Criminology

Democratic policing is a new phenomenon which was undertaken in order to introduce a number of reforms in the police department. It is policing that takes place in the democratic society. In a democratic society each and every member of the society is aware of his or her rights and they ensure that they are not subjected to undue pressure or discrimination. According to Innes (2006) the reforms in the police were done in order to come up with a police service and not a police force that was responsive, capable, accountable, effective and humane. This meant that the police to be established would be able to provide customized services according to the needs of the citizens. Bayley D. (2005) notes that the democratic policing have been adopted in most of the developed countries which include United States, Sweden, Australia and Canada just to mention but a few.

The following are the characteristics of democratic policing according to the organization of security and cooperation in Europe (2008)

First and foremost the democratic police are easily accessible. This is because they are located in places near the people they are supposed to serve. The police are also willing to assist the citizens when the need arises. Secondly the police should act professional whereby they maintain and uphold the code of ethics for the police. This makes the police to have a good reputation and as a result they are respected. The public or the citizens have more confidence in the police system if it has a good reputation.

The police should also operate as a service and not a force. This is because they are supposed to be people centered and they should therefore act in humane ways protecting the lives of the people. They should not use force during their activities. In addition to this the democratic police should deliver services in time and without discrimination. The democratic police are aimed at ensuring that all the people in the society are served equitably. This means that there is no discrimination or the use of bribes.

In addition the police are accountable to the government and the people at the same time. This is aimed at ensuring that the people get quality services.  The police are also very careful when carrying out their duties since they know that the citizens are watching and they can influence the decisions the government makes. For example if an officer is said to asked bribes in order to provide a service the government can consider sacking him after discussing the issue with the representatives of the citizens.
Democratic policing should be participatory and consultative. This means that incase the people in the community have information regarding the law breakers they can provide it to the police who then act. A good example of democratic policing is community policing. This shows that both the police and the citizens are involved in the policing efforts.

The following is the mission statement for the democratic police
To change the activities of the police service in order for them to meet the needs of the people in the community and ensure that the citizens are served without discrimination and corruption by police who uphold the democracy policing ethics, discipline and professionalism.

Functions of the democratic police.
They are supposed to serve the citizens at the time when the service is required and without discrimination. They should aim at protecting life and property and their duties should be guided by the constitution and the law of the land.

The following are the functions of the police according to Maguire (2003).The police are charged with the duty of maintaining an environment that makes the citizens in a community feel secure. However under the democratic policing this is not only achieved by the efforts of the police service only. The members of the communities are also expected to contribute by providing any information that can be used to maintain security.

Secondly, they are supposed to resolve conflict which could have occurred between individuals, individuals and the government or between groups.  In view of this the police are supposed to maintain peace in the community. Thirdly the police are still charged with the duty of preventing and controlling activities that could cause harm to property and life. They control the activities in the surrounding. They may for example prohibit the brewing of illegal brews that could cause some sicknesses or even death.

The police also control and facilitate the free and smooth movement of vehicles on the roads. Except for the efforts of the police there could be very many and fatal accidents on the roads daily. The police also come in handy when there is an attack or an accident. They are charged with the responsibility of helping the casualties or those who have suffered. They may administer first aid to the casualties before taking to hospital.

In addition to the above the police are also supposed to help the less fortunate in the society. The less fortunate include the mentally sick people, the children, the old and the young. For example if a child is mistreated by the parent or guardian the police may take custody of the child. The last of the functions of the police is that they should identify problems that if they are not taken care of can turn out to be very serious problems in the future.

The organization structure of the police.
Maguire E. (2003) suggests that the American police have a very complex organization structure since it has very many departments and it has also been in operation for a very long period of time. However for the purpose of this paper an organization structure for the Bloomington police department will be used. The organization was adapted from the following website httpwww.ci.bloomington.mn.uscityhalldeptpolicepoorgcht.htm. However in the case of democratic policing there will be a provision for the citizen groups who work in collaboration with the police service.

The political relationship of the police and the political leaders.
It is the duty of the democratic police to commit them to ensuring that they support democracy and do not become political. In a bid to support democracy they should protect rights of the citizens the serve which are the freedom of assembly, speech and peaceful protest. The police should also be accountable to the government and to the people through some channels such as the representatives of the citizens.

They should only be controlled by the government through the law and not through political parties. The police should also be protected from being used to serve certain political parties at the expense of the citizens. In order for the police to not be interfered by the political system it is important that both the chief of police and the prominent politicians support the view that the police should be separated from the politics.

How the democratic police will work with the people.
According to Oloan (2002) the democratic police should work in a collaborative manner with the citizens. They should serve the citizens impartially but also the citizens should help the police in carrying out their duties. The citizens can do this by providing information they have that the police could use in their efforts of trying to maintain peace and security in the society. For example a citizen may come across criminals who he or she hears planning to attack either an individual or a community. The citizen should call the police and inform immediately.

Stone C. and Ward H. (2000) notes that police in the democracies carry out their operations just like the regular police but the only difference is that the democratic police are guided by some seven basic principles which are the police should follow the code of ethics for the policemen they should aim at protecting life at all times, the police should act in ways that are known to the people in the community. In addition they are charged with the duty of protecting life and property. The police are also supposed to adhere to the constitution and laws when carrying out their practices. The police are also answerable to the citizens.

The role of the democratic policing is to ensure that the police and the citizens collaborate in ensuring that there is security in a locality. The organization for security and cooperation in Europe (2008) states that democratic police are aimed at serving the people in the community as soon as there is need and provide the services in an equitable manner. The services that the police provide are different since the services to be provided are determined or dictated by the need of the citizen.

Sen, A. (1999) also notes that in democratic policing the police are answerable to the state, the citizens, the law and the representatives of the citizens. To ensure that the police are transparent in all their activities such as recruitment should be monitored by other parties who are independent in that they do not have an interest. This could be guided by citizens who do not have children that they may want to join the police service. In the democratic police there is free flow of information since communication is encouraged in order for them to get a feedback of their service provision form the community.

Despite there being good things in the society there is also some instances of bad occurrences. This means that if the citizens are not satisfied with the services provided to them by the police they should first and foremost complain to the representatives of the citizens who then confront the officer the citizen is complaining about. If the citizen representative and the officer do not seem to come to a consensus the citizen representative then confronts the immediate boss of the officer. This can continue up and until when a solution is found.

In conclusion it is worth noting that the police discovered that change is inevitable. They realized that if they have to remain relevant in the society they should work at changing their ways of running their operations. They discovered that there was a need to provide customized services according to the needs of each and every individual citizen. The citizens were also glad that the police charged from being a force into a service that could interact freely with the citizens. They work in cooperation for the benefit of all the parties involved. The police are also willing to ensure that they produce service equally to every citizen without asking for bribes. They do not also mix the politics with their work which means that there is the provision of better services.

Topic 2 Terrorism.
Each and every state or government has some measures, practices or strategies used by the police and or government in order to prevent and solve terrorism attacks when they happen. Terrorists attacks are mostly political and sometimes they are also aimed at impacting on the public.  Tully E.J. and Willoughby E. L. (2002) notes that the terrorist use violence to make people realize that they have a grievance. However he notes that the acts of the terrorists cause a lot of economic loss to the affected country. Innes M. (2006) argues that the attacks could be directed towards a symbol that is highly regarded in the society. The attacker may be against the symbol and thats why he attacks it. A good example of this is when the pentagon building which was the indication of the United States military power was attacked. The attackers were only trying to protest against the way the United States military officers were carrying out their operations.

Zalman (n.d.) explains that state terrorism is whereby some people in the government use threats and therefore instill fear in the citizens. This is done so that the citizens conform to all the rules and regulations without questioning them. For example some military dictators have maintained power by using this strategy.

Secondly the attack may be directed to certain public places where many people visit. These attacks are likely to harm so many people. A good example is when the World Trade Center was attacked. Laycock and Webb (2005), states that it is important that a Government should protect its infrastructures because these can be targeted by the terrorist. The terrorists know that once they destroy the roads, seas, rails, tunnels and bridges the economy of the country is badly affected. There are so many other infrastructures such as the communication lines for example the postal service. The terrorist may also target the public places such as the hotels and restaurants, movie theaters among others. The water plants should also be protected since they could be poisoned which could result into the death of so many people. Additionally the banking system and the energy plants should be guarded against terrorist attacks.

Oloan (2002) noted that terrorism affects the activities of policing. She continues to state that the police officers are not armed against terrorist attacks but against murder only. As a result the police are not ready to intervene in the case of a terrorist attack. In the contrary the police stations are heavily armed to resist bomb attacks.

She also notes that since Northern Ireland had lived in terrorist for over thirty years in the period between 1969 and 2002. During the period she continues to state that so many people lost their lives. Three thousand and fifty two people were killed and nine hundred and fifty seven security officers among whom three hundred and two were police officers.

Innes (2006) notes that police are usually deployed to the terrorist scenes in order to patrol the place. They ensure that no property is stolen from the scene. In addition she observes that the anti-terrorist branch and the special branch officers are supposed to carry out investigations in order for them to counter terrorism. They should collect necessary information that can be used in the courts. The information can be used to charge the terrorists.

Oloan (2002) also supports the above sentiments because she writes that the anti-terrorist and special branches are the two most important arms of the police. The departments should also be developed in future and they should be fully equipped. This because they could train informants. These people prove to be important since they alert the police whenever they have any information regarding a terrorist attack. The police could also be accused of killing people during their operations.

To avoid terrorism attacks or to be able to act rapidly after an attack all the security officers should work together. The federal, state and local security officers should join hands. 

Perl (2003) feels that in order to ensure that the police are more involved and prepared to confront terrorist attacks the police could be involved in the security screening operations. They should be trained on the tools and materials used in the efforts aimed at intercepting criminals and dangerous chemicals or equipments. These are mostly used in the airports to ensure security in the airports. The police should also be involved in workshops in which they are trained on how to maintain security for example in the ports. In Guatemala all the people involved in ensuring security at the ports are given these trainings.

Additionally all the travel documents used by the travelers should be ascertained whether they are real documents or fake ones. This is because in moist cases the terrorist do not have the real documents since they sneak into a country just to commit an offence and then leave. Customs and immigration security is also very important. All the people involved in this issue are given training for them to work appropriately. They are trained on how to interview people visiting the country, how to examine the luggage among other many things. These are some of the measures that can be put in place so that the police can be involved more in the efforts of combating and preventing terrorism. They can be trained in the above areas as well as their mandate being reviewed so that they can be involved in the counterterrorism efforts. Most police in different locations all over the world are only supposed to handle local criminal issues. They are therefore only deployed on order at the crime scene to keep guard.

The police are concerned with internal security and on the other hand state terrorism may be an issue that is beyond the boundaries of a certain country. As a result of these the police cannot succeed in combating terrorism if they remain within the legal limits.

In conclusion Lock and Webb (2005), notes that the United States and the other countries can fight terrorism in way that no animosity that results. He states that the communities can fight terrorism but still maintain a unified society and the cordial relationships that were there originally. He also notes that of paramount importance in the first instance is trying to avoid terrorism since causes the economy of a country to deteriorate. This is because the investors fearing investing and the already established businesses could also be destroyed losing huge sums of money. There is also loss of life and property.