Читать книгу Police in America - Steven G. Brandl - Страница 20

The police have been given a very difficult task: They are expected to prevent people from committing crimes and to solve the crimes they are unable to prevent. In doing this, the police maintain order in our society. However, many factors have been identified as contributing to criminal behavior, and the police do not control any of these factors. The police do not have any control over poverty, whether children grow up with proper role models, the weather, unemployment, or people’s self-control. Furthermore, the police are primarily reactive, which means they are dependent on citizens to notify them that a crime has occurred so they can respond, and crimes are often not reported to police. The police must operate within the confines of the law, and they operate with limited resources. All of these things considered, the police are often at a disadvantage in the “game” of cops and robbers, and this helps explain the seemingly low rate at which crimes are solved (Figure 1.1). This suggests that the police have an impossible mandate.²⁰

impossible mandate: This term reflects the idea that the police have been assigned the task of crime control, but because they cannot control the factors that cause crime, this task is difficult—if not impossible—to accomplish.

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Figure 1.1 Crimes Cleared (Solved) by the Police, 2017²¹

The police are expected to solve the crimes that they do not prevent, but for various reasons they have limited success in this regard.