Contemporary Issues in Policing
Midterm Exam
Course Introduction
This course explores the evolving landscape of policing in contemporary society, focusing on critical issues such as police accountability, use of force, community relations, diversity and inclusion, and the impact of technology on law enforcement practices. Through case studies, current events, and academic literature, students will examine the challenges and opportunities faced by modern police organizations. The course also addresses policy debates and reform initiatives, encouraging students to analyze and propose solutions for enhancing public trust and effectiveness in policing.
Recommended Textbook POLICE 2nd Edition by John S. Dempsey
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15 Chapters
848 Verified Questions
848 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Police History
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51 Verified Questions
51 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The first specialized investigative unit in Rome was called "questors," which means:
A)finders of criminals
B)capturers
C)enforcers
D)trackers of murders
Answer: D
Q2) According to the Statute of Winchester, when would persons be required to assist the watch?
A)during a storm
B)when the watch pronounced the hue and cry
C)when the police officers were on leave
D)when sworn in by the sheriff
Answer: B
Q3) The _______________ gives law enforcement new ability to search, seize, detain, or eavesdrop in their pursuit of possible terrorists.
Answer: USA Patriot Act
Q4) The "watch and ward" required all men to serve on the ___________.
Answer: Night Watch
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Chapter 2: Organizing Security in the United States
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62 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) A state law enforcement system that provides for separate agencies for traffic enforcement and other state-level law enforcement functions is generally called the _____ model.
A)decentralized
B)separate
C)centralized
D)total
Answer: A
Q2) Forty-nine of the fifty U.S.states have a primary state law enforcement agency.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) The Department of Justice is under the control of the U.S.Attorney General.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) A controversial issue in current law enforcement is the cooperation and escalating involvement of local police with federal immigration officials in enforcing _____________ laws.
Answer: immigration
Page 4
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Chapter 3: Organizing the Police Department
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64 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Informal job actions by officers in which they refuse to perform certain job functions is known as the _____________________.
Answer: blue flu
Q2) The group of officers supervised by a particular sergeant is called a:
A)department
B)squad
C)platoon
D)precinct
Answer: B
Q3) Who is generally in charge of a squad?
A)master patrol officer
B)corporal
C)lieutenant
D)sergeant
Answer: D
Q4) The concept that each individual in an organization is directly accountable to only one supervisor is called ____________________.
Answer: unity of command
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Becoming a Police Officer
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Sample Questions
Q1) Courts typically do not support minimum height and weight requirements for police officers but do support the need for maximum weight standards or a weight-to-height proportion ratio.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Select the correct answer regarding police age requirements.
A)Most departments require beginning officers to be less than 29 years old.
B)Most departments require beginning officers to be less than 35 years old.
C)Most departments have no maximum age limit.
D)Fifty percent of departments have maximum age limits.
Q3) What percentage of the United States law enforcement agencies has vacancies according to your text?
A)60%
B)80%
C)40%
D)35%
Q4) The average probationary period for police officers ranges from ____________________.
Q5) On-the-job training of recently graduated recruits from the police academy is called ____________________.
6
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Chapter 5: The Police Role and Police Discretion
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61 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Define discretion.Discuss some of the major ways police exercise discretion.
Q2) The primary goal or objective of the police should be to arrest all offenders.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The two primary goals and objectives of police departments, according to Sheehan and Cordner are:
A)maintain order and protect life
B)investigate crimes and make arrest
C)maintain order and prevent crime
D)arrest individuals and protect property
Q4) The Bigtown Police Department maintains order through informal police intervention, including persuasion and threats, or hassling or roughing up disruptive people instead of formal arrests.According to James Q.Wilson, it would be considered to be a _____ department.
A)watchman
B)legalistic
C)moralistic
D)service
Q5) What are some of the major factors that influence police discretion?
Q6) What do you think the police's role really is?
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Police Culture, Personality, and Stress
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62 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The police subculture is characterized by clannishness, secrecy, and isolation from those not in the group.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The deadliest decade for law enforcement officers so far was the _________.
Q3) Under stressful circumstances, quantities of______________, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands, are released into the bloodstream.
Q4) Studies indicate that police officers are _____ more likely to suffer from alcoholism than the average citizen.
A)25%
B)55%
C)75%
D)300%
Q5) According to your text, which is not an issue related to stress:
A)stroke
B)ulcers
C)impotence
D)AIDS
Q6) Why do police officers socialize together?
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Minorities in Policing
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50 Verified Questions
50 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Detail the case of Griggs v.Duke Power Company, and explain the impact that this case has had on police hiring.
Q2) In 1968, the Chicago Police Department assigned Barbara Blankenbaker and Susan Conick to patrol.They were the first females to wear a uniform and a gun belt and to drive a marked patrol car responding to calls for service on an equal basis with men.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The number of Hispanic American officers has increased significantly in the last two decades, as has their percentage in the general population.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The simultaneous expectation by white officers that African American officers will give members of their own race better treatment and receive hostility from the African American community because they are perceived as traitors to their race is known as
Q5) How effective are women as patrol officers as compared to their male counterparts?
Q6) Discuss the many ways that women have been discriminated against in policing.
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Police Ethics and Police Deviance
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57 Verified Questions
57 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Basic ethics are the rather broad moral principles that govern all conduct, whereas applied ethics focuses these broad principles upon specific applications.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which is not a type of liability officers and departments need to be aware of?
A)civil liability
B)administrative liability
C)criminal liability
D)all are liabilities to the officer and department
Q3) __________ are items of value received by someone because of his or her role or job rather than because of a personal relationship.
Q4) Units within police departments that "police the police" are called ____________________.
Q5) Police corruption and police brutality are the most serious forms of police deviance.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Explain the slippery slope theory and how it relates to gratuities.
Q7) Explain biased-based policing.
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Chapter 9: Patrol Operations
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Sample Questions
Q1) Most police patrol today is performed by uniformed officers in radio-equipped patrol cars or on foot.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The traffic enforcement function in policing always ranks high as an area of concern among the public.
A)True
B)False
Q3) __________________ involve/s the use of traditional patrol operations in a more aggressive manner.
A)Problem-oriented policing
B)Problem-solving policing
C)Community policing
D)Uniformed tactical operations
Q4) Police officers may use potentially deadly force (ramming a vehicle, for example) to end a high-speed chase of a suspect whose actions risk the safety of other drivers and pedestrians.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 10: Investigations
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Sample Questions
Q1) The National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals recommended that detectives should only be assigned to preliminary investigations of:
A)felonies
B)crimes of violence
C)very serious crimes and crimes requiring complex preliminary investigations
D)all of the above
Q2) Repeat offender programs (ROPs) are based on the fact that only a few criminals are responsible for most of the predatory street crime in the United States.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Discuss some of the strengths and weaknesses involved in the use of multi-agency task forces.
Q4) Detectives in a decentralized squad are considered _____.
A)specialists
B)generalists
C)to be in field training
D)felony-only detectives
Q5) What are decoy programs? Describe a typical decoy operation.
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Chapter 11: Police and the Community
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Sample Questions
Q1) African Americans represent approximately _____ of the U.S.population.
A)10.1%
B)13%
C)14.1%
D)22.7%
Q2) The police do not deal with the homeless as they are only referred to social service organizations.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What is the rationale behind DARE programs?
Q4) Throughout the United States, there are more than __________ different Native American tribal groups, all with distinct histories, cultures, and often a separate language.
Q5) One of the most significant problems facing the police during the past three decades has been the tension, and often outright hostility, between the police and minority group citizens.Most of this tension has focused on relationships between ________________and the police.
Q6) Why have some police departments historically had a poor relationship with the African American community?
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Chapter 12: Community Policing: The Debate Continues
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Sample Questions
Q1) The concept of problem-oriented policing can be attributed to Herman Goldstein.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following was not one of the corporate strategies of policing described by the Executive Sessions on Policing?
A)team policing
B)strategic policing
C)community policing
D)problem-solving policing
Q3) "Signals" that communities and neighborhoods are encouraging crime are:
A)broken windows
B)disorder
C)decay
D)all are examples
Q4) The plan initiated in 1997 allowing police officers to receive 50 percent discounts and low-cost loans to purchase homes in "distressed" areas nationwide is called the
Q5) ____________________ was established to administer the grant money provided by the 1994 Crime Bill and to promote community policing.
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Chapter 13: Police and the Law
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Sample Questions
Q1) The U.S.Supreme Court has ruled that a warrantless search of a vehicle is valid if the police have probable cause to believe that the car contains evidence that they are seeking.This decision is known as:
A)the Stout doctrine
B)the Carroll doctrine
C)the exclusionary rule
D)fruits of the poisonous tree doctrine
Q2) Search warrants are necessary for all searches by police officers.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Explain the significance of the Dickerson decision.
Q4) The Bill of Rights applies only to the actions of government agents; it does not apply to private security employees or private citizens not acting on behalf of, or with, official law enforcement agencies.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The pattern of brutality and violence used by the police to obtain confessions by suspects is known as ____________________.
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Chapter 14: Computers, Technology, and Criminalistics in Policing
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57 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is used in the examination of hairs, fibers, and paints?
A)ballistics
B)serology
C)criminalistics
D)chemistry
E)document analysis
Q2) ________ technology can be used to search for stolen vehicles, vehicles listed in AMBER Alerts, or vehicles driven by wanted persons.
Q3) Marks made by fingers touching a surface after the ridges have been in contact with a colored material such as blood, paint, grease, or ink are called:
A)inked prints
B)latent prints
C)plastic prints
D)acoustic prints
Q4) NCIC stands for ____________________.
Q5) Discuss fingerprint technology.How has it evolved over the years?
Q6) Discuss the latest innovations in the examination of fingerprints.
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Q7) Trace evidence is analyzed by the ____________________ section of the crime lab.
Q8) Define DNA, and explain the accuracy of the results of genetic fingerprinting
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Page 17
Chapter 15: Homeland Security
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Sample Questions
Q1) How does the USA Patriot Act support homeland security?
Q2) The TSA conduct security inspections of all air passengers and air travel.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What act established the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) within the Department of Transportation to protect the nation's transportation systems and ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce?
A)Johnson Act of 2003
B)Homeland Security Act
C)Rogers Act
D)Aviation and Transportation Security Act
Q4) "The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or a segment thereof, in the furtherance of political or social objectives" is the FBI's definition of:
A)counterterrorism
B)cyberterrorism
C)terrorism
D)intelligence
Q5) Describe and discuss the reasons terrorists commit their acts.
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