, 2009). This can be regarded as an obstacle because it is due to this threat that people resist to communicate to the police officials. Unlike face to face communication, radio communication or communication by means of telephony can be problematic if the delivered message is not completely understood (Thomas, 2009). An obstacle is there if the message is misinterpreted. For this purpose, the message should be asked again in order to clarify. The police officials get different kinds of information through radio and other technological devices and for understanding the messages with clarity, they should make sure about the message. The presence of different cultures in one community can also appear to be an obstacle in understanding (Thomas, 2009). The police personnel are required to understand and gain knowledge about all different cultures present in the community for which, they are given charge in order to stay away from any kind of misunderstanding. While communicating, the police personnel should make sure that they are not chauvinistic about the minorities as this can create problems in communication. Chauvinistic attitude by the police officials can also be an obstacle in communication. All the above mentioned problems can be overcome by training and group meetings. Communication is the solution to overcome obstacles to communication. The police official should communicate in order to know the problems faced by the community. They should gather information and data about different cultures existing in a community in order to understand the problems faced by the community. Their attitude should be ironic, negative or insulting because these attitudes restrict people to communicate positively to the police officers. References Beito, Linda Royster. (1999). Leadership Effectiveness in Community Policing. Indiana: Wyndham Hall Press. Caputo, J. S., Palosaari, J. and Pickering, K. (2003). Effective Communication. UK: Dramatic Lines. Dantzker, Mark L. (1998). Police Organization and Management: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Oxford: Elsevier. Also available at http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=K8tHiS-UqV4C&dq=Proactive+Police+Management+Model&source=gbs_navlinks_s Dantzker, M. L. (2005). Understanding Today’s Police. New York: Criminal Justice Press. Also available at http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=K_HmlKZbo4YC&dq=police+officer+as+a+community+relations+person&source=gbs_navlinks_s McGovern, George S., Donald C. Simmons, Jr. and Gaken, Daniel. (2008). Leadership and Service: An Introduction. New York: Kendall/Hunt Publishing. May, David C., Minor, Kevin L. and Ruddell, Rick. (2007). Corrections and the Criminal Justice System. Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. 133. Also available at http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=eTLVoIf4r4YC&dq=characteristics+of+the+police+subculture&source=gbs_navlinks_s Parry, K. W. and Hansen, H. (2007). The Organizational Story as Leadership. Leadership 3 (3): 281 - 300. Thomas, Tanya. (2009). Six Major Obstacles to Law Enforcement Communications. Socyberty. Retrieved on 24th July 2009 from http://www.socyberty.com/Social-Sciences/Six-Major-Obstacles-to-Law-Enforcement-Communications.554625 Read More