W6: Ashlee M
Contains unread posts
Ashlee Markovitz posted Mar 10, 2024 3:02 PM
Subscribe
What is the best type of budgeting method for a law enforcement agency, and specifically why? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this type of budget? Note this will require research outside of the provided readings. Keep in mind one might suggest a zero-based budget, incremental budget, activity-based budget, value proposition budget, Flexible budget, etc.
Police administration budgets have been at the forefront of police criticism in recent years, with some individuals supporting defunding the police, others wanting more money allocated to police training and education, and others wanting allocation for specialized services like mental health representatives responding to calls.
The budget method is not a one-size-fits-all fix, and the environment significantly impacts why and how policing strategies are enforced. Helena City in Montana took action to cut the police budget by reallocating $300,000 that went toward school resource officers. Senator Daines said, “These divisive actions take us further away from real reform and jeopardize the safety of both officers and the communities they serve.” The Washington police force denied cutting $27 billion over the next decade; that money will be spent employing 500 officers, recruiting, better facilities, increasing wages, and other stationery (Macmillan et al., 2012). This money will go into providing better resources and more officers to the streets, enabling officers to focus more on the job. Information suggests that overall fraud and other crime functions will be affected by decreasing police budgets while funding alternative options such as targeted policing, enhanced leadership, business process re-engineering, and the use of partners for research (Gayoso, 2013). Leaving police budgets as is will ensure officers keep doing their jobs at the level they have. Decreasing the police budget will constrain officers, potentially leading to retention problems and misconduct. Reallocating the police budget to specialty programs that aid police officers on specific calls can have beneficial impacts on community relationships and success rates. Each proposed budget has different strengths and weaknesses and depends on the communities if such changes need to be made and how to effectively make those changes, whether that is increasing or decreasing the budget.
References
Gayoso, J. (2013). Law enforcement budget cuts: The effects on economic crime investigations and other policing functions (Order No. 1546068). Available from ProQuest Central; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1449374141). http://ezproxy.apus.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fdissertations-theses%2Flaw-enforcement-budget-cuts-effects-on-economic%2Fdocview%2F1449374141%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D8289
Macmillan, J., Martin, L., & Wynne, G. (2012). Government does about turn on police budget cuts; The Police Minister Liza Harvey has announced $26.5 million will be returned to the police budget and a ban on hiring new officers has been lifted, just weeks after being imposed. ABC Premium Newshttp://ezproxy.apus.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fwire-feeds%2Fgovernment-does-about-turn-on-police-budget-cuts%2Fdocview%2F1112091288%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D8289
Sen. Daines Statement on Helena Cutting Law Enforcement Budget. (2020, Jul 10). Targeted News Service http://ezproxy.apus.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fwire-feeds%2Fsen-daines-statement-on-helena-cutting-law%2Fdocview%2F2422253185%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D8289
What is more stressful for the police officer – working the street or dealing with the agency administration? Why so? What can be done by the police administrator to reduce this stress felt by officers?
Policing is very stressful, whether officers are patrolling the streets, enforcing rules and regulations, or working from behind a desk. Law enforcement officers are entrusted with protecting the lives of the public, and in today’s environment, that means putting their own lives at stake. Especially today, police officers face even more stress because the public scrutinizes their every move. Both working on the street and dealing with agency administration are stress-inducing in their way. Each officer views this stress differently; one may think working on the streets is more stressful, while another officer thinks dealing with agency administration is more stressful. Abdollahi (2002) identified four types of stress police encounter throughout their time on the job: Intra-Interpersonal Stressors, Occupational Stressors, Organizational Stressors, and health consequences. Intra-interpersonal stressors officers face daily are fluctuating self-confidence and self-esteem, balancing optimism and pessimism, shifting between being extroverted and introverted, hardiness, type A personalities, and authoritarianism (Abdollahi, 2002).
Officers who struggle with self-confidence and self-esteem have greater satisfaction in their work (Hewitt & Flett, 1991); additionally, officers who have confidence in their abilities to carry out their tasks hold themselves in a higher regard and are more satisfied with their work and feel less stress (Frost et al., 1990). Stress from working on the street coupled with administration stress can drastically affect officer’s confidence in their training and ability to do the job, leading them to job dissatisfaction. Officers are more likely to be exposed to occupational stressors like disturbing images and forced encounters, circumstances that most other occupations can avoid (Stephens & Long, 2000), the increased stress of officer-involved shootings, a fellow officer being killed and being shot at is arguably more stressful than agency administration stress. Officers face administrative stressors, whether supervisors who are not equipped for their job, incompetence, unfair practices like negative discipline, lack of due process, unjustified disciplinary actions, unfair performance evaluations, and unfair promotions (Abdollahi, 2002). Police administrations cannot get rid of stress for officers; it is an occupational hazard that comes with the job, but there are ways to attempt to decrease stress, like providing family therapy; increased job stress is associated with a greater likelihood of problems in spousal relationships (Gül & Delıce, 2011). Educating officers will aid them in their abilities and confidence on the job, as well as providing more in-depth counseling and therapies for officers who have experienced both on-the-job stress and life stress.
References
Abdollahi, M. K. (2002). Understanding Police Stress Research. Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, 2(2), 1. https://doi-org.ezproxy1.apus.edu/10.1300/J158v02n02_01
Frost, R. O., Marten, P., Lahart, C., & Rosenblate, R. (1990). The dimensions of perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14 (5), 449-468.
Gül, Z., & Delıce, M. (2011). Police Job Stress and Stress Reduction/Coping Programs: The Effects on the Relationship with Spouses. Turkish Journal of Police Studies / Polis Bilimleri Dergisi, 13(3), 19–38.
Hewitt, P. L. & Flett, G. L. (1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: Conceptualization, assessment and association with psychopathology. Personality and Social Psychology, 60 (3), 456–470.
Stephens, C. & Long, N. (2000). Communication with work supervisors and peers as a buffer of work-related traumatic stress. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21, 407-424.
less
5 Unread
5
Unread
5 Replies
5
Replies
6 Views
6
Views
