Why Was Creation of Professional British Police Useful Just for the Middle Classes - Case Study Example

The Creation of Professional Police was for the Benefit of the Middle es – Not the Society as a Whole /Course Date Total Number of Words: 2,068 Table of Contents I. Introduction …………………………………………………………… 3 II. Aim of the Study ……………………………………………………... 4 III. History behind UK’s Professional Police ………………………….. 4 IV. Unequal Satisfaction in terms of the Service each Neighbourhood Receive from the Professional Police ………….. 5 a. Research Survey Results Proving that there is an Unequal Satisfaction with Police Service coming from Different Neighbourhood …………………………………. 5 b. Factors Causing Unequal Satisfaction in Each Community …………………………………………… 6 V. Discussion ……………………………………………………………. 8 VI. Recommendations …………………………………………………… 8 VII. Conclusion …………………………………………………………….. 10 References …………………………………………………………………….. 11 - 13 Introduction The common purpose of creating the professional police is to protect the general public from any forms of misconduct and violence that could impose threats over the lives of the innocent people. In general, police are a group of public servants which aims to reduce the incidence of criminal activities within the society by detecting and preventing crimes from happening. (Newburn, 2003: p. 15) With regards to the overall public performance coming from the UK police force, several research survey result show that the creation of professional police was not really intended for the society as a whole but for the pure benefit of those individuals who are belongs to the middle class society. (Dunham & Alpert, 1998; Sampson & Jeglum-Bartush, 1998; Kusow et al., 1997; Cao et al., 1996) It has always been a challenge on the part of UK policing to promote a safe environment for each of the local citizens who are residing in the country. (Newburn, 2003: p. 3) For this study, the history behind UK’s professional police will be discussed to give the readers a better idea with regards to the subject matter. Since determining the public’s satisfaction with regards to the ability of the police to minimize crime rates within the society is considered a crucial component of evaluating the overall performance of the police (Brown & Benedict, 2002), the student will undergo a research study to unveil the truth behind any forms of unequal services given by the professional police towards the society. In the process of searching for the truth, several evidences and reports will be thoroughly discussed as to whether or not professional police was created merely for the benefit of the middle class individuals. Aim of the Study The aim of the study is to be able to determine whether UK professional police provides an unequal service to people. History behind UK’s Professional Police Since 1950s, UK’s government and public support in the promotion and strengthening of the professional police has been enormous. (Reiner, 1994) Between 1950s to the last quarter of 1960s, intensive support coming from the UK government and the general public were extended to professional police. For this reason, professional police throughout the United Kingdom has been considered as a ‘role model of successful policing’. (Reiner, 1992: p. 435) During the period of UK’s successful policing, the Scotland Yard detective together with the British bobby played a crucial role in conducting crime investigation aside from maintaining the peace and order within the society.” (Reiner, 1992: p. 435) It was only during the last quarter of 1970s onwards that the general public decided to withdrew their support with the professional police in the United Kingdom due to lack of consistency with regards to having a set of goals that UK police needs to achieve. (Rowe, 2002: p. 440) The general public’s decision to withdrew their support for the police was strongly influenced by the Scarman incidence back in 1981 wherein uncontrollable peace and order in Brixton, South London took place. (Bowling & Foster, 2002) In line with this matter, Brown & Benedict (2002: p. 544) explained that there is a strong correlation between the police force’s negative attitude and perception towards their profession and the increased level uncontrollable riots withi the society. Up to the present time, the Scotland yard and the British bobby remains struggling to preserve its crime fighting image and ability to become an effective peacekeeper as the professional police force works together to achieve a common goal. (Reiner, 1994) Unequal Satisfaction in terms of the Service each Neighbourhood Receive from the Professional Police Research Survey Results Proving that there is an Unequal Satisfaction with Police Service coming from Different Neighbourhood There is an unequal satisfaction with regards to the services received by each neighbourhood from the professional police. Even though it is possible for different races within a society to have the same level of satisfaction, a common past survey results show that it has always been the minorities who receive less satisfaction with regards to the attitude and services rendered by the professional police. (Hough & Roberts, 2004; Brown & Benedict, 2002; Newburn, 2003: p. 13; Rowe, 2002; Bradley, 1998; Dunham & Alpert, 1998; Sampson & Jeglum-Bartush, 1998; Sampson & Jeglum-Bartush, 1998; Kusow et al., 1997; Cao et al., 1996) For example: The minority groups may not be as satisfied as the majority in terms of the effort the professional police has exerted to improve the overall safety within the neighborhood. It is also possible for both the minority and majority group to have an equally positive perception with the service they receive from the professional police. In line with this matter, the research findings of Brown & Benedict (2002) revealed that the Africans also known as the blacks or those individuals with Afro-Carribbean backgrounds who are the ones that often view the profession of a police as less favourable as compared to the White Americans or the British population. Likewise, UK statistics recently revealed that black people are seven times more likely to be a victim of ‘stop and search’ process throughout the United Kingdom as compared to whites. (BBC News, 2008) Based on the most recent report which was commissioned by the Home Office focuses on the fixed effects and explanation coming from individuals who participated on the research survey. (Hough & Roberts, 2004) Even though the 2004 Confidence in Justice report considered the relationship between communities and the condition of each geographic area, there was no actual analysis provided with regards to the effects of professional police in each neighbourhood. Factors Causing Unequal Satisfaction in Each Community In reality, there are many reasons that made some people conclude that the creation of the professional police was not for the benefit of the entire society as a whole. In line with this matter, Brown & Benedict (2002) explained that the reduced effectiveness of the police in solving criminal cases aside from the continuously increasing crime rates within the society are often the main causes of the general public’s distrust on UK’s police force. On the other hand, Lindstorm et al. (2003) pointed out that social capital is one of the main causes of increased criminal activities within a community. Racial discrimination, intolerance aside from the possibility that police forces would abuse their authoritative power to forcefully inspect a suspect, while conducting a stop, search, and arrest procedure, and/or conducting an on-street interrogation arrest has been a serious problem throughout London and England. (Rosenberg, 1998) The problem with abusing authoritative power revolves around the fact there will always be the possibility for some of the police officers to arrest innocent individuals by mistake. In the process, the dignity and human rights of the person being arrested is negatively affected. Between the poor-, middle- and high-class society, it is the poorest neighbourhood that is reported to have the poorest police service. This is possible since lack of financial capabilities to support their daily needs makes some people engage themselves with criminal activities related to robbery and thief which may or may not result to homicide. Because of the higher risk of criminal activities, the limited number of local police officers are often insufficient in addressing each and every criminal cases that has occurred within the community. Thus, resulting to a decrease in trust on the part of the community members. In some cases, it is the police officers’ overall performance that significantly affects the general public’s satisfaction with the professional police. (Reisig & Parks, 2000) Due to lack of trust, there has been a lot of dissatisfied individuals who chose not to inform the police with regards to the crimes that has personally happened to them. (Hough & Roberts, 2004; Brown & Benedict, 2002) Discussion According to Hough & Roberts (2004: p. 7), it is important for us to focus on the general public’s satisfaction with the services they receive from the professional police since having confidence in the ability of the local police force to provide them with criminal justice could enable them to provide a better public service at the end of the day. In line with this matter, the study that was conducted by Sampson & Groves (1989) made the same conclusion such that a community that is bounded by a close friendship often experience lesser crimes related to burglary and muggings. Since a portion of the general public is not satisfied with the services they receive from the group of professional police, it remains a challenge on the part of the Scotland yard as well as the British bobby to be able to determine the factors that causes some of the public to become dissatisfied with the overall performance of the professional police and eventually develop some strategic ways on how policing can be strengthened in terms of rendering equal service to the people. One of the main purpose of policing is to serve as a universal guidelines for the local police in UK. For this reason, the problem that has long time been existing in UK with regards to the relationship between the local police and the minority ethnic communities has been highlighted in the Handbook of Policing which was edited by Tim Newburn (2003: p. 13). Recommendations It is advisable for the professional police to maintain a good working relationship with the general public at all times. (Bowling & Foster, 2002; Bradley, 1998) In general, each community has its own particular needs and expectations with regards to the role of the police force in maintaining peace and order, community member’s attitude and behaviour towards crime, tolerance against crime, as well as the degree of criminal acts a community has experienced. (Raudenbush et al., 2003; Raudenbush et al., 1997) As an end result, each community has a different point-of-view and degree of trust with regards to the performance of the professional police. (Brown & Benedict, 2002: p. 566) Given that each community has its own characteristic and perception about crimes, maintaining a strong relationship between the local police force and the community members will enable each of the local residence to regain their trust with the police force and eventually work with them to enhance the effectiveness of the professional police in terms of protecting the general public from any forms of external harms. In the process of maintaing a mutual working relationship between the two groups, professional police will be able to gather information and know about the expectations of the local citizens. In line with the differences in the preferences of the majority and the minority groups, Rowe (2002) noted that the minority groups prefer a different approach in policing. For this reason, professional police should carefully acknowledge the specific needs and expectations of the minorities so as to increase their level of satisfaction with regards to the services they receive from the local police. Criminal cases are usually high in community areas where the minority are residing. Therefore, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) together with the rest of the local police force should focus more on the contextual variables such as age, gender, race, length of residential tenure, and socio-economic status of individuals who are residing in each neighbourhood. (Brown & Benedict, 2002: p. 567; Priest & Carter, 1999; Raudenbush et al., 1997) For example: The local professional police force should assign more police in community areas where criminal activities have been reported high rather than in the community areas with less reported crimes. (Newburn, 2003: p. 2) Conclusion Despite the effort exerted by UK professional police in providing the people with their best efforts to maintain the peace and order within the society, a lot of individuals who belongs to the minority group continuously doubt the ability of the police to keep up with its mission. (Newburn, 2003: p. 1) This is primarily due to politics involved in policing including the fact that some of the police officers has a tendency to discriminate a person by race, age, sex, and socio-economic status. In order to enhance the overall police service throughout the United Kingdom, policing in UK has been regularly updated whenever there is a strong need to make any changes with regards to police system that has been officially implemented throughout the country. Since most of the minorities feel less satisfied with the existing UK police service, policing has been focused on how they can address the issue. *** End *** References: BBC News. (2008, July 8). Retrieved August 3, 2008, from Police stop and search figures up: Police stop and searches increased by 9% to nearly a million in 2006-7, with black people seven times as likely to be stopped as white people : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7495075.stm Bowling, B., & Foster, J. (2002). “Policing and the Police” in The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. Oxford University Press. Bradley, R. (1998). 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