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Police, Ethics, and Society
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20432 |
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MODERN THOUGHT
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3 / 1992 |
5,776 Words |
| Author
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Hillary M. Robinette
Hillary M. Robinette is a retired special agent of the FBI and
president of Quantico Group Associates, In., a Virginia Police
management training and consulting company. He is the author
of Burnout in Blue (Praeger Publishers, 1987). |
"You cops, you don't own the world, but you get to shake it a little." This comment was made by Murad Nersesian, also known as Mickey Coco, whose business was organized crime in New York. Although Coco's remark was legally in the police corruption trials that ensued, it characterizes the recent turmoil in American policing.
During the past two years, police departments throughout the nation have been shaken by commissions of inquiry, federal and local grand juries, internal investigations and clear signals from many quarters of society that change is required.
As with any change the need to preserve the good white getting rid of the bas is a major challenge for police agencies and the communities they serve. From meter maids to SWAT teams, police operations have come under careful and sometimes tedious scrutiny. The traditional police role and its associated enforcement mentality are changing. Managing the change is no small task, especially because it now involves the participation of community activist groups, special interest parties who are often more vocal than thoughtful, and on often inflexible police mentality.
Other pressure combine. Recessive economic factors have reduced revenue in many communities. The higher technical and educational requirements and the attendant needs to raise police recruiting costs, salaries, benefits, and training make it difficult for small departments to survive.
The largest single group of all police department grouped by size serve communities of 10,000 or fewer people. Since 1982, total compensation for sworn police employees has risen by 42.9 percent. Smaller, police departments from Mendota, California, to Tallahasses, Florida, are being pushed into consolidation. Even larger departments are downsizing and sharing diminishing training, investigative, and forensic resources. The apparatus of modern crime detection, the human and financial costs of commissions and inquiries, and the high tech expenses of efficient and effective policing are pushing many departments to the verge of extinction. Gone is the part time town marshal whose employers let's him take the occasional police call. Gone are the days when police sergeants sat around drinking coffee, chatting about which team is favored in the high school football game on Friday night.
More often than not what discussion they have centers on whether or not one of their subordinates had probable cause to arrest; whether or not the 'report
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