Part 1: Policing, DNA, Mental Health, and Rehabilitation

What do the topics in the title of this blog post have in common? They were the focus of the students' criminal justice presentations this week. Nine teams of students, two on each team, have been researching and preparing their presentations throughout the semester. Here are some of my takeaways from the first set of presentations. Evolving approaches to policing. One team of students looked into policing in the US and UK. They examined changes in the approaches to policing in New York City and London, particularly in the parts of each city characterized as “high crime” areas. Last year, the Mayor of London (Sadiq Khan, pictured) and London’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) issued a five-year plan detailing their priorities. The report emphasizes the importance of neighborhood policing, recognizing the need to put dedicated officers, “who know and are known to the communities they serve, back at the heart of policing in London.” Id. at 24. Doing so has two effects according to the report. It allows officers to address the crime and safety problems that most concern the residents and businesses in their local area. “At the same time, we want trust and confidence in the MPS to increase, particularly in those communities that have consistently lower levels of confidence” in the police. Id. at 26. The report recognizes that deep budget cuts in the last several years make it difficult for the MPS to fully implement neighborhood policing. The comparative lack of diversity in the MPS also may pose [...]