Overt Police Patrol Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Overt Police Patrol - Essay Example Over the past forty years, police activities and policies have been a realm of extensive review and reform in UK, particularly in England and Wales. These extensive review and reform called for community policing, police accountability, police response to public disaster and crime, and the impact of public perception of police on the media. The study of Sharp (2005) suggests that there is a need for a better understanding of the theories that apply to police practice in general. Similarly, there is a relevance and applicability of recent theoretical developments in British surveillance studies, supporting how policing activities may be made effective. In this sense, the surveillance solution occupies the central stage in the midst of new policy initiatives for an attempt to modernize the criminal justice system (Clive 2006). Crawford (1999) analyzed current criminal justice discourses and practices relating to the actions in the community, as well as prevention and partnerships. Impo rtant subject matters that influence the strength of overt police patrol in countering and reducing crimes are government strategies originating from both the state and outside it (ibid). These strategies reflect the extent to which sociopolitical landscape may be transformed in connection with crime control and prevention. Police accountability has been consider... crimes in the UK, after the killing of an innocent man, Jean Charles de Menezes who was wrongly suspected as a suicide bomber by the Metropolitan Police. Traditional policing in the UK have been based on the construct of reasonableness, compromise, and respect for the individual's rights, in which a central tenet is the rare use of coercive force, premised on the continuum that ranges from negotiation to lethal consequences (Kennison and Loumansky 2007). Developed policies in order to combat crimes and terrorism denote a preferred option to restrict police to shoot to kill. There is a general consensus that a robust and overt response are required to combat terrorism and crimes, thus, a balance among liberty, security, and police accountability is an issue raised (ibid). It implies that overt police activities have a corresponding requirement for accountability, which is assessed in the context of operational policy-making. Kennison and Loumansky conclude that the nature and structur e of policing is transforming from being covert, reasonable, and understated towards zero tolerance, military, and overt style in the quest to combat terrorist crimes. It implies that traditional reactive policing styles have given way to a proactive military style with overt displays, which tend to overlook civil rights. Hence, there is a need for the public to trust their police, because a trustworthy police system is one that acknowledges the civil rights of people. In its annual report (2004-2005), Hampshire Police Authority stressed that a year of rapid growth in its capacity to meets its objectives in terms of policing has transpired with the appointment of a Community Consultation Officer and a Performance Officer. In 2000, challenging targets were set in reducing domestic