The NYPD Moving Forward
Introduction
In all parts of the world, the police department is very important as it safeguards the right of people through maintaining law and order. As such, people feel a sense of security and they can conduct their daily activities confidently. In case something goes wrong, people always feel that they have a place to go, and they air their grievances to the police department. In response, the police launch investigation into the matter, and the culprits are arrested and charged. The functions of the NYPD are not different from other police departments in the world, but their efficiency have outweighed that of many police department in the world; it has many sections that are geared towards making the lives of the people safe (Sugarman, 2012). In as much as this department is very efficient, its inclusion of civilians will increase its efficiency in that the civilians are the ones affect most by some instances of lawlessness and crime. As such, these people will be willing to do all that is in their power to end lawlessness, and cooperation with the police will be a big step in actualizing this.
Employment of more Police Officers
NYPD has an option of hiring more police officers so as to increase security and community coverage. This will have a lot of advantages to the police force. First, most officers in the police force will have some free time, and they will not be overwhelmed by work. This is because the additional officers will take care of developments in the police force when the other officers are off duty. NYPD officers will also get a chance to interact effectively with the society, and they will understand the things that lead to criminal activities from the societal perspective. This would not be possible with few police officers since people do not feel free associating with officers who are always in uniform; they will not discuss some things with uniformed officers, and this might be a barrier towards uncovering instances of crimes or even criminals in the city and beyond. As such, when officers are not in uniform, the community feels less intimidated in discussing some things with them, and this could lead to a lot of uncovering of some criminal activities.
Whereas this is positive to some extent, it also has some demerits that could affect the whole department in matters of curbing crime. First, with so many officers off and on duty, criminals can master the exchange of duties to conduct their criminal activities. For instance, a police officer could be investigating a certain criminal, but when he goes off duty, the line of investigation goes dead. Even if the police officer informs the one assuming duty of the progress that he had gone with investigating such a criminal, a crucial link will be lost and the new officer might be unable to uncover that criminal. This could give a lot off criminals some breaks since their cases might lack enough evidence that could convict them. As such, it would be advisable to assign a police officer on a case that he or she will be covering full time. This will reduce the instances of creating unwarranted gaps in cases since this could be a barrier towards achieving justice.
With very many police officers in the street, it would be difficult to track all their activities, and some officers may relax on their job. This is because they would feel secure since they would know that there are many police officers to man crime in the city. This may be the same to all officers, and they may become inefficient in reducing crime in the city since many of them could be taking their work with reduced seriousness. However, when there are few police officers in the street, the officers will feel a sense of call to duty, and they will be very watchful in ensuring that the city stays calm and peaceful. This is because they would be on high alert, and they will respond to emergencies in a very efficient manner. They will also be in a position to call for back up once they realize that situation is getting out of hand. With many police officers, crime could go undetected since they might take a long time to get to a scene of crime; they would assume that there are other officers to respond to these emergencies, and a lot of crime could result in such a time. Therefore, less police in the streets would be better than having so many police officers (Fronc, 2009).
Increasing the number of police officers would also be hard on the taxpayer since he will dig deep into the pockets to pay taxes that would be in turn used to pay police officers. The result of this could be increased crime since the prices of basic commodities could go home and people in the lower income bracket could start to feel the pinch. Any advancement in the community should consider the plight of the people, and people should be empowered rather than intimidated by development. Therefore, NYPD should improve in areas that will safe guard the lives of the people instead of increasing its officers.
The efficiency of any police department to curb crime is directly proportional to the community involvement in the actual exercise of curbing crime. This is because criminals are members of the society and people in this society have enough information that could help the police in arresting these people. As such, NYPD should increase its community integration to ensure that it has the backing of the community in curbing crime. Most people fell some willingness to assist the police inn investigations, but if the police is not in good terms or does not involve the community in its affairs, people might not assist the police in such investigations thereby leading to a community that will be unable to reduce or even curb crime.
Hiring civilians
People in any given society know and understand the livelihood in that society (Fronc, 2009). They also understand the black herons in such a society even better than the authority in such areas. As such, people in the community know the criminals and criminal activities that are carried out in the society. They know these things in more detail that even what the police could be already suspecting. Therefore, these people can provide some vital information that would be indispensable in capturing criminals and ensuring that there is justice in the society. Even then, people in the society are the ones who are affected most by criminal activities that are carried out. As such, these people feel insecure since they are victims. Therefore, NYPD should include the civilians in their activities of conducting a crackdown on criminals since the community feels safe when such criminals are captured.
It is very tricky to suggest the hiring of civilians to conduct administrative duties in NYPD. This is because police work needs to be left to the police since they have the skills to carry out their job in an efficient matter. Police work, in office and in the field, work hand in hand, and both aspects are indispensable in ensuring that police work is conducted in the best manner. However, police work in the field is always more challenging than police work in the office, and a lot of police officers have to be deployed to carry out patrols. As such, the police department can hire some civilians to carry out administrative duties; this will enable the department to send many officers to the field, and this will make the police department very efficient in maintaining order in the streets.
Hiring of civilians will ensure that all people trained as police officers perform their duties as police officers. Apparently, some police officers never get to go to the field, and they just sit on their expertise that could go a long way in curbing crime. Therefore, hiring of civilians will give these police officers a chance to experience the reality of police work. It will also reduce crime rate since police will be many in the field, and any emergency will be responded to promptly. This will give criminals a hard time since they will not manage to conduct criminal activities. In fact, criminals might even change their lives and become responsible citizens since they will realize that their efforts have been blocked by the police. The public will also feel secure, and they will trust the police force. As such, the public will be ready to assist the police with any information needed to curb crime.
Civilians will also work efficiently as administrators in the police department since they understand the structure of the society. Therefore, they will follow the social knowledge they have to make sure that the administration of the police is in line with the laws of the society; these are members of the society, and they understand the things that should be prioritized. They also know the areas that are potential to attacks by criminals, and they will deploy more police to such areas. This will in turn secure the whole society, and the crime rates will be reduced in very significant proportions.
Management
From a management perspective, the police officers stand to be deployed more in areas that have high crime rate. This is because trained policemen have the tactics and knowledge that will assist them deal with criminals. These people have also taken a vow to serve and protect civilians and it will be within their duty that they will be deployed. In this essay, civilians have been discussed as some very essential agents of bringing down the crime rate; however, these civilians also have a right to be protected by the police force (Sugarman, 2012). Therefore, the management should ensure that, after identifying culprits of crime, civilians should be taken from the line of duty, and the police should take over. In the past, civilians have assisted the police in arresting criminals, and this has reduced crime rate by a big margin.
The civilians taking part in assisting the police should also be given some basic training on the ethics of conducting their services in for the police. They should ensure that they maintain law and act only when they are asked to do so. They need to be taught some basic aspects of law to avoid putting the police in jeopardy. This will ensure that they assist the police without destroying the reputation of the police force.
Conclusion
As earlier stated, NYPD should employ the assistance of civilians in assisting the police. This has a lot of advantages; the civilians know criminals in their midst, and they can predict when these criminals are about to carry out some crime. As such, civilians can help the police catch these criminals. Civilians can also infiltrate criminal gangs better than the police, and they can give indispensable information in curbing and ending these gangs. All in all, civilians play a very significant role in curbing crime.
