Policing Strategies. Literature & Language Term Paper

Policing Strategies Analysis
Name
Institution
Policing Strategies
Over the last three decades, the crime rate in developed countries has changed substantially and some of the changes have been attributed to changes in policing strategies. In fact, Blumstein (2006) reveals that the rate of violent crime in the United States has been on the decline, more so between 1993 and 2000. One of the major contributions to this decline in crime during the mentioned period was policing strategies. Police officers were more aggressive in arresting criminals with gun-related offenses (Blumstein, 2006). However, the crime rate has not remained the same and there have been a number of changes within the last decade, more so in the policing system in America. This paper examines the impact of policing on social control of citizens, the current status of policing strategies, and the current trends in crime in America.
A decline or a rise in the rate of crime within any given nation can be an indication of the status of the citizen’s social control. According to Jones and Newburn (2002), there are three levels of social controls namely; primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary social control is termed as all policing activities undertaken by individuals or organizations whose main role is to police the society. Secondary social controls entail all activities carried out by those who consider social control as a secondary part of their role in society such as teachers. Tertiary social control entails the activities carried out by informal groups such as community groups with the aim of maintaining some level of orderliness. Understanding these levels is imperative in explaining the impact of policing on the social control of citizens. In many instances, police have been viewed as agents of social control in communities that they police. As such, they fall under the primary social control level because their primary responsibility is to prevent crime and maintain law and order (Jones & Newburn, 2002). Thus, by maintaining law and order, they are enhancing social control among citizens within any given nation. However, when formal policing is dominantly present within any given community, other informal or tertiary controls become less common (Jones & Newburn, 2002). Consequently, the absence of these informal sources of social control affects the social life of citizens because they become more individualistic. As revealed by Rinehart Kochel and Weisburd (2018), a very strong formal policing in some neighborhood discourages citizens from getting involved in addressing community problems although, in the long term, it can encourage informal social control. At times, strong police presence in some neighborhood actually creates more conflict between police and the citizens but encourages cohesion between the citizens. However, as noted by Rinehart Kochel and Weisburd (2018), this is not an indication of improved social control within such a community.
Over the years, different policing strategies have been developed to reduce the rate of crimes in developed nations. This development has been informed by research conducted in the search for better approaches that would reduce crime rates. In countries such as the Uni...