Theories And Concepts Of Policing

By Author: Henry Ford
Total Articles: 189
Comment this article

The main role of the police force is to enforce law, maintain order, investigate criminal activities, control traffic and crowd and protect private and public property. Other auxiliary roles performed by the police include issuance of licenses to own a fire arm and also issuance of license to hold public meetings. They are empowered and legitimized by law to use force to achieve the above objectives. The main activities that police carry out are to maintain law and order though other duties arise depending on the situations. Apart from preventive officers, other officers act as detectives. The police force is also referred to as the police service, police department or the constabulary. Police officers can either be constables, sheriffs or troopers. The word police originated from France and it was incorporated into the English language in the 18th century (Newburn, 2003).

The New South Wales police force is a dedicated police force that aims at reducing crime and driving down the fear of crime by providing a variety of services that are aimed at ensuring security in New South Wales. The police force is designed to provide ...
... the people of New South Wales with good customer service that is responsive and meaningful. Maintenance and delivery of quality service to the customer is the number one priority for all the police officers attached to the NSW police force. We have developed a customer service charter that clearly defines what the community living in New South Wales should expect and what it deserves from the NSW police force. This customer service charter states in simple terms the services that the members of the community should expect and some of these services include accessibility of the police force, professionalism of the police when dealing with the community, being helpful to the community, taking appropriate actions to resolve all the issues affecting the people and keeping the people informed. The main customers of NSW Police Force are usually the community at large, victims of crime, witnesses of crime, internal colleagues and stakeholders of the entire police force. Suspects and criminals arrested are not considered as customers of the police force but will be dealt with in accordance to the laid down legislation, policies and procedures.

The Civil Liberties organizations and human rights groups are concerned regarding the policing of socially disadvantaged groups especially the aborigines and young people. There is a rise in the arrests and imprisonment of indigenous people. There is a problem of over representation of the indigenous people in Australian jails. The concern raised by the civil liberties is that the prison policy is skewed or the prison policy is a racist one targeting the indigenous communities (CLA, 2010). This is an issue that the entire Australian police force and the government want to clarify. Our fight against crime is indiscriminate regardless of ones race, age and origin. The fact that aborigines are almost half the people in our jails and they compromise only three percent of the total Australian population does not mean that they are arrested by the police discriminately. The police force is committed to the diverse communities in Australia and does not target any particular community. The young people when arrested should know that they have a right to obtain legal representation or a legal guardian who should be present during the interrogation (Aboriginal Issues, 2010).

The entire Australian community has a duty and a responsibility to work together with the police to reduced crime. The aborigines and the migrants, the young and the old, men and women are all one Australian community. Therefore they should demand equal treatment and service from the police force. The police on the other hand will ensure that all these people are treated with respect and without discrimination. It is therefore necessary that the community help the police in reducing and preventing crime through providing complete and accurate information on any criminal issue, contacting the police immediately when one becomes a victim of crime, being free and friendly to the police force and enquiring from them any information that one may require, being sincere, honest and open when dealing with the police, treating the police force with respect and courtesy, providing feedback to the force on the delivery of service and understanding the workings and operations of the police. In this regard the community should be aware that the police force gives priority to life threatening situations and incidents. The police will be required to replicate the same. The community is therefore urged to stand for its rights and demand proper services from the police (NSWCCL, 2010).

The police will act in utter privacy regarding any information provided by the citizens regarding wanted people, unsolved crime, suspicious and unusual activity, or crime that is being planned. Therefore the community should not be afraid to present any vital information regarding criminal activities to the police.

The NSW police force is therefore encouraging the community to provide positive feedback so as to help us improve our service delivery. Any suggestions, complaints and compliments regarding our officers are welcomed. The people should not be afraid that they may be victimized in case of presenting complaints. All complaints will be thoroughly investigated and it will be treated without discrimination. I want to assure the community that the police force will not in any way practice racial profiling. Therefore I want to assure the aborigines that the NSW police will in no way target them as criminals. We will also enforce community policing in NSW and other community outreach programs. These will ensure that the police have quicker access to the concerns and issues affecting the local community (NSW Government, 2010).

Finally the police will have a duty and a responsibility to treat victims of crime well. They will explain to the victim how they will deal with the matter, provide the victim with a reference number and phone number of the officer in charge of investigation, keep the victim informed on the progress of the investigation, inform the victim of the outcome of the investigation and also encourage the victim to talk to the police in case he or she needs further investigation or clarification.

The author is associated with

The author is senior writer at https://www.allacademicanswers.com