Sunday, February 26, 2017

Blow The Whistle On The Porous Blue Line

Blow The Whistle on The Porous Blue Line
By Nicholas Ashton, CEO/CIO CommSmart Global Group

Worldwide Public Safety, just like political establishments are in a desperate state of affairs. Just look at the Ferguson situation and the overall failure.  Yes, both sides of the proverbial coin.  

Policing and social unrest are at a boiling point and nobody seems to get!

Sir Robert Peel would never have imagined today’s sad state and demise of effective law enforcement, communities and the family.

Humanity itself is gnawing at its own leg, which is trapped, snared, bleeding and creating horrendous pain.

Peel, as Home Secretary in the U.K., introduced a number of important reforms of British criminal law: most memorably establishing the Metropolitan Police Force (Metropolitan Police Act 1829).  He also reformed the criminal law, reducing the number of crimes punishable by death, and simplified it by repealing a large number of criminal statutes and consolidating their provisions into what are known as Peel's Acts.  He reformed the prison system, introducing payment for jailers and education for the inmates.

On Police reform, Peel’s 1,000 constables employed were affectionately nicknamed 'Bobbies' or, somewhat less affectionately, 'Peelers'. Although unpopular at first they proved very successful in cutting crime in London, and by 1857 all cities in the UK were obliged to form their own police forces.  Known as the father of modern policing, Peel developed the Peelian Principles which defined the ethical requirements police officers must follow to be effective.

Nine Principles of Policing

The following nine principles were set out in the 'General Instructions' issued to every new police officer in the Metropolitan Police from 1829. Although Peel discussed the spirit of some of these principles in his speeches and other communications, the historians Susan Lentz and Robert Chaires found no proof that he compiled a formal list. The Home Office has suggested that the instructions were probably written, not by Peel himself, but by Charles Rowan and Richard Mayne, the joint Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police when it was founded.


1. To prevent crime and disorder, as an alternative to their repression by military force and severity of legal punishment.

2. To recognize always that the power of the police to fulfill their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behavior, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect.

3. To recognize always that to secure and maintain the respect and approval of the public means also the securing of the willing co-operation of the public in the task of securing observance of laws.

4. To recognize always that the extent to which the co-operation of the public can be secured diminishes proportionately the necessity of the use of physical force and compulsion for achieving police objectives.

5. To seek and preserve public favour, not by pandering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolutely impartial service to law, in complete independence of policy, and without regard to the justice or injustice of the substance of individual laws, by ready offering of individual service and friendship to all members of the public without regard to their wealth or social standing, by ready exercise of courtesy and friendly good humour, and by ready offering of individual sacrifice in protecting and preserving life.

6. To use physical force only when the exercise of persuasion, advice, and warning is found to be insufficient to obtain public co-operation to an extent necessary to secure observance of law or to restore order, and to use only the minimum degree of physical force which is necessary on any particular occasion for achieving a police objective.

7. To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.

8. To recognize always the need for strict adherence to police-executive functions, and to refrain from even seeming to usurp the powers of the judiciary of avenging individuals or the State, and of authoritatively judging guilt and punishing the guilty.

9. To recognize always that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them.

Where did it all go wrong?

The only means of communication to sound the alarm in 1829 was shouting and it wasn’t until 1884 that the whistle blew on the scene.  Effective and all could hear and know which direction the concern and alarm were coming from. 

Hudson, who invented the pea whistle, observed the problems local police were having with effectively communicating, he realized that his whistle designs could be used as an effective aid to their work.

Hudson demonstrated his whistle to Scotland Yard and was awarded his first contract. Both rattles and whistles were used to call for back-up in areas where neighborhood beats overlapped and following their success in London, the whistle was adopted by most Police Forces in the United Kingdom.

Have we improved our communication skills and technology of today?  

No!

The allegory of police as crimefighters has been carried to the population via television productions, fiction writers, comic strips, sensational newspaper/magazine articles and the Internet. Conjuring up in one's mind an image of a police officer doing a hazardous job that requires him or her to outshoot, outpunch, and outwit dangerous criminals. For most American police, there is little correspondence between this image and reality. In a major U.S. Metropolitan areas, Tier One Cities (where crime rates are certainly the highest), 50% of the officers in the local department will not make a felony arrest during a given year. The total annual rate of weapon discharges per hundred police officers is between two and six.  Certainly a far cry from TNT’s “Major Crimes” or ABC’s “Castle”.

The American Bar Association's Standards Relating to the Urban Police Function lists 11 responsibilities:
  • To identify criminal offenders and criminal activity and, when appropriate, to apprehend offenders and participate in later court proceedings.
  • To reduce the opportunities for the commission of some crimes through preventive patrol and other measures.
  • To aid individuals who are in danger of physical harm.
  • To protect constitutional guarantees.
  • To facilitate the movement of people and vehicles.
  • To assist those who cannot care for themselves.
  • To resolve the conflict.
  • To identify problems that are potentially serious law enforcement or government problems.
  • To create and maintain a feeling of security in the community.
  • To promote and preserve civil order.
  • To provide other services on an emergency basis. 
It is stated several factors shape what the police do and why.
  • Round the clock availability broadens police connection with the public. People contact the police because there is no other assistance available.
  • A disadvantage is that such availability gives police a massive heavy assignment. The authority to use force brands police work with a uniqueness that sets it apart from other lines of work.
  • Force includes the right to use deadly force, to arrest people, and to use physical force.
  • Whatever aspect of the police mission is accentuated, whether it involves checking on suspicious persons who appear to be inappropriate or responding to reports of crime, the police have to be willing, in the last analysis, to threaten force and to back up the threat with action.
  • Discretion leaves an imprint on all areas of policing. Police are often free to choose among alternative courses of action or inaction. They routinely rely on their own experience, training, common sense, and judgment to make decisions involving the life and liberty of citizens.
  • Flexible decision-making include choices involving arrests, traffic tickets, deadly force, and domestic abuse. In each of these situations, officers determine whether or not to invoke the power of the law.
  • The economic decline over the past years has overwhelmed local economies and their local law enforcement agencies. Sworn to protect and serve the public, law enforcement faces a bleak outlook. The nation’s law enforcement agencies are challenging severe budget cuts and uncontrollable layoffs, and they are essentially changing how they keep the public safe or more vulnerable than ever thought.
Public Safety Directors, Sheriffs, Police Chiefs, Chief Constables and those connected via managerial responsibility, have a major issue in common, money, budgets, compliment of officers, training, councils, politicians, increased criminality, disjointed communities/families and a more than dissatisfied public, who they are to serve and protect.

Presidents, Politicians, Alphabet Soup Agencies and so call do-gooders have done society no justice over the years regarding the containment of crime.
The prime example of meddling and the demise of a protected society:

PRESIDENT CLINTON ANNOUNCES NEW CRIME BILL GRANTS TO PUT POLICE OFFICERS ON THE BEAT

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Just a dozen days after money became available, President Clinton today announced the first round of police hiring grants under the new crime bill, an important step toward his goal of putting 100,000 police on America's streets.
More than $200 million in grants were awarded to communities in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, including 332 police departments, 46 sheriffs' departments, six Indian tribal groups, and several other law enforcement agencies.   The crime bill authorizes money to increase the number of police in America by twenty percent.

In a scathing report it stated:

Such generosity might be justified if the program had lived up to its advertising. But it hasn't. Even the most basic promise—that it would add 100,000 cops to the streets by the end of 2000—wasn't kept. A study published last year by the National Institute of Justice figured that COPS will result in a net increase of between 69,000 and 84,600 police officers, a shortfall of 15 percent to 31 percent.

About one-third of the officers in the count, it should be noted, are not new cops but existing ones—who are theoretically freed from paper-pushing desk jobs to chase crooks, thanks to grants to buy computers and other new equipment. The reality doesn't always match the theory. A 1999 audit by the Justice Department's Inspector General reported "a high degree of difficulty in establishing that funds under the Making Office Redeployment Effective (MORE) program actually results in additional officers on the street. Specifically, 78 percent of the 67 grantees we audited with MORE grants could not demonstrate they had or would redeploy officers from administrative duties to the streets." The IG also found evidence that many police departments have no plans to retain new hires once their federal funding runs out. Barring an endless flow of money from Washington, then, the number of cops may fall.

It has the likes of politicians, such as City Mayors who are now bullying local council members to increase taxes to cover the continuing decline in societal safety.  Property taxes mean nothing to most as they rent.  Over 50% of all housing are rental properties, so the renter has no idea of the taxation being borne by property owners, so it means nothing to them whatsoever.

The Entitlement society which has been created by politicians is now biting us in the ass and coffers.  The priority of politicians was to obtain the vote and promise as much as they could by lying about.  Never telling the whole story of how services would be paid for and even if it was legal and feasible.  Telling people “pork pies” (lies), you will be caught out and the revolt will be worse than the original issue.

Meddling should be a political degreed program at universities as that is what it comes down to.  People with no knowledge or insight telling those that are capable of doing the job at hand, if only allowed to carry-out the necessary procedures for proven success.

It is about Street Smart Policing with the subtle and effective usage of assistive technology.  The likes of analytics, communications connectivity, evidentiary visual collection.  All within the palm of their hands, on-site and with full capability for “live” sharing.

Involving all, from management, IT departments and officers, as the computer and associated disruptive technology has its place in productive sanity.
I know, at least one of you have asked, “Is there an app for that?”  Yes, there is, it includes you, pure logic and truth.

Communities are made up of individuals who are failing in simplistic parenting.  The government, including education and law enforcement, are not a babysitting service.  There is a strong level of involvement from parents or parent.  There is the issue which is now embedded in the DNA of society at all levels.  The “haves” and the “have-nots”!

Look at what porous means:

po·rous
ˈpôrəs
adjective
(of a rock or other material) having minute spaces or holes through which liquid or air may pass.

Synonyms: permeable, penetrable, pervious, cellular, holey;
Antonyms: impermeable
·         not retentive or secure.
"he ran through a porous defense to score easily"

The solution and work ethic are right here, it only takes listening, discussion and fully understanding that this cannot continue.  Detroit is the perfect example of failure and there are plenty more cities on this list. 

Are you willing to be part of the change?

CommSmart Global has the street smarts, technology solutions, logic, and experience.  We will discuss how together we can assist in all facets on recouping the sanity of a secure society.

Be Smart, with CommSmart Global…

WE ARE IN THE NOW AND KEEP YOU; IN THE KNOW…



Telephone: +1 (515) 300.6130

 Copyright 2017

No comments:

Post a Comment