This morning while taking the opportunity to have a late breakfast on a patio with a friend, we both happened to spot a police officer walking his beat. My friend commented that that was a sight you didn’t see very often these days and we got to talking about how much more effective it was, at least on the face of it, to have police officers actually out on the streets interacting with the inhabitants of the areas they are supposed to be policing and providing a more stable and human presence than a patrol car driving by every now and again.
I commented in particular that it just made a lot more sense to me as regards the act of trying to protect a given area. That having a police officer out walking around gave him or her the ability to actually get a feel for a community and places the very notion of community back front and centre in the process of police work. The cop walking the beat is able to actually be a part of the community making him or her much better able to do their work as a result of that re-integration.
My friend immediately commented that our conversation reminded him of the below scene from The Wire (note: this is my very first Wire reference, so holster your eye-rolling),
Of course, I think his reference was spot on.
Which caused me to further think about how dehumanized policing and the activities and jobs of police officers have become. This is not at all a surprising outcome of cities and neighbourhoods that have taken on decreasing resemblance to real communities as pace and focus of life have stripped us of our time and energy to engage in authentic human interactions.
As the woman in the clip notes, there is a strength and mutual respect that comes from allowing space for a human interaction between police officer and citizen. Both are hopefully able to see one another beyond the roles they assume in the brief interactions for which we currently make space. An officer walking the beat, talking to people on his/her beat, and relating to them gets to know them both as “faces” but also gets to know the story behind the faces, the life that is worn on that face.
Even if he/she does not get to know each and every person intimately as described by the woman in the scene, an increasing familiarity with those faces may help to provide a feeling of comradery and solidarity — a sense that both officer and citizen are in it together, it being the maintenance of order so as to enable individuals the greatest opportunity and liberty to achieve “the good life”, whatever that might mean to you.
This is an ideal situation, of course. Those kinds of interactions are more difficult as you move into rougher areas that are suffering from poverty and structural socio-economic destitution. But those are, conversely, the areas that likely need this approach to policing even more badly, and the application of a more community approach to policing couldn’t but help better off neighbourhoods in the process.
Those proponents of funding for more police officers on the streets would do well to step back a moment and consider how those officers are intended to be used and to what degree one is able to provide a rewarding outcome from their efforts. Lobbying for a return to and bolstering of community policing seems like a winning formulation in this regard.
All the same, there are going to be those who argue that the whole notion is doomed to failure because the interaction between police officer and citizen is premised on asymmetrical power differentials. But the other thought that occurred to me this morning was, “Would the interaction between Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the officer in question have been different if there was a chance that they had at least engaged in a passing conversation in the past? Or at least known one another’s faces?”
The obvious answer is, yes.
And so, even in the face of cynicism, I think there is an opportunity for a small qualitative shift in this ubiquitous issue of American life. Given the brouhaha around the Gates incident, it strikes me that every little bit counts these days.
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wow, before I clicked below the fold I was already on youtube trying to dig up that clip. the wire really has become the definitive statement on the role of police in the urban world.
there’s a much more simple explanation for why cops are no longer walking beats. My grandfather walked a beat in the 1940′s. It was easy then in a city that was half the size it is today and when the population of downtown areas were in much closer proximity. That all ended with the advent of the suburbs. It’s just not logistically possible to have the police walking neighborhoods anymore. So they do drive-bys. And they get accused of looking too hard at civillians and feel like the civillians are looking too hard at them.
Face-to-face police work is indeed preferable. The problem is that it’s also increasingly hard…not because of attitudes but simply because of space.
Mike, that it is more difficult does not mean we should therefore dismiss it out of hand or as no longer possible. As you say, face-to-face police work is preferable. So is there a way that we can look to address the challenges to bolstering such face-to-face work? And do those challenges speak to some of the larger trend swithin our urban living that, in addition to addressing how we look to have police officers accomplish their work, we ought also to spend some time looking at?
In other words, yes you point to a “more simple explanation” around this trend, but is your simple explanation part of a much larger and more involved understanding of the trends by which we live our lives that I was trying to link this particular element back into?
Let me describe a scenario: An officer has a beat of a few square miles (that’s typical I would guess). He wants to meet the people on his beat so he gets out of his car and walks 1/2 mile north down Main Street, shaking hands as he goes. Then he gets a call about a robbery in progress another mile north of his position. Does he
A) Run 1/2 mile back to his car
B) Run 1 mile to the crime scene or
C) Tell dispatch he can’t respond but let them know that Mrs. Collins gave him some fantstic pound cake and a great cup of coffee.
Some of the same people who complain our officers should be out there walking the streets are the same ones who will loudly complain when the police are slow in responding to a call.
The only solution I could see to getting closer to what you are talking about would be to either stop sprawl completely and force people into tight Brooklyn-style neighborhoods (never in a million years in the US) or to fund thousands of new police officers for every major city.
Although cops rarely walk beats even in dense urban neighborhoods these days.
Mike – The only solution I could see to getting closer to what you are talking about would be to either stop sprawl completely and force people into tight Brooklyn-style neighborhoods (never in a million years in the US) or to fund thousands of new police officers for every major city.
Scott – Those proponents of funding for more police officers on the streets would do well to step back a moment and consider how those officers are intended to be used and to what degree one is able to provide a rewarding outcome from their efforts. Lobbying for a return to and bolstering of community policing seems like a winning formulation in this regard.
I see an overlap here between proponents of rebuilding community and proponents of law and order that might achieve the goals of both in a positive and mutually reinforcing manner. That was kind of the point of the post and precisely the kind of relational thinking at which I’m driving when when I ask,
And do those challenges speak to some of the larger trend swithin our urban living that, in addition to addressing how we look to have police officers accomplish their work, we ought also to spend some time looking at?
I see the notion of ‘rebuilding community’ to be mostly an imagined need. ‘Community’ isn’t broken, despite the claims of Front Porchers and the like. It’s just evolved. What you’re talking about is changing settlement patterns to direct people into more dense environments. If you think the suburbs of America are going to change in any meaningful way even in partial response to wanting the police walking beats again…I’ve got swampland in Florida for you. That’s not pessimism talking, because quite frankly I am a big cheerleader for the suburbs.
‘Community’ isn’t broken, despite the claims of Front Porchers and the like. It’s just evolved.
Yeah, and I’ve got a downtown east side of Vancouver, BC for you, Mike. But snark aside, what is it that you feel community has evolved into that doesn’t involve some critical analysis of the trends by which we live our lives?
If you dig deep in any area, even the poorest and most crime-ridden, there is ALWAYS community. I would point to Black Metropolois as just one example of that.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t critically examine the ways in which we live…i’m just suggesting those examinations be grounded in reality and for Americans a drastic change in settlement patterns is just not going to happen. It’s my contention that this is what would be necessary to facilitate the face-toface police work you are talking about.
Logistically it probably doesn’t make sense in some areas, such as some (if not most) suburbs, but then, as JB suggests, such a shift might not be as crucial in those areas. But in those areas where a shift in that direction does pose a logistical impossibility, does this not seem like something worth exploring?
You assume I’m talking mass resettlement, but I haven’t actually mentioned that option in this post or thread. I am actually talking about more boots on the ground and used in a more intelligent manner. And by intelligent manner I mean at least in part trying to facilitate more face-to-face police work. Perhaps it seemed like I was offering an all or nothing proposition in the post, that wasn’t my intention. I think a move to at least more beat cops would be a move in the right direction qua logistically feasible neighbourhoods.
If yr response is that it will be expensive to hire those newly req’d officers, I wouldn’t disagree, but would offer that that may present an example of money well spent that could potentially close some partisan gaps in which you and I are both both interested.
Sorry, that should read,
“But in those areas where a shift in that direction doesn’t pose a logistical impossibility, does this not seem like something worth exploring?”
I like the idea of more beat cops, but as a practical matter, I wonder where we are going to get these brave souls.
Do cops really want to give up the safety of their vehicles for face-to-face contact with the community that terrifies them? I doubt it.
In some of the really rougher neighbourhoods you probably have a point, Herb. And unfortunately, as I mentioned, those are the neighbourhoods that could probably use it the most. But I would offer that the majority of neighbourhoods we’re talking about aren’t “terrifying”.
Scott, is your vision of the police ‘walking the beat’ meant to be more of a PR move or actual patrol-work, law enforcement? If the latter, the truth is that their cars are pretty invaluable to them doing their jobs better, faster, etc. The average police officer carries a fair amount of gear. That reduces their mobility significantly on foot. In Louisville that’s a vest, a gun, 3 magazines, cuffs, radio, flashlight, stun gun, baton, back-up gun, etc.
If the former, I guess I could see days where you send some officers out on ‘goodwill’ duty where they are there to talk to the folks, answer questions, deal with non-emergencies (“my neighbor plays his music too lous at night”), etc. Then they would be backed up by officers in cars who would be first responders to 911 calls. Of course, this brings us back to funding.
I’d see it as analagous to “preventative care”.
Do the suburbs really suffer from the same amount of “we need to call the cops” kinda crime (e.g., B&E, robbery, etc) as urban life?
Back where I lived on Circle and Galley (ask a CS cop about that area!), the cops took forever to show up. When my wife and I moved to a “nice” area where “nice” people lived, the cops were there to help us hang up the phone.
I’m under the impression that the suburbs have (probably, I’m a law abider, myself) about as much “victimless crime” stuff going on as anywhere (weed, barter, etc) and about as much stuff like DUI and spousal abuse but far fewer instances of stuff like, oh let’s pull a crime out of a hat, breaking and entering.
I think that’s probably a good point, Jaybird. At least anecdotally. Though, I think we’d both do well to get some stats under our belts to prove it.
And I am primarily speaking to urban living and much less to suburban living. But that’s just a function of my hobbyhorse on the topic. I’m an urban dweller so I tend to take the reverse track of Mike and become an urban cheerleader.
Though, I think there is a whole other element of the discussion missing here and that is small town living as it relates to proportional cost allocations to larger urban centres. That would be a convo for the Front Porchers and one I’m glad they continue to bring up, personally.
By the way Scott, good move to steer the Gates Arrest debate in a more constructive direction.
I don’t think small towns generally have a responsibility to pay for policing in large urban centers (or centres,/i>) if that’s what you’re talking about.
I’m more thinking about potential state and federal dollars, but could be mistaken. This is not an area of specialty for me. If not dollars, we could certainly look at this in terms of human resources.
Thanks, Mike. Glad to be in convo with you, as always.
The ‘suburbs’ are a pretty broadly defined area, but in general I would guess there is less murder and assault than dense urban areas.
It’s been a long time since the police have pretended to be anything other than the enforcement arm for the State’s Diktat’s.
When I lived in DC (moved back to Phx less than a year ago, the officers always rode around in cars and rarely interacted with the citizens. It struck me as dumb given the density and ability of officers to react quickly even when out of their cars.
Here in Phoenix, however, it’s more difficult. We’re one large suburb that stretches miles and miles. It’s much harder for the local beat cop to get out and walk around.
With that said, however, I’d love to see officers doing more in the schools, showing up at PTA meetings and the like. To have police officers introduce themselves to the community would go a long way to restoring the old ‘cop on the beat’ type atmosphere. And let’s not kid ourselves: this is the problem with American life nowadays. We’re separated. How many of you know all of the people on your block? How many of you chat with your neighbors up and down the street on a daily basis? We’re growing disconnected and it’s reflected in our police response.
I saw the Gates matter as much less a Black/White issue than an increasing entitlement on the part of police culture that Gates indeed got a relatively light hand. If one were black it would be easy to see as increasing racism, but I am not and see it anyway.
Just recently after a minor accident (I was stopped and hit from behind) I was on the phone with the insurance company when the officer walked up to get my statement and with body language and comment threatened assault and jail if I did not hang up in the insurance guy’s face and instantly give him my full humble attention.
I indeed did so as I did not want an incident, but even in my hippie days I was never so threatened, even though at that point I had no such points for prejudice to key off of, and had grown wise enough to know when to stand up for my rights and when it would not be worth it.
Had I stood on my rights I am certain I would have been beaten and charged with resisting arrest at the least as I have known others who have been there.
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