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  • Essay / The Concept of Containment in Law Enforcement - 1070

    One of the primary roles of police officers is that of law enforcement. However, there are times when an officer may need to rely less on law enforcement and instead focus on keeping the peace in situations that are outside the norm. Such a situation exists in the police methods used in “disadvantaged” areas of society. These types of areas are an anomaly compared to the rest of the standard communities where simple law enforcement will not be enough. The goal in these areas is clearly to contain chaos using a hybrid form of community policing. Areas such as inner cities are filled with people who do not have the ability to function in normal society, and the mere fact that they exist is offensive to people. those who operate within the normal framework of a community (Bittner, 1967). Due to the primitive nature of individuals living in these chaotic zones, most agents find it necessary to fence off the area in which the behaviors occur to prevent it from assimilating into "normal" society. The need to contain areas similar to deprived neighborhoods is the responsibility of the police, and with few superiors to impose guidelines and the great discretion granted to the police, they assume the peacekeeping role and abandon the role of executor (Bittner, 1967). Maintaining peace is a difficult task in itself due to the uncontrolled lifestyle in deprived areas. It is therefore by focusing on maintaining order and protecting the external normality against the inhabitants of disadvantaged neighborhoods (Bittner, 1967) that officers use tactics when they choose not to enforce the law or make the decision to ignore a violation (Brown, 1981). According to Brown (1981), ignoring infractions results in a bartering situation between the medium of paper. What is related to both styles of policing is that community policing seeks to solve long-term problems. The term confinement translates into a disregard for the long term associated with confinement. Even though the concept of containment borrows some key points from the concept of community policing, the two remain very different. Officers choose to be peacekeepers in deprived areas and use confinement to protect the quality of life of community members outside the “jungle” that takes over deprived areas (Bittner, 1967). When faced with the choice of being tasked with enforcement or peacekeeping, officers find that keeping the peace is the most manageable approach in these areas. The dynamics of policing must be flexible depending on present situations. While the role of enforcer is often necessary in many situations, the role of peacekeeper is an essential role in the management of disadvantaged areas..