Reflection 3: Denver PD On April 13, 2023, Sergeant Damon Bowser and Crime Analyst Samantha Diemer of the Denver Police Department attended our course to speak about policing gangs in Denver, as well as describing the roles of gang units and crime analysts within. Bowser began the presentation speaking about his role in the gang unit as the investigative supervisor, which included all gang crimes going directly to him, as well as all juvenile with handgun cases and graffiti cases. He describes how Denver initially emerged a need for a gang unit when gangs became dangerous and required a head on response, which has led to few positive outcomes, as the following question arises: Why monitor gangs if they aren’t illegal? Bowser begins describing
“...Much of the recent crime increase threatens the vitality of America’s cities–and thousands of lives–it is not, in itself, the greatest danger in today’s war on cops. The greatest danger lies, rather, in the delegitimation of law and order itself’ (Mac Donald). In the book “The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe,” published in the year of 2016, author Heather Mac Donald provides credible evidence to expand on her viewpoint of our country’s current criminal crisis. In addition to “The War on Cops, Mac Donald has written two other books. Her works “Are Cops Racist?”
“Circumspect Police Ends the Drop in Crime?” This debate topic speaks about police being less proactive, because of vitriol, and causing an increase in crime rates. This debate topic is not directly related to the book, Ghettoside, but falls into the same bracket. The debate talks about the police becoming less involved because of denunciation, and rates of crimes increasing because of that. Ghettoside talks about the black-on-black homicide rates going up, one reason, because of the ignorance of the police.
This article demonstrates how Bill Bratton, as the Commissioner of the New York Police Department (NYPD) from 1994 to 1996, William J. Bratton fought crime throughout the city of Ney York with legendary achievement, leading a national revolution in attitudes toward policing. Bratton adopted a “broken windows”1 community policing strategy of zero tolerance for minor offenses and championed statistical analysis to prevent crimes before they occurred. In the 70s and 80s, as Bratton continued his career in policing, institutional theories seemed dominant. Nixon’s brand of “tough-on-crime” and “law and order” conservatism meant that community relations were largely ignored by police. In 1982, James Wilson sought to re-establish some balance.
New York: Ferguson, 2007. Print. This book introduces readers to an adventurous career in law enforcement Kronenwetter, Michael. The FBI and Law Enforcement Agencies of the United States. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1997.
We learned that over the last 40 years the police department of the City of Miami and Miami- Dade County have experienced their share of civil disturbances. To illustrate, there have four cases of race riots between both police departments which led to innovation to be involved in their pursuits to better their responses. These were the race riots in 1968, the Liberty City Riot, 1980, the McDuffie Riot, 1982 Luis Alvarez Riots, and 1989 Loranzo Riots within the Liberty City over town areas. However, the article stated that these riots were resulted by either police shooting of young black men, or thanks to the federal government the deporting of a young Cuban boy. Thus, it was not until the civil arrest of the 1980’s McDuffie Riot which seemed
Officer training and supervision are highlighted in a report created by a working group of mayors and police chiefs from the United States Conference of Mayors under improving police department procedures. This paper includes a set of ideas for bettering community policing. According to the paper, "training should encompass more than policing methods" (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2015). The paper emphasizes the significance of police personnel knowing their position in society and emphasizing community participation. "Training must focus on reducing unjustified use of force, and officers should be given alternatives to the use of deadly firearms" (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2015).
The Uniform Crime Reporting program not only reports the crimes known to the police, but also delivers information on numbers of arrests and characteristics of person arrested including the suspect’s sex, race, and age. Now in days the UCR represents a nationwide, cooperative effort involving roughly 17,000 law enforcement agencies that voluntarily report data on crime to the
Although it is questionable, that policing in America has different time periods. There is an agreement of three major eras of policing in America. Those three era's are, The Political Era, Reform, and Community Policing. (Cheeseman et al. , Chapter 3)
Murders in Birmingham are diverse and were whitewashed for different reasons by the law force. One major reason homicides were rising was due to the FBI crime report. According to FBI crime reports, Birmingham was cited to be the 5th in most violent crimes, which consists of rape, robbery, and assault, while also, in the same report, placing 4th in property crime, which consists of burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. The second main reason the police used to explain high homicide rates were due to drugs and guns in the community. The police and local government officials of Birmingham had the mindset that because violent and property crimes were increasing in Birmingham, and guns and drugs were accessible, it must be the correlation to the high murder rates.
This report is showing light to the communities’ response to police brutality particularly in the black communities and also their encounters with police officers. Police brutality is physical violence and great cruelty demonstrated by a police officer. Police brutality and misconduct have existed for many decades and it even has been broadcasted in news stories over America, but nothing has changed. It has happened predominantly to African Americans in lower-income states. Police officers are given slaps on the wrist for taking a life or injuring an innocent person.
Use of force incidents between law enforcement and minority communities has been a serious issue nationwide. Social media has portrayed police officers as enemies and has caused riots in several states. Police officers have a duty to protect and serve the citizens of Houston with utmost and respect and professionalism; however, there are incidents where our officers have resorted to deadly force to protect their lives and the lives of bystanders around them. The recent killing of an unarmed African-American has sparked tremendous anger in our local black community, and also caught the attention of social media nationwide.
Police brutality remains a common yet controversial topic around the world. Police brutality is “the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians” (thelawdictionary.org). It’s a topic that segregates communities and makes each other their enemy. Specifically, a white officer has been the enemy of the black community. Unfortunately, the tension between police and blacks grew over the past few decades.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, departments that serve less than 2,500 people are 84.4% white and departments that serve millions are 53.4% white (as cited in Fifield, 2016). Notably, Over the years, a lack of diversity within law enforcement has become a pertinent issue. Notably, the underrepresentation of minorities within law enforcement influences the relationship between communities and law enforcement by engendering distrust with law enforcement. To say nothing of, underrepresentation of minorities have had many people question whether departments mirror a diverse community. Nevertheless, with that being said, underrepresentation of minorities have generated tension and distrust between communities and law enforcement and many believe that police department need to mirror the race composition within their cities.
The topic for this research proposal project is on community policing, and the factors that are involved in determining if relationships between law enforcement and citizens in these neighborhoods are strained. In order to be successful, community policing must be built on trust, as both civilians and law enforcement must work hand in hand to protect their communities. If there is a lack of trust, then these programs becomes broken, and can therefore lead to other violence and criminal acts. This research proposal project will focus on minority based communities and citizens, where the majority of the citizens are either African American or Hispanic.
