Unit 8: Law, Courts, and Procedure

The Role of Policing in Society

Historically, the police officer has been seen as an enforcement officer. Today policing has changed. It is generally agreed upon to include 6 general areas.

The first area is law enforcement interventions such as arrests, enforcing the traffic code, and conducting criminal investigations.

The second area is handling situations and people, e.g. traffic direction and control, crowd control, and mediating disputes, etc.

The third area is resolving citizen defined problems.

The fourth area is the police officer acting as change agent (changing behaviors and/or conditions) .

The fifth is serving as street comer politician (public relations functions).

The sixth area is the police officer as problem solver.