Relationship between Police Department Size and Quality of Services in the United States - Term Paper Example

Running Head: Police Department Size and Service Quality Relationship between Police Department Size and Quality of Services in United s [Author’s Name] [Institution’s Name] Introduction Policing is one of the most important and core function of the state. Proper management and organization of this department is very essential to ensure the successful operation of the police force. The provision of quality of police service in an important issue for the administrators of the law enforcement agencies, policy makers, government as well as for the general public because the police has the responsibility to maintain social and public order and to assure the safety and protection of the citizens. The quality of the police service refers to the capabilities of the police force to efficiently and timely monitor, detect and prevent the unlawful activities in order to maintain the rule of law (Cordner, et al, p54). The main functions of police include the protection of the life and property of the civilians, maintenance of law and order, enforcement of the criminal law, to conduct criminal investigation, to control the crowd and to perform various other duties to assure public safety. (Brudeur, et al, 1992) The successful performance of all these duties requires proper management, resource allocation, training as well as the appropriate ratio of police force to the area population. The quality of the police service tends to be affected from the size of police force because if the numbers of policemen are insufficient to cover the designated area, there is always a possibility that the police force would not be able to perform their duties in effective manner. The research paper aims to investigate the relationship between the size of the police department to the quality of police services in United States. In this regard, the paper identifies the main qualities that affirm the effectiveness of the policing services. The paper also provides an overview to the structure and organization of police in United States and proceeds to analyze the relationship of the size of the police department with its service quality. It is revealed that along with appropriate size, there are number of other factors that could affect the quality of police service like proper training of policemen, management and organization of police structure and use of latest investigative technologies. The essay compares the Los Angeles city police department with New York City Police department in order to identify the relationship between the service quality of the police and department size. The case of Hurricane Katrina is also described as an example that illustrates the effects of having lesser police force to control more area and flow of work. The research work reveals that there is significance relationship between the size of a police department and the quality of the policing services.. Police Structure and Organization in United States In most of the countries the police department works through a combination of uniform police and detectives. However, in different countries there are different terminologies used to refer these detectives and uniformed police. For example the preventive police is also called “Branch, Uniformed Police, Uniform Division, Administrative Police, Order Police, or Patrol”. No matter what names are used for them, the main objective of the uniformed police is to patrol and respond to the emergencies. The detective service is not directly assigned to the uniformed police but there are separate departments within police that are responsible for detection. The detectives are liable for conducting the detection and investigation work and they are often called as the investigation police, criminal police or judicial police. In most of the countries, 15-25 percent of the police force comprises of the detective police and at many places there are special departments also establishing with their names Criminal Investigation Department (CID). (Walker and Samuel, p1) The police force in United Stated has been classified in different categories including federal police, state police and county police. There are different agencies established at different levels for the management of policing services. All the states have their own police departments. The size of the police departments, their ratio to the population and service quality varies from state to state. Technology and Policing The modern day police force is different from the early police force up to a great extent, mainly due to the technological advancements and refining of the concept of police. The advancements in communication, information and transportation technologies have significantly added to the efficiency of the police forces. In early 20th century there was advent of police cars, two way radio and telephone. Along with time, there are certain other new technologies introduced to the police department in order to facilitate the police throughout the process of monitoring, investigation, detection and prevention of crime. These inventions added to the efficiency of the police force and modified the police functioning because these advancements allowed the police to respond to the calls for different types of services. Policing became more professional in 1920s when the introduction of modern technology also called for training of the police forces so that they can use the advanced technologies easily. In modern days the police forces in United States are well equipped with necessary advanced devices that enhance their performance and the concept of policing is also attached with community service. Effects of Police – Population Ratio The quality of the police service is heavily affected by the ratio of the police size in proportion to the size of the population that is supposed to be controlled and protected by the police. There are over 883,600 people employed in United States as policemen and detectives. About 79 percent of these people are employed by the local government whereas 11 percent have been employed by the state police department. The US bureau of Justice Statistics reveals that there are more policemen employment in the cities where the population is over 25,000 people. According to the estimates, there are 2.3 police officers per thousands of residents of United States however, in cities with high population; there is less police officer per thousand of residents. The following chart shows the ratio of the police per population in United States (Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey) The relationship between the size and quality of the police service could be well understood in the context of the Hurricane Katrina. On 29th of August, 2005 storm surges caused one of the worst natural disasters in the history of United States due to strong winds downtown at the city of New Orleans (John, p68). The police was required to play very vital role in the entire situation because there was not only the need of rescuing people from the aftermaths of the weather but at the same time, the police had to cope up with the incidents of looting, violence and other criminal activities that broke out at that time. When criminals realized that the police force is busy in taking people out from the danger areas, they take the benefits of the absence of adequate number of policemen at certain places and went out to violate the law (John, p68). During the rescue operation, the New Orleans police mainly focused upon the rescue efforts to save the lives of the people. Some people took the benefit of the situation and started looting things from stores, houses and other places. Due to lack of attention of police, the looting activities were soon spread all over the city. The looters didn’t bother to snatch money from different places even if police was present at some nearby place because the looters were aware of the fact that the policemen are not enough in numbers to take the control of the situation. Ultimately, the insufficient police force failed to protect the property of the people and the citizens have to fight alone against the criminals and snatchers for the protection of their valuable things. The incidents of looting and violence during the rescue efforts of Katrina incident clearly illustrate the importance of having adequate size of police force to assure the service of the policing because it was due to small size of police department that the policemen were able to focus towards only one problem at one time (John, p68). Los Angeles City and New York City Police Departments – A comparative Analysis The Los Angeles police department consists of over 10,000 police officers and it is required to cover the population of over 3.8 million people of the Los Angeles City. It is the fourth largest law enforcement agency of United States that has been surrounded by certain controversies with regard to the quality of services. The department faces the serious problem of under staffing and underfunding due to which the services of the department have also been affected. As compared with other police departments of United States, the Los Angeles department always face the problem of low size of the department due to which the ratio of the police officers per thousand civilians also remain very low. There is only one police officer for every 426 residents of Los Angeles (LAPD website). The failure or low performance of the Los Angeles city is often justified by the fact that as compared with the size of population there are less police officer employed by the department and thus, they fail to efficiently work for the safety and protection of the people of the city. The officials of the Los Angeles police Department frequently assert that there is need of employing more policemen in the department in order to make the city more safe and secure. It is estimated that there should be at least 17,000 police officers employed in the department so that the balance in the police population ratio could be attained in Los Angeles. In order to meet the requirement of adequate staff according to the requirement of the population, the administration of the LA police department has focused upon the recruitment of more policemen however; they face the problems of lack of properly trained people. As a result of this problem, at present, the size of the police department is not adequate enough to meet the requirements of the population of such a big city. On the other hand, the New York City police station (NYPD) is the largest police department of United States. The department performs wide array of activities like tactical operations, air support, bomb disposal and counter terrorism. The NY police department has been regarded as a well managed and well performing police department of the United States that is well equipped with advanced computerized investigation facilities and laboratory resources. The size of the police department keeps on changing according to the requirement of the situation however; the management always tries to maintain balance between the sizes of the police department in comparison with the population of the city. At present, there are around 35,284 policemen employed by the NYPD to provide services to 8,274,527 residents of New York City (NYPD website). The ratio of police officers to the population of the city is quite different in these two cities of United States. As described above there is one police officer for every 426 people in Los Angeles whereas in New York there is one police officer to look at 228 people. It shows that the Los Angeles police officers are burdened with double responsibilities because they have to protect more civilians with lesser police force. The difference in the size of the department in proportion with the population of these cities tends to have an obvious impact upon the performance of these police departments. The Los Angeles Police department has been surrounded by certain controversies and allegations of corruption and it is also widely regarded that the department often fails to provide adequate protection to the civilians. On the other hand, there are no major allegations made upon the New York police department and the services of the department are commonly viewed quite satisfying and complimenting. NYPD is currently working efficiently on several grounds and is successfully meeting the expectations and requirement of the population of the city whereas there are several question marks placed upon the performance of the Los Angeles police department that often lags behind in the prevention of crime and protection of the civilians. The comparison of these two police department clearly shows that there is strong relationship between the size of the police department and the quality of their services. As shown above, the under employed work force has appeared to be one of the major threatening issue for the LA police department due to which its efficiency has also affected and it has been criticized of being corrupt and underperforming department. On the other hand, the NY police department consists of appropriate number of policemen due to which it never faced the problems of understaffing. The high level performance of NYPD is also contributed by the availability of trained staff in sufficient quantity. The department does not commonly face the challenge of underperformance neither it has been frequently alleged with the charges of corruption. It implies that the relationship between the size and quality of the police department services is clearly visible in the structure and working practice of these two departments. Conclusion It is revealed that the performance and service quality of the police force heavily depends upon certain important factors like training, management and police population ratio. It is also found that the sufficient size of the police department assures the efficiency of the police. If there are fewer policemen to cover more citizens, there is always possibility of underperformance of the police force. The size of the police department also affects the quality of the training and availability of competent staff and ultimately the quality of the police service is affected from its size. The comparative analysis of NY and LA city police departments affirms strong relationship between the size and quality of police services and it is revealed that there must be enough policemen employed at every police department that they could work efficiently for the protection of the citizens in better way. The number of the policemen within any police department must be decided in relation to the size of the population of the city so that a good police-population ratio could be attain to assure the provision of high quality police service to the citizens of the city. The case of the Hurricane Katrina further asserts the importance of employing sufficient number of policemen to perform high volume of responsibilities and work. The incident shows that the criminal factors whenever realize that the size of the police force is not enough to monitor and control all of their activities, they came out and fearlessly get involve in different unlawful activities because they are sure that there is no body to stop or arrest them. It is revealed that the inadequacy in the size of the police department as compared with the population could pose serious threats to the safety and well being of the citizens because they could not work for the protection of many people at the same time. Thus, the entire discussion could be sum up with the conclusion that there is strong relationship between the size and quality of police service. The assertion has been proved through the comparative analysis of two major police department of United States. The example of Katrina and comparative analysis of NYPD and LAPD affirms that the authorities must focus towards recruiting sufficient amount of policemen in different cities according to the size of the population so that all the police departments could work efficiently for the protection of the citizens. Work Cited Brodeur, Jean-Paul; Eds., Kevin R. E. McCormick and Livy A. Visano (1992), "High Policing and Low Policing: Remarks about the Policing of Political Activities," Understanding Policing, Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press. pp. 284–285 Cordner, Gary W.; Scarborough, Kathryn E (2007), Police Administration, 6 Ed, Anderson Publishing Co John A. Kilpatrick and Sofia Dermisi, "The Aftermath of Katrina: Recommendations for Real Estate Research", Journal of Real Estate Literature, spring, 2007. Langeluttig, Albert (1927). The Department of Justice of the United States, Johns Hopkins Press. pp. 14–15 Los Angeles police department website, Retrieved 20th April, 2010 from: http://www.lapdonline.org/ New York City police department website: Retrieved 20th April, 2010 from: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/home/home.shtml U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics: Police Population - http://bjsdata.ojp.usdoj.gov/dataonline/Search/Law/Law.cfm Walker, Samuel (1992), "Origins of the Contemporary Criminal Justice Paradigm: The American bar Foundation Survey, 1953-1969", Justice Quarterly 9(1), p9 Read More