Criminal Justice Organizational Trends
Criminal Justice Organizational Trends
CJA/444
April 29, 2014
Tim Slovak
Criminal Justice Organizational Trends
The act of making or becoming different; change. Change is a process of evolution and remains constant. What accompanies change could be good or bad, but regardless of the change adjustments must be made to accommodate change. These changes, adjustments and accommodations, are referred to as trends. Such trends within United States criminal justice organizations are vital in keeping pace with societal change and combating crime. Some recent trends are the privatization and militarization of criminal justice organizations. In this writing, I will discuss and attempt to compare these trends with current criminal justice organizations.
The privatization of criminal justice organizations stems from the idea that awarding contracts to private companies that could run such services efficiently and effectively would potentially save and even earn the government money. (Nichols, 2010) To understand privatized policing we must first differentiate between police and private security force. Although both function as public safety officials and the duties performed are similar, they are two separate entities. “The term police typically refers to sworn officers working as members of the executive branch of government rather than to private security agents or agencies.”
(Forst, p. 22, 2000) A private security agency while serving in the same capacity as a police officer is defined differently. The private security term refers to “non governmentally provided services and products used to protect the lives and property of commercial and residential patrons against crime.” (Forst, p. 22, 2000) The most notable differences between police officers and private security agents would be that the police are sworn-in officers working as members of the government, while the privatized security agents do not work as members of the government
CJA/444
April 29, 2014
Tim Slovak
Criminal Justice Organizational Trends
The act of making or becoming different; change. Change is a process of evolution and remains constant. What accompanies change could be good or bad, but regardless of the change adjustments must be made to accommodate change. These changes, adjustments and accommodations, are referred to as trends. Such trends within United States criminal justice organizations are vital in keeping pace with societal change and combating crime. Some recent trends are the privatization and militarization of criminal justice organizations. In this writing, I will discuss and attempt to compare these trends with current criminal justice organizations.
The privatization of criminal justice organizations stems from the idea that awarding contracts to private companies that could run such services efficiently and effectively would potentially save and even earn the government money. (Nichols, 2010) To understand privatized policing we must first differentiate between police and private security force. Although both function as public safety officials and the duties performed are similar, they are two separate entities. “The term police typically refers to sworn officers working as members of the executive branch of government rather than to private security agents or agencies.”
(Forst, p. 22, 2000) A private security agency while serving in the same capacity as a police officer is defined differently. The private security term refers to “non governmentally provided services and products used to protect the lives and property of commercial and residential patrons against crime.” (Forst, p. 22, 2000) The most notable differences between police officers and private security agents would be that the police are sworn-in officers working as members of the government, while the privatized security agents do not work as members of the government
References: Bickel, K. (2013, December). Will the Growing Militarization of Our Police Doom Community Policing? Retrieved from COPS Community Oriened Policing Services: http://cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatch/12-2013/will_the_growing_militarization_of_our_police_doom_community_policing.asp Forst, B. (2000). The Privatization and Civilianization of Policing. Retrieved from National Criminal Justice Reference Service: https://www.ncjrs.gov/criminal_justice2000/vol_2/02c2.pdf Nichols, R. (2010, December). The Pros and Cons of Privatizing Government Functions. Governing the States and Localities, pp. 1-2. Trend alert: Police and fire department mergers. (2013, August 22). Retrieved from Envisge Technologies: http://www.envisagenow.com/trend-alert-police-and-fire-department-mergers/#sthash.agOVDL80.dpbs