Police Patrol & Order Maintenance

Police Patrol & Order Maintenance

1. Patrol & Police Response

   • Purpose of Police Response - • The police officer responded to the woman in Walmart because she was trespassing in which this shows that this was not an isolated situation
   • Officer actions • The initial officer responded to a call for service and tried to keep public order. He also used Patrol discretion when he approached the woman and noticed she may give him a hard time.
   • Reactive or Proactive Policing • The police response shown is reactive policing because the officer was responding to a call made about a woman trespassing

2. Discretion & Decision Making

   • Example of Discretion - • When the office approached the lady in Walmart it seemed like he used his discretion to offer a citation first and he also tried to de-escalate the situation by hearing the lady and allowing for her to feel safe. Here is when the first officer realized that this situation was not going to end well.
   • Factors Influencing the Decision - • When the second officer approached and was stern with the lady also offering a citation and asking for her to leave the store, discretion was made that she would be place under arrest. They placed her under arrest because she was telling them what she would not do and what they were not going to do. She was very defensive in her verbiage and while the officers were placing handcuffs.
   • Formal vs Informal Response - • At first the responding officer gave a informal response to the situation by giving the lady an opportunity to walk away with a citation and leave the store. This changed once the lady refused to cooperate, which then led the officer to say she would be placed under arrest. The second officer also was informal at first but more stern. The formal response came once officers knew that she would not comply, so they made an arrest.

3. Communication & Police- Community Interaction

   • Officer Communication - • The responding officer communicated with the with a peacemaking role just by how he approached her. He actively listened at first and also reassured he was just trying to understand what was going on. He allowed her to call 911 dispatch. He verbally communicated why he was there. He told her what the citation was for.
   • Public Response - • The lady tried to persuade the officers that she was not doing anything wrong. She was very defensive and yelling inside of Walmart.
   • Professionalism & Trust - • The two officer's communications and actions showed that they were trustworthy, transparent, and tried to de-escalate the situation. They showed a lot of professionalism.

4. Connecting Theory to Practice

   • Textbook Connection - • On important concept that the officers used during this situation is Communication. Both officers used active listening, gave clear commands, and said what would be their next course of action. They listened to the woman’s concerns and told her why they were there. They gave her the choice to walk away with just a citation and when they realized she would not comply, they told her that she is being placed under arrest.
   • Challenge of Patrol Work - • The challenges that the officers faced during this encounter was handling an individual in crisis. During the encounter, the woman's responses did not connect to what was happening. Also, she kept stating that she did not have a trespassing which in fact she did.
   • My Assessment - • From what I saw in the encounter I feel like the decision to arrest the woman was the right thing to do. The officers used many forms of discretion, tried to keep the peace, and order maintenance. The lady was not trying to help herself so to prevent it from turning into a prolonged encounter they made the decision to arrest her.