Acquiring a Taste for Order: The Community and Police (From Police and Society: Touchstone Readings, P 159-170, 1995, Victor E. Kappeler, ed. - See NCJ-151401)

• NCJ Number: 151409
• Author(s): G L Kelling
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 12 pages
• Sale Source: Waveland Press, Inc.
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Peprinted by permission of Sage Publications, Inc. from Crime and Delinquency Vol. 33, No 1 (January), pp. 90-102. 1987

Annotation

This discussion on order maintenance activities undertaken by police officers focuses on a specific source of authority for police activity, namely neighborhoods and communities.

Abstract

The issue of order maintenance policing revolves around the conflict of preserving reasonable levels of order in a city, as defined by tradition and statute, versus protecting the essential rights of the city's citizens. The author emphasizes that civility, order, and predictability in daily contact with strangers affect all aspects of urban life, ranging from commerce and industry to education and public safety. Nonetheless, maintaining order is controversial for at least two reasons: there is no clear and consistent definition of disorder, and the maintenance of order is dependent upon controlling certain activities that are not illegal. Police officers derive their authority for maintaining public order from law, professional wisdom, and community traditions. 1 note and 10 references