POLICE AND MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES - Essay Example

The Relationship between the Police and Marginalised Communities in the UK Any kind of community needs some means to police itself. Policing involves the control and regulation of social conflict and therefore involves adversarial contacts with some of the members of the population at certain times and in certain places (Johnston, 1999). By definition, the job of policing can never receive total universal approval in any given society according to Jones (1997). The police are at the centre of securing human rights and must be able to deal with conflict, aggression, violence, and disruptive non-conformity. The police force is one of the most important and powerful institutions of any government. They are accountable to a regional or national government and are given a “general right to use coercive force by the state within the state’s domestic territory” (Klockars, 1985). They are a visible show of state power and a body with which civil society interacts with extensively on a day-to-day basis. Police officers are the specialist carriers of the state’s bedrock power: they hold the monopoly on the state-sanctioned use of violence against its own citizens. They are authorized to bear arms and, in certain circumstances, to shoot to kill. The overall objective of the police force is to keep peace - sovereign peace - and prevent crime by acting as a visible deterrent to any potential law-breakers. Police officers are allowed to detain by force, conduct searches of people, their homes and possessions, and conduct covert surveillance on the private lives of people suspected of criminal involvement or intent. The general behaviour of the police force is a critical indicator of the essential character of a state and speaks the very heart of the condition of a political order. Policing Models According to analysts of policing, there are two main models of policing that can broadly be defined as the military/colonial model and the civil/consensual model. The Colonial/Paramilitary Model The colonial or paramilitary model grows out of the direct relationship between the government, the army and the police, and emphasizes the use of force to control or subjugate specific sections of the population. The military model promotes the idea that police officers are a close-knit, special group while the citizens as outsiders and enemies. The police officers are under direct control of governments and they are partisan in enforcing the rule of a specific political regime, including those with entrenched discrimination policies. Policing in this model requires selective enforcement in favour of the dominant group, the criminalization of minority activities and suppression of the right to protest or to demonstrate for political change. The Community Model of Policing The community model is the antithesis of the military model. This model of policing is commonly associated with the establishment of the new Metropolitan Police in London by then Home Secretary Robert Peel in 1829. The community model emphasizes the deployment of a decentralized civilian force with a membership that broadly represents the population being policed and is based upon the axiom that the police officer is merely a citizen in uniform. According to this model, policing, is meant to be seen as legitimate by the majority of the community (including those policed against) and is based on the principle of consent. In this new consensual model, the role of the police is dealing with ordinary crime and peacekeeping and the police are servants of the law rather than the government. This model emphasizes internal democracy and the idea that the police service should reflect the demographic and social characteristics of the communities served. The idea of accountability is central to the community model, since responsiveness to the law, the state and the public provides the basis for police legitimacy. The problem of crime, or, more generally, interpersonal violence and conflicts between citizens—requires some form of state-sanctioned force to impose binding solutions, and therefore the possession of intrusive and coercive powers remains central to the definition of policing in the consensual model. Relationship between Police and the Marginalized Communities A majority of police officers join the service with a specific intention to help the communities they serve to be a more peaceful and a safer place (Smith, 1987). The central ethic of police forces all around the world is to provide protection for, and service to, the community. While different groups place different demands on the police, they confirm that common ground often exists. The main task for the police force is therefore to determine what common ground exists locally, then build on it and yet to be able to enforce what it determines to be its essential operational priorities as noted by Morgan and Maggs (1985). When the relationship between the police and the community they serve breaks down, serious problems result (Smith, 1987). In a state of hostility and non communication between the police and the policed, the police may fail to recognize a potentially inflammatory situation. The extent to which the police are accountable to the public they serve is described as being no less than the measure of a society’s freedom. The outbreaks of serious public disorder, urban unrest and disturbances in Britain during the 1980s, focused on deteriorating relationships between the police and some marginalized communities and ethnic minority communities and contributed to a growing sense that, at least among some elements of the population, the legitimacy of the state itself was coming under question (Modood, Berthoud, Lakey, Nazroo, Smith, Virdee, & Beishon, 1997). Crime (and the fear of crime) impacts harshly on the already disadvantaged groups in a society. Crime surveys show that the pattern of victimisation is strongly skewed towards certain geographical areas, and certain groups of people within those areas. Studies show that marginalised communities are substantially more likely to be victims of crime, and have substantially higher levels of fear of crime. Crime against the marginalised communities in general, and in particular racial violence, has been growing over recent years according to Modood et al (1997). Many police officers hold racist and xenophobic views toward marginalised communities (such as specific racial or ethnic minority groups, gay community), and that derogatory language is often used when dealing with people from marginalized communities. The bad egg theory suggests that discrimination is a result of the actions of a few rogue police officers who actively discriminate against marginalized communities. Disproportionate use of police power is a product of discrimination and the abuse of power is most discriminatory where police autonomy and discretion are greatest. In many occasions the marginalised communities are disproportionately subject to intrusive and coercive police powers such as stop and search, on-street interrogation and arrest. Inquiries have proved intrusive and intimidatory policing, including extreme examples, such as physical abuse, unwarranted entry into households and harassment in public places and private functions. Under-protection of Marginalized Communities A concern about the relative under-protection for marginalised communities by the police has been a major source of criticism of the police over recent years. In 1979 The Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure argued that ‘police failure to protect the minority black community leaves it exposed to racial violence; and at its worst, the police practice reinforces that violence. Not only have the police failed to effectively deal with those who perpetrate such crimes, but they compound this by taking action against those people who attempt to defend themselves (Modood et al, 1997). British Crime Survey show that black and South Asian people are substantially more likely than whites to be victims of crime, both for household crimes and crimes against the person. However, particular concerns have been raised over recent years about an apparently growing incidence of crimes and harassment directed specifically at ethnic minority people. Over Policing and Hostility towards the Police While most members of the marginalised and disadvantaged communities feel under-protected by the police, a parallel difficulty is that these communities often feel ‘over policed’ in that they are more likely to be the targets of adversarial police attention. Research shows that members of certain groups have a far greater likelihood of having adversarial contact with the police and it is clear that other social characteristics also have an important influence on the likelihood of being on the receiving end of police powers (Morgan, 1987). There exist strong hostile attitudes towards some marginalised groups within police culture and an equally strong evidence of hostility towards the police by members of such groups. Black people hold a far more negative view of the police than other members of the marginalised groups. Satisfaction with the police is a function of a range of factors, and is influenced by who calls the police, why they call the police and the way in which the police respond. The surveys show that minorities not only initiate less contact with the police (the type of contact which is more likely to result in satisfaction), but they were often less satisfied with the results of the contact they made. There is little evidence about the attitudes of gay people towards the police, although it is generally accepted that relationships between the police and gay community have tended to be characterised by suspicion and lack of trust. In some occasions the more adversarial relationships between the police and some sections of the community is a result of the fact that some populations tend to come into conflict with the police through a greater involvement in crime and disorder. The police perceive the high rate of attention given to such groups as justified due to higher rates of offending amongst those groups. According to Morgan (1987), the basic trigger for this circle is societal and institutionalised racism, which places members of some ethnic minorities in circumstances where they acquire those characteristics upon which ‘normal’ policing bears down most heavily. Improved Accountability of Public Policing Poor policing of marginalised communities reflects ineffective mechanisms of police accountability, so that the voices of members of such communities remain unrecognised by the police policy-making process. The need for policing to be broadly congruent with the needs and wishes of the community has been recognised for many years, with the debate surrounding police accountability reaching a height during the 1980s. With regard to the specific minorities in question, there is strong evidence that certain policing policies and practices have tended to bring the police into more conflict with the marginalised community. This was particularly apparent prior to the Brixton disorders in 1981, when a major stop-and-search operation randomly targeted black youths, and heightened hostility and tension. Stop-and-search and its disproportionate impact on black youth continues to be a source of tension between the police and black community. If the police were properly accountable to the community, then they would be forced to take appropriate action to review the use of policies such as stop and search, and to respond more positively as an organisation to attacks on the marginalised communities (Modood et al, 1997). Another way of improving police approach towards marginalised minorities concerns is to have an effective system of redress against the police misconduct (Morgan, 1987). In Britain, much attention has focused on the formal system of police complaints. They key feature of the complaints systems is that they tend to mimic the criminal justice system in being individualistically based. They react to complaints from individuals, and try to solve problems by blaming and punishing any errant individual officers. However, critics argue that such systems need impact directly on the police organisation, rather than on the individuals within it. The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) was established by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. This is an independent body that monitors the conduct of investigations into the more serious complaints of police misconduct. Certain occurrences, such as deaths in police custody, or the use of lethal force by police officers, are subject to PCA investigation. Marginalised communities have always had less confidence in the effectiveness and impartiality of the system, and that complaints by black people tend to have a lower substantiation rate than complaints from other ethnic groups (Smith & Gray, 1985). A form of redress, and one which is increasingly used in Britain over recent decades, is civil litigation. This trend has been cited as a major reason behind improvements in police behaviour towards ethnic minority groups in the. There is a growing tendency for people who feel they have been mistreated by the police, to take legal action rather than use the formal complaints system. If high profile damages cases continue to be successfully pursued by complainants from minority groups, this may have the effect of further pressuring the police service into organisational reform. While legal redress is possible for only a few, given the amount of resources that legal representation may cost, this may be a growing avenue of redress in the future. Concerns about the relatively low levels of ethnic minority representation in police forces dates back over two decades, but gathered pace following the inner-city disturbances of the early and mid-1980s. For example, special recruitment drives have been targeted at areas of high ethnic minority population, forces have removed minimum height requirements which indirectly discriminated against some ethnic groups, and others have introduced special access courses to increase numbers of ethnic minority people who pass the initial recruitment test. Despite a range of activities, progress has been rather slow, and by the late 1990s, ethnic minorities remain significantly under-represented in British police forces. Research has suggested that one of the key factors discouraging applications to the police from ethnic minority communities is the widespread expectation of racial prejudice from future colleagues (Modood et al, 1997). Conclusions There is suitable evidence showing a problematic relationship between the police and marginalised communities. Most of the problems of policing are shaped by factors outside the direct domain of the police organisation. Abusive or discriminatory policing can be a first step toward criminalization of marginalized communities, especially in contexts where prejudice and discrimination in the criminal justice process support or compound police decision making. Whereas major improvements in the relationships between the police and marginalised communities lie in the easing of antagonism in other parts of society, there have been a number of developments intended to address problematic relationships. References Johnston, L. (1999) Policing Britain: Risk, security and governance. Harlow: Longman. Jones, T. (1997) Police and race relations. San Diego: Academic Press. Jones, T., Newburn, T. and Smith, D. (1994) Democracy and Policing. London: Policy Studies Institute. Klockars C. (1985) The Idea of Police, Law and Criminal Justice Series 3, Sage Publications. Modood, T., Berthoud, R., Lakey, J., Nazroo, J., Smith, P., Virdee, S., and Beishon, S. (1997) Ethnic Minorities in Britain: Diversity and disadvantage. London: Policy Studies Institute. Morgan, R. and Maggs, C. (1985) Setting the PACE: Police community consultation arrangements in England and Wales. Bath: University of Bath. Morgan, R. (1987) ‘Police accountability: developing the local infrastructure’. British Journal of Criminology 27 (1). Smith, D. (1987) ‘Policing and the idea of community’, in: Willmott, P. (ed.) Policing and the Community. London: Policy Studies Institute. Smith, D. and Gray, J. (1985) Police and People in London. Aldershot: Gower. Read More