Society and Law Enforcement
The police are responsible for law enforcement in the society. Their principal role is to prevent crime and protect citizens. As a result, the policing practices and operations are under constant observation by the public and policing agencies. An analysis of the relationships of policing agencies, communication patterns, current trends, existing issues, and necessary changes to improve community partnership will help to understand the policing practices and operations.
The relationship between traditional organizational structures of policing agencies.
The traditional model of policing approach is comparable to community policing model. In both models, the agencies are based on traditional pyramidal and bureaucratic components. Agencies are also organized into
specialized units depending on the size of jurisdiction (Deangelo, Vitaliano, & Lang, 2014). The hierarchical rank is used to assign authority and responsibilities at every level. Regardless of the size of a policing agency, these specialized units must work jointly to ensure the safety of the citizens (Deangelo et al., 2014). However, law enforcement agencies have evolved over time to match the current crime trends and meet the changing community needs.
Communication Patterns
The police agencies mainly communicate through formal and informal means. They have to encode, transmit, receipt, decode, and give feedback whenever they combat crime (Rolandsson, 2015). Formal communication is
hierarchical and ensures that the officers understand job procedures, instructions, and principles of good policing. The feedback system also helps the police to interact with the community properly and gather
sufficient information that helps to prevent crime (Rolandsson, 2015). On the other hand, Rolandsson (2015) notes that informal communication is relevant to the agencies when there is a need for interaction between staff
members. Proper communication patterns within a police organization ensure smooth flow of operations.
Current trends in the approach to policing function
There are several trends in the approach of the functioning of law enforcement agencies. First, community-oriented policing has been adopted by policing agencies where community members are involved in policing
practices and operations to control and prevent crime (Workman-Stark, 2015). Secondly, the centralization of police activities is common with law enforcement agencies where the authority determines policies and procedures (Workman-Stark, 2015). The use of social media is also crucial in law enforcement investigations.
Existing issues with the partnership between law enforcement and community.
The main existing problem is the lack of trust between the law enforcement agencies and the communities. Reports from the media regarding unfortunate incidents between the two parties confirm that there is a lack
of trust among them (Barton, & Beynon, 2015). Therefore, police officers can interact with the communities and talk to them to build trust.
Recommendation changes to improve community partnership.
There is a need for …
