Free «Comparison between the NYPD and the Abu Dhabi Police» Essay Paper

Introduction

The police are a very significant workforce that is mandated by law to effectively enforce the law and ensure order within the population. They are responsible for monitoring criminal activities, investigating crimes, making arrests, responding to emergency calls, and testifying in courts. Over the years, several countries have pushed for police reforms to fully enable the force to serve citizens efficiently. Activities such as increased remuneration for the police and adoption of modern techniques for solving disputes have immensely lifted the workforce and made them forge a good relationship with communities they serve. The focus of this paper is to provide a clear comparison between the Abu Dhabi Police and the NYPD. The comparison will touch on a number aspects familiar within the police force such as standard of policing, interaction with the public, organizational structure, and level of education among other performance benchmarks.

Police Standards

In any given professional field, there must be standards that guide professionals as they go about their tasks. Without a set of guiding standards, there will be misconduct that will not be adequately addressed due to the absence of any set rules that govern the conduct of workers in such a field. Similarly, the police have set standards that govern their behavior and conduct. In particular, this is necessary to ensure that the police do not overstep their roles in the course of enforcing the country's laws. In respect to the above, the NYPD is an exquisite example of adherence to police standards (Dahl, 2014). In the NYPD, police officers are required by law to have real virtues such as honesty, integrity, authority, respect, and courtesy. Virtues like these are meant to foster a proper understanding for both the police and the society, which in turn brings forth a mutually beneficial coexistence. Considering that Abu Dhabi is a young growing city with a small population size, its police force has not advanced in a manner that can be compared to that of the NYPD. In that sense, it is true to say that standards of the police in Abu Dhabi are still wanting. However, given that Abu Dhabi is an Emirate under Sharia laws with a strict code of Islam adopted in the state region, its police force is unable to make recommendable steps toward elevating its police standards. In general, the NYPD has operated for many years and this has given the force sufficient time to review its standard operating policies and make improvements where they are needed.

 

Type of service

Type of assignment

Title of your paper *

Academic level

Pages

Timeframe

Spacing

Currency

  Order now

Customer Relations in the Police Force

According to Bouranta, Siskos, and Tsotsolas (2015), customer service is paramount in forming a good relationship between those who serve and those who are to be served. It has been proved that organizations with good customer care have recorded improvement in their sales and clientele base. Most police departments all over the world have started to impart customer relation skills to their law-enforcement officers. Moreover, the advantage of this skill to the police is that they improve the quality of interaction between the police and people they ought to serve (Bornstein, Charles, Domingo, & Solis, 2012). Good customer relations within the police harness the flow of information from residents to the police.

The NYPD has exploited advantages of good relations with residents effectively. In this respect, the NYPD is keen on creating a good relationship between its workers, i.e. the police, and the public. For instance, whenever there are issues such as accidents, homicides, or robbery in the city, the NYPD always conducts a press conference to brief the public on the developments of the issue at hand. This is meant to ensure that the public is acutely aware of the activities of the police and that they are serving for the welfare of the city.

Besides, the NYPD has also joined social media; it has considered this move to strengthen community relations. A move of this nature is likely to give the force an overall view of how those using social media see activities of the police and what they can recommend to be changed. Conversely, the Abu Dhabi Police is very weak in terms of customer relations. They have not reinforced customer relations in their workforce; this results in a weak relationship between the police and the public. A state of this nature where the police and the public relate poorly is not conducive for combating crime in the society. People are never free to report social injustices to the police for fear of victimization or lack of action. Nonetheless, the Abu Dhabi Police force’s co-operation with the NYPD in recent years is likely to lead to changes in this respect, which might improve the overall operations of the Abu Dhabi Police.

Police Organization Structure

Any organization and any police department in any country must adopt an administrative structure that will enable a smooth flow of command and power. Failure to do this will result in chaos in the police department, which may significantly affect the workmanship in the service. Most police departments use an organizational structure similar to that of the British police. In such a structure, the entire police force is under the control of a police commissioner who is appointed by the head of the state or a town mayor depending on the rules of a country. Under the commissioner, there are deputies who are responsible for overseeing various activities of numerous police departments.

Stay Connected

Live Chat Order now

The NYPD’s organizational structure is quite elaborate as compared to that of the Abu Dhabi Police. Particularly, this is attributed to a large population of New York City, which is estimated to be 8.406 million people (Bornstein et al., 2012). A large population size of this level requires many law-enforcement officers to ensure order and harmony in the city (Bornstein et al., 2012). In addition, in policing vastness of the area of jurisdiction must be taken into consideration. The NYPD has several departments, including policing operations, customer desk, central services, and many others. Compared to that of Abu Dhabi, a complex organizational structure may not be as a simpler and smaller one. In this manner, it is easier for the police in Abu Dhabi to attain success than for the NYPD as the chain of command in small and information is passed down the structure faster and more easily.

Police Education

In the past, the police force was considered to be a profession for people with menial abilities. As such, people who failed to make it to higher levels of education were advised to join the police department. However, with the increased need to address emerging issues in the society, there has been an effort to make the police a profession that consists of highly skilled individuals. Notably, most police forces demand such skills as detective skills, forensic science skills, and many other advanced skills.

Generally, the entire force has upgraded its level of expertise to equip the police with all necessary skills that will make them actually carry out their duties efficiently (Bornstein et al., 2012). Many countries have colleges and academies where their police officers are trained for a given period to impart in them proper skills that would assist them in delivering services to the public. In the NYPD, the force has several units and recruits are supposed to choose which unit they prefer to join. During training, recruits are taught many skills. For instance, recruits are taught skills such as communication skills, customer relation skills, crowd dispersal techniques, and use of different firearms.

However, in Abu Dhabi things are a bit different as the college entitled with the mandate of teaching new recruits required skills is small and is not very well equipped like the NYPD academy (Bornstein et al., 2012). Lately, the Abu Dhabi Police have been working closely with the NYPD and some of its law-enforcement officers have been attending lessons with their counterparts in the NYPD academy. Primarily, this is meant to give the Abu Dhabi Police expertise on how to handle various emerging issues in the society such as terrorism.

Police Performance

There have been efforts by several cities and countries to improve the performance of their police force. Governments have improved working conditions of law-enforcement officers to enable them to deliver their duties. In addition, they have been supplied with modern equipment to allow them to easily combat crimes in the community. Lately, the NYPD has been ratifying measures to ensure that police officers are treated cordially to foster good attitudes toward their jobs (Dahl, 2014). The performance of the NYPD is commendable. There have been profound reforms in the department, which have enabled them to achieve this success.

In turn, the Abu Dhabi Police ranks low on performance. The police in Abu Dhabi are not very appreciated as compared to their counterparts in New York City. Police in Abu Dhabi are perceived to be brutal and not of help to the public. For instance, migrants in Abu Dhabi highly disregard the police due to their lack of action in response to those employees who mistreat these migrants. Given that the population size of Abu Dhabi is small, it is expected that the police can easily improve their performance. However, that is not the case; the NYPD is placed higher regarding performance than the Abu Dhabi Police.

Police/People Ratio

According to the United Nations’ standards, for every 500 people there should be 1 police officer and 3 police officers to 1 VIP (Stoudt, Fine, & Fox, 2011). The UN has been pushing for this ratio as it enhances safety of people and avoids straining the police workforce. The NYPD has over the years increased the number of recruits to enable various departments to get more law enforcement officers into service as this will effectively boost its performance (White, Cooper, Saunders, & Raganella, 2010). The commissioner of the NYPD has launched several reforms in the department, which has allowed it to easily identify the talented workforce. The NYPD’s police/people ratio is in line with the UN recommendation.

There is one police officer per 450 citizens in New York City (Bornstein et al., 2012). A proportion of this kind is likely to foster excellent performance in the police. The Abu Dhabi Police have also tried to boost their results by employing more police officers into the force. However, they have not achieved the UN recommended ratio of 1 police officer per every 500 people (Bornstein et al., 2012). There is still more to be done as this recommended ratio has many advantages to both the public and the police. It is therefore up to the Abu Dhabi authorities to look into this matter with urgency as there is a high demand and need to improve living conditions of people in the city.

Correspondence to Policies and Rules

Most police officers have been accused of overstepping their mandate in the course of duty. Political leaders in some countries use the police to promote their selfish goals, especially during demonstrations and riots. In some of these situations, police officers have been used to quell people and some have overstepped their mandate by killing innocent civilians. The UN is upfront in challenging activities of this kind when the police are used for political reasons to perpetrate regimes that are brutal (White et al., 2010). The conducive political environment in the US has enabled a proper approach in matters regarding the rule of law. Police officers who are found to have broken the law are prosecuted and, if found guilty, are jailed. As a result, the NYPD’s code of conduct is very strict and officers engaging in an appropriate conduct are severely punished. In essence, moves of this nature have instilled a high level of discipline in the police workforce of the city, which is a factor that has made it successful and a model police force. On the contrary, the Abu Dhabi Police still struggle with such issue as excessive police force. Correspondingly, the Abu Dhabi Police wield uncontrollable power and when their officers engage in activities that are not in line with the law, hardly any action is taken. The public highly regards the police force as a government tool in perpetrating its policies and laws without account for the public concern (Dahl, 2014). However, the Abu Dhabi Police have made great strides in ensuring that the police conduct their duties in a proper manner and those who are found misbehaving in some cases are dealt with as provided in the law.

Public Acceptance

The police must forge proper relations with people that they serve; otherwise, their functions will be of no benefit. For this reason, most police departments have tried to come up with programs that are meant to foster understanding between the public and the police force. Programs such as community policing have been instrumental in bringing the police and people to the common agreement that they are there to do nothing but serve. Many police departments have been forced to search for professionals who will brand the police so that the public can easily approach the police and report or help in detective activities (White et al., 2010). In addition, many police departments have placed measures to make the force attractive to young individuals who otherwise do not regard the police as a good profession. The NYPD has been able to achieve this by conducting programs under which the public is made aware of police operations and all activities that involve the force.

Consequently, these activities have positively led to the acceptance of the police in communities and even the youth now has a different view of the police force (Dahl, 2014). In America, one is highly respected if he or she works for the police. It is taken as a privilege to serve the country and they do this with passion. Efforts of this nature have enabled the NYPD to attain success by simply seeking public acceptance. In Abu Dhabi, there is low public acceptance of the police; people do not view the police with admiration as is the case with the NYPD. Essentially, this is due to their insensitivity to public issues. At times, the police override their tasks in serving the public, which has significantly contributed to their low acceptance from the public.

Challenges Facing Their Duties

Every police department has its challenges even if it has attained great success. In any setting, challenges are necessary and important in giving guidelines on which fields need more attention and where changes should be implemented (Bornstein et al., 2012). The NYPD has attained admirable success in the world of policing. Nonetheless, there are still challenges that it faces in its day-to-day operations. One major problem is cooperation among various departments as the NYPD has several departments and efficient coordination of activities between these departments still poses great challenges. However, several efforts have been put in place to ensure that this issue is addressed. In particular, the NYPD has ensured that all departments are autonomous to some degree, that they work without interference from any other department, and that they are equal. In fact, this approach has enabled easier and faster coordination of activities, which has boosted their workmanship. In turn, the Abu Dhabi Police are not an exception in this respect as they also have their own challenges that have prevented them from effectively serving people. One major challenge is a low police/people ratio (Stoudt et al., 2011). A low ratio means that the police force is strained in delivering its services effectively to the public, which undermines their efficiency in the long run.

Efficiency and Effectiveness Projection

Most police departments annually meet and try to assess their operations to see whether they have really achieved their set objectives or not (Dahl, 2014). Projection is significant as it enables an organization to change its policies and structures if they are not producing desired results. In this regard, the police are advised to monitor their activities regularly and reassess their efficiency and effectiveness (Bornstein et al., 2012). Over the years, the NYPD has been involved in efforts to assess itself and see if its policies are in line with the expectations. Furthermore, it has been offering courses to the police force of other countries in exchange programs, which are meant to increase the police ability to handle emerging issues such as terrorism and political revolutions.

The Abu Dhabi Police have not realized the importance of projection and assessment of its operations (Stoudt et al., 2011). The police force is not keen on changing policies that are not in compliance with their duties. It could be beneficial if the Abu Dhabi Police tap early enough into this modern way of reassessment and projection to increase its efficiency and effectiveness. It is, therefore, evident that the NYPD beats the Abu Dhabi Police when it comes to matters of efficiency, effectiveness, assessment, and projection.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, the above comparison shows that the NYPD is better in many aspects as compared to the Abu Dhabi Police. The NYPD is successful; its success has been brought about by a consistent employment of tactics and efforts, which have elevated the force’s ability to serve the city of New York. The NYPD has been in operation for quite some time and this has enabled the force to learn from its mistakes. As a result, the NYPD’s operational capacity and professionalism are higher as compared to Abu Dhabi force. Nonetheless, efforts of the Abu Dhabi Police should also be applauded and praised. Over the few years that they have been in existence, the force has attained tremendous success. It has recently been involved in joint learning activities with the NYPD academy and a move like this will eventually result in more developments. The Abu Dhabi Police should enact changes such as improving the level of education and addressing emerging issues in the society through the use of mild forms rather than force.