Adapting Police Services to New Immigration

• NCJ Number: 212790
• Author(s): Leigh Culver
• Date Published: 2004
• Length: 234 pages
• Sale Source: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC
• Publication Format: Book (Hardbound)
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This book investigates the impact of new immigration patterns on police-community relations and the related impact on police organizational change in law enforcement agencies.

Abstract

Immigration patterns in the United States have brought an increased number of new residents and people from a wide variety of countries and cultures. As a result, law enforcement agencies are faced with new challenges in addressing the needs of immigrant communities which include language barriers and cultural barriers. Law enforcement must create effective police-community relations with these immigrant communities, as well as maintain existing relationships with the majority communities. This book investigates the impact of new immigration patterns on small-town police agencies in the Midwest. Three rural communities located in central Missouri were selected as sites for this study Sedalia, Knob Noster, and Warrensburg. Preliminary evidence from the investigation suggests that within the last decade there has been a significant growth of Latino immigrants in these areas, and law enforcement within these areas have communicated that the increase in the Latino population has placed new demands on the provisions of police services. The theoretical bases used for the study was an adaptation of the “muddling through” approach, an organizational perspective suggesting that when faced with complex policy changes organizational administrators are more likely to make small or incremental changes, rather than sweeping reforms. Five major findings and conclusions are presented and include: (1) all groups perceived the relationship between the police and majority community as positive and supportive; (2) law enforcement agencies have made some efforts to adapt to the influx of Latino immigrants; (3) there was no apparent major conflict between the police or the majority community and the Latino community; (4) the language barrier was the greatest challenge affecting the police-Latino community relationship; and (5) fear of the police, immigration issues, and the nature of contracts between the police and Latino community had a significant impact on their relationship. References and appendixes A-C