Policing in Contempoary Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Policing in Contempoary Society - Essay Example The basic reasoning behind having a police force has not changed, bu the methods that at uses and the tools at its disposal have. Thus "policing" in the late Nineteenth Century implied a much greater degree of one-on-one human contact than many police functions today (Holdaway, 1979). The "bobby on the beat", often a member of the community who might be on first name terms with many of its inhabitants has often been replaced by the much more 'efficient' (and yet more isolated) surveillance camera. Modern day policing is essential an attempt to balance conflicting forces of technology versus traditional techniques. An interesting attempt to return to the idea of a very visible police force was the creation of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) early in this century to support the actual police. The PCSO was introduced within the Police Reform Act of 2002 in response to increasing calls for a more approachable and accessible police force. Some confusion has occurred regarding the actual duties and powers of a PCSO, as their role is essentially defined by the Chief Constable of the area they are working within. Thus many PCSOs may detain a person for up to thirty minutes but may not use force to prevent them from escaping. In what precise sense the person is then "under arrest" is thus uncertain (Tameside, 2006). A series of powers that nearly all PCSOs possess include issuing Fixed Penalty Notices for various traffic, littering and animal offenses; the seizure of alcohol from minors and general powers to keep the peace. In many ways they represent an attempt to return to the role previously held by foot-patrol police officers. One reason that such a new position is needed is the increasing numbers of police who are now assigned to serious crime and anti-terrorism activities. In a sense the anti-terrorist activities are an extension of policing into an area normally occupied by the armed forces and various "secret" (and officially non-existent) groups such as MI5 and MI6. Thus the police are being used not only to enforce British laws but to protect the population from attack from both foreign and domestic groups. For example, on 22nd of July 2005 (the day after the London bombings) a Brazilian electrician called Jean Charles de Menezes was shot and killed by police officers while boarding an underground train. He was thought to be a potential suicide bomber. It turned out that he was nothing of the kind. Sir Ian Blair, the head of the Metropolitan Police, stated a few days later that police did indeed have a "shoot-to-kill" policy regarding suspected suicide bombers. He said that the head was the only place that a terrorist could be effectively stopped: There is no point in shooting at someone's chest because that is where the bomb is likely to be. There is no point in shooting anywhere else if they fall down and detonate it. (Blair, 2005) This is a remarkable change from the old ethos of British policing, but one that can be seen to reflect a new situation. Before the existence of the IRA there were few terrorist threats to Britain, and the new threat is greatly different because the people involved with it are quite prepared, and