Police: Residency Requirements
Work equals home:
Police confined by residency requirements
Introduction to Law Enforcement
Professor Joseph Alkus
Bethanie Sessoms
April 11th, 2013
Introduction As a particular saying goes, “Home is where the heart is.” This statement rings true to many individuals who view home as an escape from the outside world, an abode, a place of relaxation and comfort. For police officers, they too hold a similar notion, viewpoint of home. Yet for some, officers are restricted to where exactly the place where they call home resides. For many police departments, residency requirements are put into place for officers to live or reside in the area in which they work. These requirements, this type of policy can affect police in a number of areas. Yet perhaps it is better that police residency remain a choice and instead there could be other ways to instill the same commitment from police to the community without the need or requirement for them to inhabit it.
Residency Requirements (R.R.) Residency requirements, as they relate to law enforcement, are requirements of a policy that require police officers to either to do one or in some cases all of the following: live in the city, live in the city within one year of hiring, and live in the neighborhood where assignments are. The reasons or main philosophy behind these requirements are to enforce a sense of community between the police and its residents. Its reasoning is to help foster trust or oneness between the law and the citizens in which they seek to protect, better community relations so to speak. These requirements, however, are ensuring that essentially police officers are restricted to where they choose to reside or the specific town. Though police have the option of choosing which street or area they choose to call “home,” they are controlled or limited as to exactly where that is: the city. For police officers, this policy is not up for debate. It comes with the job and if it is not
Police confined by residency requirements
Introduction to Law Enforcement
Professor Joseph Alkus
Bethanie Sessoms
April 11th, 2013
Introduction As a particular saying goes, “Home is where the heart is.” This statement rings true to many individuals who view home as an escape from the outside world, an abode, a place of relaxation and comfort. For police officers, they too hold a similar notion, viewpoint of home. Yet for some, officers are restricted to where exactly the place where they call home resides. For many police departments, residency requirements are put into place for officers to live or reside in the area in which they work. These requirements, this type of policy can affect police in a number of areas. Yet perhaps it is better that police residency remain a choice and instead there could be other ways to instill the same commitment from police to the community without the need or requirement for them to inhabit it.
Residency Requirements (R.R.) Residency requirements, as they relate to law enforcement, are requirements of a policy that require police officers to either to do one or in some cases all of the following: live in the city, live in the city within one year of hiring, and live in the neighborhood where assignments are. The reasons or main philosophy behind these requirements are to enforce a sense of community between the police and its residents. Its reasoning is to help foster trust or oneness between the law and the citizens in which they seek to protect, better community relations so to speak. These requirements, however, are ensuring that essentially police officers are restricted to where they choose to reside or the specific town. Though police have the option of choosing which street or area they choose to call “home,” they are controlled or limited as to exactly where that is: the city. For police officers, this policy is not up for debate. It comes with the job and if it is not
Cited: Page Johnson, K. (2006). Police, firefighters challenge residency rules. USA Today, Walters, L. S. (1995). Home is where your paycheck is. Christian Science Monitor, 87(104), 4.