Police Officer and the Police Community Support Officer - Case Study Example

Police Officer and the Police Community Support Officer Identify and define both a professional and non professional role within a helping profession. Having identified the roles, identify how each has developed and provide an analysis of ways in which their working practices areas of responsibility and accountability differ. Introduction The boys in blue have been an inspiration for many writers, entertainers and media products and these often frame our image of police officers. Books, movies and television shows have come to define our image of the police but it must be realised that there is a lot more to this dedicated group of public servants than meets the eye. Police work includes much more than simply chasing down offenders on the highways or even glamorised ideals of fighting hand to hand with drug smugglers. In fact, most of the work of the police is done to prevent crime rather than to bring criminals to justice. The Police Officer The role of the uniformed police officer has developed with the nature of police work. The primary purpose of the police is to help the community that the officers belong to. Of course a person can also help their community by becoming a social worker or a scientist but I feel that the input made by these individuals is more evident on the bigger picture. Individuals and groups on a smaller scale have to be in direct government functionaries and the front line for maintaining law and order in a society has always been the civil police of the country. Police officers are placed in direct contact with society at large and this gives them a broad level of authority as well as the responsibility to handle that authority within the guidelines given to them. This ability to have direct contact with people to help those who need it makes a police officer much more useful for society than many other professionals who may never get to see the eventual effect of their contribution. A police officer who stops a crime in progress or catches a criminal can immediately see the effect on society even if it is one person at a time. Police around the World Since the role of the police and the police force itself is maintained by the government of a country, most of the information regarding the police comes from government sources and their websites. Perhaps the best source of information about the work down by the police in general comes from the U.S. Department of Labour (2006) which has extensive information about the salaries, nature of the work, working environment, educational training and future outlook for the policing profession. There seems to be little difference in terms of how the police functions around the world since the topics on the nature of police work remain similar even when it comes to the London’s Metropolitan Police website (2002). The primary common points between them being the idea of responsibility and authority for protecting the people and helping those in need remains the same. In fact, even the scope of the work performed by the police and the outlook of the chosen career is positive if government sources are to be trusted by those looking to work for the government. The Expanded Role of the Police Police officers certainly have more authorities than community support officers simply because of the training that they have received and the jurisdiction given to them by law. In some cases, a member of the police can have a much larger circle of operations than a community police officer. For example, The U.S. marshal’s website (2006) for example, lists the focus that marshals have had as the oldest police agency for protecting the law in the United States without having a real boundary in terms of where they can operate. Similarly, global intelligence services such as the British Intelligence, the American Secret Service (2002) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2006) go to great lengths in showing that their respective officers are recruited from the general police and remain police officers throughout their tenure with other law enforcement agencies. This means that the responsibilities of the police include a lot more than the simple prevention and control of crime on a local level since they may be called on to help in international investigations and the protection of our national assets. British police also has a large number of officers who work with Europol as well as Interpol to create a circle of influence and authority which is larger than any that can be created by the local government alone (Anderson et. al., 1995). Within a given full career, a police officer may come in touch with several different spheres of law enforcement and could develop as a professional and as a person into having a skill set that goes beyond what s/he may be required to use in community police work. There is also a rather stark reminder of what police work entails since the National COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors) website (2006) shows us the work done by the police is also a dangerous job and police officers may lose their life in the service of their community, for their country or while protecting others. Police Community Support Officer As discussed by Nyberg (2006), a local police officer who knows the community would perhaps be a better person to maintain peace in a given area since s/he would know the residents and recognise their faces more readily than an outsider who does not. Her Majesty’s government certainly understands the need for local police officers and recruits CSOs i.e. Community Support Officers for exactly this purpose. CSOs are not without authority since they have been given a number of powers to maintain their position as police officers (Home Office, 2007). However, their powers are limited to the extent that they are only supposed to focus on the social issues of criminal activities and not the justice issues. For example, they have a primary focus on lower level crime such as disorderly behaviour and anti social actions. It is not likely that a CSO will be called in to handle a hostage situation or investigate a bank robbery. The reason why CSOs become useful for the police is that petty criminals and nuisance crimes can be handled by CSOs quite effectively which frees up the police to work on solving more serious crimes in the community (Home Office, 2007). Police Lite for Light Crime? Of course it can be said that all crimes are serious but the government and society in general accepts that some crimes are more serious than others. For legal purposes, a crime is commonly said to be an act or action which defies cultural, social or moral rules of conduct in a given society. In all civilised societies, laws are created and formalised for the regulation of public and private conduct between individuals as well as legal entities so that a breach of law can also be defined as a crime within a community. However, all actions which are against the law may not be considered crimes since certain commercial activities can fall under contractual violations which may not be legally defined or seen as crimes (Cornell Law School, 2006). These differentiations mean that for the nature of crime itself a social system can have different levels of response. The Community Support Officer is a response which is not exactly a police officer but the nature of crime s/he is supposed to handle is sufficiently simple and not as serious as to put the time of the ‘real’ police in balance. As discussed by Sheptycki (1998) the role of the police in society has changed dramatically and instead of wasting time stopping individuals from cycling on a walking track. The police can now be better utilised in actively preventing more serious crimes from happening and increasing the overall sense of security and peace for various communities (Home Office, 2007). The CSO is a supporting arm of the police force and even though this arm is quite powerful, the nature of the powers given to support officers varies from one place to another. The government is actively trying to remove this discrepancy and to standardise the powers of the CSO across the nation so that people are not confused as they go across the country or even from neighbourhood to neighbourhood (Home Office, 2007). This certainly goes to show that the role of the CSO is being viewed as a permanent one by the higher powers and that the responsibilities of the Community Support officer of the future could be greatly expanded as compared to their position at this time. In conclusion the position of the CSO is certainly relevant due to the role they play in ensuring the safety of our cities and towns. While they have lesser powers and fewer responsibilities than the real police, it does not mean that they are without teeth since they deserve as much respect and appreciation as any other officer of the law who is willing to lay down his/her life for our security and safety. Works Cited Anderson, M. et. al., 1995, Policing the European Union: Theory, Law and Practice, Oxford University Press. Home Office. 2007, ‘Community Policing’, Home Office [Online], Available at: http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/community-policing/community-support-officers/community-cso-faq/ London Metropolitan Police. 2005, ‘Police Officer’, Metropolitan Police. [Online], Available at: http://www.metcareers.co.uk/default.asp?action=article&ID=2 National COPS. 2006, ‘COPS home’, Concerns of Police Survivors [Online], Available at: http://www.nationalcops.org/ Nyberg, C. 2006, ‘Defenders of police brutality must wake up and face facts’, Forest Park Review, [Online], Available at: http://forestparkreview.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=3&ArticleID=1115&TM=15909.94 Sheptycki, J. 1998, ‘The Global Cops Cometh’, British Journal of Sociology, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 57-74 U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 2006, ‘Threats and Protection’, Department of Homeland Security [Online], Available at: http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?theme=76 U.S. Department of Labour. 2006, ‘Police and Detectives’, Bureau of Labour Statistics [Online], Available at: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos160.htm U.S. Marshals Service. 2006, ‘Oldest Federal Law Enforcement Agency’, United States Marshals Service [Online], Available at: http://www.usmarshals.gov/history/oldest.htm U.S. Secret Service. 2002, ‘United States Secret Service’, US Secret Service [Online], Available at: http://www.treas.gov/usss/ Word Count: 1,686 Read More