UNIT II

MODELS OF POLICING SYSTEMS

Unit Objective: Identify the different models of policing system and how they function and how
they evolved.

SOCIETAL TYPES AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS

Societal Types

Folk-communal Society – has little codification of law, no specialization among police, and a system
of punishment that just let things go for awhile without attention until things become too much, and then
harsh, barbaric punishment is resorted to. Classic examples include the early Roman gentiles, African
and Middle Eastern tribes, and Puritan settlements in North America.

Urban-commercial Society – has civil law (some standards and customs are written down),
specialized police forces (some for religious offenses, others for enforcing the King’s Law), and
punishment is inconsistent, sometimes harsh, sometimes lenient. Most of Continental Europe developed
along this path.

Urban-industrial Society – not only has codified laws but laws that prescribe good behavior, police
become specialized in how to handle crimes, and the system of punishment is run on market principles of
creating incentives and disincentives. England and the U.S. followed this positive legal path.

Bureaucratic Society – has a system of laws, police who tend to keep busy handling political crime
and terrorism, and a system of punishment characterized by over criminalization and overcrowding.
Juvenile delinquency is a phenomenon that occurs only in a bureaucratic society.

Types of Criminal Justice Systems

A. Common Law Systems

Common Law Systems are also known as Anglo-American Justice, and exits in most English-
speaking countries of the world. They are distinguished by a strong adversarial system where lawyers
interpret and judges are bound by precedents. Common Law systems are distinctive n the significance
that they attach to the importance of previously decided cases. They primarily rely upon oral systems of
evidence in which the public trial is a main focal point.

B. Civil Law Systems

These are also known as Continental justice, or Romano-Germanic justice, and practiced throughout
most of the European Union. They are distinguished by a strong inquisitorial system where less right is
granted to the accused, and the written law is taken as gospel and subject to little interpretation. For
example, a French maxim goes like this: “if a judge knows the answer, he must not be prohibited from
achieving it by undue attention to regulations of procedure and evidence”. By contrast, the common law
method is for a judge to at least suspend belief until the event of a trial is over. Legal scholarship is much
more sophisticated and elitist in civil law systems, as opposed to the more democratic common law
countries where just about anybody can get into law school. Romano-Germanic systems are founded on
the basis of natural law, which is a respect for tradition and custom. The sovereigns, or leaders, of a civil
law system are considered above the law, as opposed to the common law notion that “nobody is above
the law”.

C. Socialist Systems
The Marxist-Leninist justice, as these systems are commonly known, exist in many places where
there have been a Communist revolution or the remnants of one. They are distinguished by procedures
designed to rehabilitate or restrain people into fulfilling their responsibilities to the state. It is the ultimate
expression of positive law, designed to move the state forward toward the perfectibility of state and
mankind. It is also primarily characterized by administrative law, where non-legal officials make most of
the decisions. For example, in a socialist state, neither judges nor lawyers are allowed to make law. Law
is the same as policy, and an Orthodox Marxist view is that eventually, the law will not be necessary
anymore.

D. Islamic Systems
These justice systems are also known as Muslim or Arabic justice, and derive all their procedures and
practices from interpretation of the Koran (Shariah Law). Islamic systems in general are characterized by
the absence of positive law (the use of law to move societies forward toward some progressive future)
and are based more on the concept of natural justice (crimes are considered acts of injustice that conflict
with tradition). Religion plays an important role in Islamic systems. Most nations of this type are
theocracies, where legal and religious rule go together.

MODELS OF POLICING SYSTEMS

Traditional Policing:
Within a traditional policing model, the police officer would respond when a call came in that a crime
occurred. Once the officer responded to the crime, the officer would then take a report and hand the
investigation off to a detective. At this point, the officer would go back to his patrol car and wait for another
call to come in that a crime had occurred. The officer has little interaction with the citizens within a
community and can end up responding to crimes at various points in the city. The officer does not know
hardly anyone in the areas where he is responding nor do the citizens really know the officers.
Also under this type of policing, there is nothing in place to try to prevent crime from occurring. It is
just a supply and demand sort of policing system.
You have seen the police shows were a crime took place and no witnesses are talking. Well in this
police shows this is the type of policing model that is being used.

Problem Solving Policing:

Within this model there is an emphasis on trying and prevent crime from happening. This policing
model has detectives watching for patterns in crimes to help understand when and how crimes are being
committed. Once they have a pattern they will search for ways in which to help prevent crimes from
continuing to happen in those areas. This model has more of a proactive stance than the traditional
policing models do. Police shows such as the Profiler that shows FBI agents looking for a pattern to try to
catch a criminal are showing this form of policing.

Community-Oriented Policing:
Within this model the officers will take a more community involvement stance. No longer does an
officer sit in his patrol car and wait for a call that a crime has happened. Within this type of policing, the
officers will have a zone in which to work in during their shifts. This is their area and they will work to get
to know the citizens of the community and help out in anyway they can. The officers will make their
presence known and also rely on community citizens to report any suspicious behavior or tips on
criminals in the area.
This method takes a lot of trust on the officer's part as well as the citizen's part. They will have to trust
each other and know that each other is looking out for them. Many citizens have stated to several
agencies that when they know the officers they start to view them as part of their family and are willing to
look out for "their officers" and help keep them safe. The old black and white show Andy Griffin shows
Mayberry and all the towns' people at one time or another coming to Andy with a minor problem and he
was always willing to help. Well this show falls under the whole Community Policing mode where the
officer is a friend and willing to help the citizens and get to know them. Then when something bad
happens the whole community will pull together to stop the crimes from happening or continuing.
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