Proactive vs. Reactive Policing
One of the biggest differences between the services offered by traditional police forces and private security forces stems from the fact that police work is generally reactive, while private security forces are proactive. This fundamentally different approach to policing and security results in different emphases on prevention, investigation, and the relationship with the broader community. As a reactive force, police tend to deal with crime after the fact, whereas private security forces are designed to prevent crime via a system of risk management and proactive investigation.
Before seeing how this difference in emphasis affects the delivery of services, it will be useful to define the terms "reactive" and "proactive" a little more clearly, especially as they relate to police work. Reactive police work is that which responds to crime after the fact, so that the majority of the time police are only found at "scenes where a crime is threatened, is underway, or has just occurred" (Culbertson 2000, p. 13). The term "reactive" should not necessarily be taken as a pejorative, as it sometimes is in other contexts. Rather, it is simply descriptive, connoting police efforts which rely on 911 and dispatch, coupled with the widespread adoption of police cruisers and mobile communications technology, in order to effectively respond to reports of crime...
Proactive Policing There is generally a concept that police respond only after a crime is committed. However, now police do have opportunities to be proactive. Today proactive policing has emerged as the key to a booming future in crime prevention and control. Now police uncompromisingly carries out required investigation and works with citizens and social service groups in order to contain crime-breeding conditions and decrease the rate of street crime. Proactive/community policing
Not only doe s this approach include the participation of the community it also incorporates organizational change. Both community involvement and organizational change is necessary if policing efforts are going to be effective. This approach also emphasizes the importance of trust between the police and the community. The community oriented approach to policing is the most effective in the solving and reducing of crime within a community. Conclusion For the purposes
Police Studies) Community-Oriented Policing and Victimless Crime: Street-Level Drug Trafficking The high rates of individuals who are arrested, on probation, incarcerated, or on parole throughout our nation have led some critical criminologists to advocate for the decriminalization of so-called victimless crimes. Victimless crimes include nonviolent crime such as gambling, prostitution, and illegal drug possession and drug sales. Although these activities may appear consensual or self-inflicted at first glance, this conduct creates victims
The focus of every police administrator should be to prevent officers from experiencing overwhelming stress with which they do not have the means to cope. Discussion and Conclusion Finding ways to help managers and administrators to help officers cope with the daily chronic stress of their jobs should be a key priority. Although the statistics disagree as to the severity of these problems as compared to the general population, they still
Police Intelligence: Rapidly Changing the Way Police Organizations Fight Crime Since the professional era of policing, the traditional role of the police officer in the United States has primarily been that of crime fighter. Law enforcement officers detect and arrest offenders to keep the public safe and until relatively recently, the job was pretty straightforward. The officer would walk his beat, talking to the community and acting to reassure them. If
Community Policing Efficacy The Violent Crime Control & Law Enforcement Act of 1994 heralded the beginning of a massive effort to reform policing strategies in the United States, in part through implementation of community-policing programs at the local level. Congress has allocated billions of federal dollars over the years since to support such efforts and by the end of the 20th century, close to 90% of all police departments serving communities
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