Policing Final Exam, Questionnaire Example

1. Name five (5) agencies that are part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Five agencies that are part of the Department of Homeland Security include U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Transportation Security Administration, United States Coast Guard, National Protection and Programs Directorate, and United States Secret Service.

2. List the responsibilities assigned to the U.S. Secret Service

The United States Secret service is responsible for financial crimes against the country and protection of the country’s leaders.

3. Who was August Vollmer?

August Vollmer helped develop the criminal justice field. He was responsible for reorganizing the Berkley police force during his time as chief and did a large amount of research to modernize the approach to criminal justice. He was also the first to require police officers to obtain degrees and started his own criminal justice college program.

4. List five (5) ways that police patrol.

The five ways that police patrol include the use of high-tech pin mapping, community-oriented policing, random beat patrols, staking out the criminal, and random searches.

5. List the responsibilities assigned to the U.S. Marshals Service.

The U.S. Marshals are the chief law officers of the federal court. Their responsibilities include custody and transport of criminals, execute court orders and warrants, and control property seized as evidence.

6. What is a major requirement of the Gun Control Act of 1968?

The Gun Control Act of 1968 primarily prohibits the transportation of guns between states without holding a license for that specific purpose.

7. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 created the cabinet-level department now called what?

Secretary of Homeland Security.

8. Order the following police ranks in the chain of command from the lowest to the highest. (Corporal)-(Patrol Officer)

Chief -> Assistant Chief -> Captain->Lieutenant->Sergeant-> Corporal-> Patrol Officer

9. List the seven (7) steps of a preliminary investigation.

Observing the conditions of the potential crime, identifying witnesses, maintaining the crime scene and protecting evidence, interviewing the witnesses and interrogating the suspects, arranging the collection of evidence, arresting the criminal, and reporting the incident.

10. Dactylograpy is an early term for what?

Fingerprinting for the use of identification.

11. Define community policing.

Community policing is a collaboration between the police and the local community to solve community problems.

12. What is civilianization when referring to a police agency?

To convert an agency that was once under police control to civilian control.

13. List the levels of the use of force (known as the use of force continuum) used by police agencies.

The levels of force include physical presence, verbal commands, empty-hand submission techniques, intermediate weapons, and lethal force.

14. Cite the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Fourth Amendment states “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized”.

15. Define a “reasonable expectation of privacy”.

A reasonable expectation privacy is one in which a person would usually expect or think is legitimate outside of the public eye.

16. Define “probable cause”.

Probable cause is a legally valid reason that police officers can use to obtain search warrants; there must be considerable belief that evidence is held within a private location for it to be accessed.

17. What is the exclusionary rule and what impact does it have on policing?

The exclusionary rule states that evidence obtained illegally cannot be used in court. This impacts policing because police officers must be sure to go through proper warrant procedures before obtaining evidence in private locations or the evidence will be useless in court.

18. Cite the Miranda Warning given to suspects prior to a custodial interrogation.

While the Supreme Court did not issue exact wording that police officers should use prior to conducting a custodial interrogation, it is important for the officer to tell the suspect that they have the right to remain silent and that everything they say can be held against them.

19. Summarize Weber’s five principles of effective bureaucracy.

The principles of effective bureaucracy include a formal hierarchical structure,

management by rules, organization by functional specialty, a focused goal, purposely impersonal structure, and job placement based on technical qualifications.

20. What is eustress?

Eustress means good stress.

21. List the five (5) phases that the police and others go through for coping with critical incidents, i.e. death.

The five stages of coping with loss and grief include denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

22. Define the police subculture.

Police subculture is a variety of procedures and values that guide law enforcers’ actions in relation to their contractual responsibilities.

23. What is the broken windows theory?

It states that monitoring and preventing low level crime in urban environments will prevent people from committing high level crimes such as murder.

24. Describe police discretion and list some advantages and disadvantages.

Police discretion is the power of the police officer to make decisions about a situation based on the knowledge that he or she has been given. This could be advantageous because it allows the decision to conform the unique situation, but it could be a disadvantage because other officers may not agree with the decision.

25. What police agencies police the campus of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College?

The Cincinnati State Police Department