Police in Society

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how one of the primal responsibilities of the state is the protection of its citizens and how the police officer is a community's first line of defense again crime and chaos. He or she captures the killers, tracks down the predators, and apprehends the robbers. It looks at how allocation of human and physical resources, loyalty to community expectations, and sensitivity to the needs of special groups such as the mentally ill are the concerns of every police organization in America.

From the Paper:

"While graffiti-covered storefronts and car window washing "squeegee men" might be little more than nuisances, there are other public problems that are not so easily dealt with, nor in any way directly connected to instances of much more serious crime. Mentally ill individuals who have been released from treatment facilities with no where to go, and also those deranged persons who, perhaps, have never been locked away in institutions can present a real hazard to passers-by and to local residents in general. It is, however, the term "hazard" that must be emphasized here. Not every mentally ill homeless person is a hazard either to himself or herself, or to passers-by. Though "zero tolerance" policies such as that described above have enjoyed considerable success in reducing serious crime by largely eliminating the little nuisances of civilized living, there is also a danger present that these policies can take on a eugenic quality."

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