NCJ Number
168249
Journal
Police Studies Volume: 18 Issue: 3 & 4 Dated: (1995) Pages: 1-18
Date Published
1995
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This paper focuses on police dilemmas that derive from conflicting values, as demonstrated in Waco, Texas, and the Los Angeles riots.
Abstract
The paper is based on the thesis that Bittner's structural conception of policing facilitates a better understanding of cultural, legal, and political dilemmas created by events such as Waco and the Los Angeles riots in which state authority is defied. Although the urban riots in Los Angeles represent a very different social phenomenon from Waco, they involve similar dynamics for the police. In both cases, the authority of the state is directly confronted and circumstances limit the effective use or threat of force. Because violent confrontations such as Waco and urban riots occur infrequently, are randomly dispersed among political jurisdictions and agencies, and defy solution, their underlying structural nature has not received the attention of interest groups, police administrators, politicians, and scholars. Nonetheless, violent events affirm the essence of Bittner's thesis about conflict between the police role and its social construction. The events raise the possibility that the social construction of the police role may be the only available means of avoiding a structural conflict. The use of police force and militarization of the police are discussed. 41 references and 25 notes