The fourth era of policing: Homeland security

Abstract

American policing has been said to have gone through three eras: the political, reform, and community; and consists of four different models of policing: traditional, community policing, problem-oriented and zero-tolerance. With the tragic events of 11 September 2001, and the government's movement toward enhanced domestic security, the author argues that we have entered a new era in American policing and are witnessing the adaptation of a new style of policing, namely Homeland Security. Drawing upon the works of Kelling and Moore (G L Kelling and M H Moore in Perspectives on Policing No 4, Washington DC, National Institute of Justice, 1988; G L Kelling and M H Moore, in J R Greene and S D Mastrofski (eds) Community Policing: Rhetoric or Reality? Praeger, 1991, pp 3–25) and Greene (J R Greene in Criminal Justice 2000: Policies, Processes, and Decisions of the Criminal Justice System Vol 3, 2000), the author advances their work to highlight what this new era and style of policing means for American policing.

Notes

1. See W M Oliver ‘“The era of homeland security” September 1, 2001 to …’ Crime & Justice International, Vol 21, No 85, pp 9–17, 2005; W M Oliver ‘The homeland security juggernaut: the end of the community policing era?’ Crime & Justice International Vol 20, pp 4–10, 2004.

2. It should be noted that this article is American-centric, but hopefully has some relevance to other international experiences with regard to the concepts of Homeland Security. Further research in this area is needed. For instance, did the London subway bombings and the Spain train station bombings invoke similar reactions by the government and are they witnessing similar changes in policing?

3. D D Bodrero ‘Law enforcement's new challenge to investigate, interdict, and prevent terrorism’ The Police Chief Vol 69, pp 41–48, 2002.

4. As of this writing the USA PATRIOT Act has been given a one month extension and must be reconsidered by Congress by 31 January 2006, or the law will die.

5. K Maguire and A L Pastore Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Available on-line at: http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/, accessed 17 July 2005.

6. Ibid, Table 2.16.

7. Ibid, Table 2.30.

8. Ibid, Table 2.31.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid.

11. J R Greene ‘Community policing in America: changing the nature, structure, and function of the police’ Criminal Justice 2000: Policies, Processes, and Decisions of the Criminal Justice System Vol 3, U.S. Government, Printing Office, Washington, DC, 2000; W M Oliver and E Bartgis ‘Community policing: a conceptual framework’ Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management Vol 21, pp 490–509, 1998; W V Pelfrey Jr ‘Precipitating factors of paradigmatic shift in policing: the origin of the community policing era’ in G P Alpert and A Piquero (eds) Community Policing: Contemporary Readings, pp 79–94, Waveland Publishers, Prospect Heights, IL, 1998.

12. A Gowri ‘Community policing is an epicycle’ Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management Vol 26, pp 591–611, 2003.

13. W M Oliver ‘The third generation of community policing: moving through innovation, diffusion, and institutionalization’ Police Quarterly Vol 3, pp 367–388, 2000.

14. R Yin Changing in Urban Bureaucracies: How New Practices Become Routinized Lexington Books, Lexington, MA, 1979.

15. Pelfrey, op cit, note 11, p 90.

16. G L Kelling and M H Moore ‘The evolving strategy of policing’, Perspectives on Policing, No 4, National Institute of Justice, Washington DC, 1988.

17. G L Kelling and M H Moore ‘From political to reform to community: the evolving strategy of police’ in J R Greene and S D Mastrofski (eds) Community Policing: Rhetoric or Reality? Praeger, Westport, CT, 1991, pp 3–25 at p 23.

18. Greene, op cit, note 11.

19. Kelling and Moore, op cit, note 17, p 23; Kelling and Moore, op cit, note 16; M H Moore and G L Kelling ‘To serve and protect: learning from police history’, The Public Interest Vol 70, pp 49–65, 1983.

20. A Chandler Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of American Industrial Enterprise, MIT Press, Boston, MA, 1962, as cited in Kelling and Moore, op cit, note 17, p 3.

21. Kelling and Moore, op cit, note 17, p 23; Kelling and Moore, op cit, note 16.

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid.

24. Maguire and Pastore, op cit, note 5.

25. Greene, op cit, note 11.

26. Ibid, p 309.

27. Ibid.

28. Ibid.

29. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States The 9/11 Commission Report W.W. Norton, New York, 2004.