Police Models and the Justice System: Impact on Crime Control
Police Models: Traditional, Professional, and Proximity
Traditional Model
Refers to a kind of police force that is closely linked to power. Their main concern is order, not law. It is characterized by:
- A high level of discretion, i.e., they decide when to act without being subject to the law.
- Arrests are made for various reasons, not always to bring the person to justice, but as punishment, to get details, etc.
This policing style prevailed in the Franco era in Spain and is quite similar to the model prevailing in the 1950s in some U.S. counties.
Professional Model
This model has two fundamental characteristics: bureaucratization and motorization.
- Bureaucratization stems from the need for all police actions to be recorded. It seeks to decouple the police from political influence and enhance judicial oversight. The professional model, unlike the traditional one, centralizes operations in police stations and is open to the public from a single room.
- The professionalization of the police has led to a number of innovations, such as mobile phones, a fleet of patrol cars connected by radio, computers that create databases of people detained and searched, a system for rapid identification through fingerprints, and vehicle registration databases.
Professional police are governed by the rule of law, having to provide, in principle, the same interest in the investigation of all crimes.
Deficiencies of the Professional Model
- Excessive bureaucracy: Internal control based on police records, reports, and statistics becomes a major task of the police.
- The preventive effect of car patrols is low.
- Response time is not always crucial because not all calls are urgent.
- Police investigation accomplishes little.
- Discretion is inevitable. The principle of legality is relative.
Proximity Model
This model seeks to deepen contacts with residents. The idea is that through foot patrols, police should be able to accumulate information, prevent serious conflicts, and achieve enough public confidence to help with the clarification of crimes.
The Courts of Justice and Crime Control
One of the main features of the functioning of our courts is the slow process of criminal justice.
Reasons for Slow Criminal Processes
- This slowness is not due to the lack of legislation but precisely to the many complex and extensive criminal and procedural laws. The number of such detailed rules creates confusion and they are sometimes contradictory or inconsistent. This complicates their practical application. Furthermore, the many procedural requirements for obtaining and presenting evidence considerably delay its various phases.
- Poor contact between the various bodies involved: The police are responsible for presenting evidence (essential elements of the trial). However, the police are poorly directed by the judge. This lack of coordination among judges, prosecutors, and police means that many research results are incomplete or defective, producing a large number of acquittals for lack of valid evidence.
- Another factor is the requirement to notify the parties and other bodies of everything.