Discuss Wilson's typology of policing

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• The Watchman Style places great emphasis on order maintenance and individual officer discretion. Because most policing activity takes place on the street, officers are less concerned with law enforcement than keeping the peace in their patrol areas, with the result that minor infractions of the law are generally overlooked. With this style officers "avoid trouble" and to rely on informal, nonlegalistic means of resolving conflicts. Police departments adopting this style rarely engage in research or systematic planning and tend to suffer from problems of discriminatory arrests and corruption, because there are few effective restraints on the activities of individual officers.
• The Legalistic Style emphasizes the importance of law enforcement and maintaining clear and impartial legal standards for both the police and public alike. Police departments organized along legalistic lines tend to be bureaucratic, use performance indicators as a means of promoting professional standards, and place considerable importance on research and planning. In addition, individual officers are less inclined to exercise curbside discretion, preferring instead to refer to the law and make arrests. Corruption is far less pervasive and discrimination less institutionalized than under the watchman model.
• The Service Style sees the police primarily as servants of the community. Although law enforcement and order maintenance remain priorities, emphasis is placed on maintaining good police—public relations and on the use of informal policing methods aimed at keeping offenders out of the criminal justice system. As a consequence, service-style departments tend to favor strategies that are proactive and heavily oriented toward crime prevention, with individual officers preferring to avoid reference to the law when dealing with the public.