NCJ Number
192670
Date Published
2001
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article considers several perspectives on democratic policing, including the role of the media in opening up police organizations and the need for changes in police training.
Abstract
Nations that are emerging from military dictatorships and communist regimes intentionally created structurally dysfunctional justice systems to ensure that the power of the police and prosecutors is limited. It may take years of rising crime rates to justify and bring about necessary changes in their policing practices and policies to make them more effective systems. These nations see the United States as a potential role model for policing practices that are effectively confronting difficult issues such as police corruption, racial tension, and crime. The media play multiple roles (investigative and informational) in opening up police organizations and making them more transparent. Although training has improved during the last 30 years, it is the Achilles heel of democratic policing in America. No police department provides sufficient training either for recruits or officers. In addition, training rarely reflects the enormous strides in modern policing's ability to prevent, detect, and solve crime. Recruitment is another key factor in fostering democratic policing. In a time of tight labor markets where there are literally millions more job opportunities than there are candidates in certain age groups from which the police must recruit, new efforts are needed. The article states that those efforts must focus on attracting more candidates from minority communities, as well as women and gays; candidates with multi-language skills must also be aggressively recruited. References, notes