There are three sociological perspectives on police bureaucracy. The sociological perspectives on police bureaucracy are functionalism, conflict, and interactionism. The police bureaucracy is an efficient way for the society to carry out the three functions that are typically associated with policing which includes crime fighting, order maintenance, and service. (Palmiotto & Unnithan, 2011) Each of these sociological perspectives are different from each other. They all focus on different things. Functionalist focus on how and what a social group contributes to the stability and functioning of the society. (Palmiotto & Unnithan, 2011) The police bureaucracy helps with available resources and direct them toward the achievement of the objectives. Crime fighting function focus on crime prevention by developing conditions and helping members of a community by making sure crime does not happen or hardly occurs. Crime detection is when the society deals with the crime after it has happened. In this case the offender has been arrested or punished. The order maintenance function is defined as ensuring that everyday life in the community is stable without hinderance. (Palmiotto & Unnithan, 2011) Police bureaucracy was developed for police to give service to the public. Police bureaucracy helps maintain social order in the society. Conflict theory see society and its components as a competitive battleground where people and groups attempt to get scarce resources. They also want to win which is achieved at the expense of individuals and groups. (Palmiotto & Unnithan, 2011) Conflict theorist must determine who benefits from the existence of bureaucracy? When comparing bureaucracies and hierarchies the administrators will have more power and be influential than the staff and officers. (Palmiotto & Unnithan, 2011) Police agencies are utilized to help people that may threaten domination. Their job is to enforce property laws which only will help if the person already has possession of the property.
Interactionist focuses less on macro-level issues in which functionalists and conflict theorists. They focus more on the internal work of the bureaucracies. (Palmiotto & Unnithan, 2011) They are more interested in problems
It can also help to create incentives for work within the society. Conflict theory emphasizes the ways in which the groups in power use that power to disproportionately control and benefit from the resources within a society.
In dealing largely with disorderly elements of the society, some people working in law enforcement may gradually develop an attitude or sense of authority over society, particularly under traditional reaction-based policing models; in some cases the police believe that they are above the law. In other cases, police corruption and misconduct may be explained by individuals and individual faults- behavioral, psychological, background factors, and so on.
In addition, conflict theory is another method of viewing society, except this particular perspective is a microsociology method of analyzing society. Using conflict theory, means to take a closer look at the interactions between people within a society. In this case, Wal-Mart employees and factory workers will be studied.
Conflict theory focuses on the inequalities based on social order or class, and those that have more power and resources can influence our society. A conflict theorist would view the use of social networking as a platform in which the powerful can use their resources to promote social change.
The belief systems found in the police organizations is the idea that crime is only fault by police officers who dislike patrolling of their local communities. Police are above the law in a secrete brotherhood , while the general public are ignorant, obstructive and overly demanding. The anarchic ideas embedded into the officers can lead to misuse of power, misconduct and corruption.
Conflict Theory – Macro level – This is built off of resources, status and power that is not evenly distributed throughout groups in our
Police corruption can also be explained by the lack of protection and security police feel they have. They also feel like they are being disrespected by individuals in society, which is why they rely on the subculture for protection and support (Skolnick, 1966). The police subculture has created a lot of secrecy within the organization, which contributes to police misconduct. Police officers will often ignore another police officer’s corrupt actions in order to maintain a good reputation within the subculture (Tator & Henry, 2006). For example, 84% of police officers have directly witnessed another officer using more force than necessary out on the streets (US Department of Justice, 2017). However, instead of reporting the acts of others, 52%
Arguing that exploitation lies at the core of most social relationships, Conflict Theory proposes that the rules by which society are governed are dictated by powerful actors, and that these serve to ultimately preserve the positions of those groups that hold power. This paradigm argues that the nature of society is inherently conflictual, and that social change only emerges when powerful actors are dislodged through mass-level collective action that is itself difficult to
Kappeler, Sluder, & Alpert (1998) explain that through the police subculture deviance enters into law enforcement. The police character that is developed can be attributed to several paradigms such as psychological, sociological, and anthropological. The individual personalities of an officer and the authoritarian personality, characterized by cynicism, aggression, and conservatism, is that the psychological paradigm analyzes (p. 85). The socialization process which officers experience when they go through the academy, training, and field experience, contrast that dispositional model of the police personality, and this is the focus of the sociological paradigm. When officers internalize these norms and values that are learned, this professionalization occurs. The occupational culture of policing and the -beliefs, attitudes, and values that make up the subculture is seen as the anthropological paradigm or the culturalization perspective (Kappeler, Sluder, & Alpert, 1998, p. 87-88).
While the criminal justice system can be viewed as on whole entity, there are different levels of organization. Within these different organizational levels comes varying degrees of functionality. The three organizational levels include local, state, and federal police functions. Each of which are responsible for certain aspects pertaining to the criminal justice organization. As the organizational levels progress, the functionality and responsibility of each grows. Each level has a little more power than the one
Numerous police agency’s and police officials work on a distinctive local, state, and federal level and role. It has its individual area, sectors, and function, and work according to local streets parts inside policing. In order for any local, state, and federal police division to work successfully it must hire chiefs, deputy’s, and sheriffs who retain leadership and who uses creative thinking skills to teach comprehensive, and aggressive instruction to make the police division a tougher department by holding all its workers tasks for doing his or her job according to its agency’s guidelines and procedures known as code of conduct. “Municipal police work for municipalities such as towns or cities, county police and deputy sheriffs work for counties, state police work for states, and federal police work for the federal government. Some have the same duties as one another or very similar duties, and some have different or additional duties. Their jurisdiction is sometimes the main difference. For example, a municipal police officer normally has primary
The dictionary definition of the police is “the organized civil force of a state, concerned with maintenance of law and order, the detection and prevention of crime, etc,” (Collins English Dictionary, 2002). This definition states the minimum of what the police actually do. Providing support for families, protecting society from criminals and responding to calls 24 hours a day 7 days a week are just some of the other roles that police have to deal with. In this essay the evolution of the police will be discussed as well as how the police are facing challenges.
On Friday, December 2, 2016, I, Officer McDaniel #147, of Mansfield ISD Police Department, located at 1522 N Walnut Creek Dr, Mansfield, TX, was on a campus check at Della Icenhower Intermediate, located at 8100 Webb Ferrell Rd, Arlington, TX. While on a Campus Check, I made contact with Assistant Principal Brooks, Amber, B/F, DOB 8/26/1985.
Some basic principals of conflict theory include thinking that individuals who are believed to be ranked higher then others obtain most of the benefits in society. The biggest part of conflict theory is who has the most power, those without power are oppressed by people with more power then them. Another, principal is the way society splits people up into different classes based on their power. This has a lot to do with inequality, different groups of people have different opportunities in life. Karl Marx split society into two many groups the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. The Bourgeoisie consisted of those who were higher up in
Conflict theory is “A major sociological perspective that sees society as a set of groups in constant competition over wealth, power, and prestige. (Larkin, 2015)” Conflict theory is a more view primarily stating