Toward reorganization of government services: An analysis of the police role

The lack of consensus regarding the overall role of police in society creates numerous operational and management problems. This article examines the police role from theoretical and applied standpoints in an effort to determine consensus areas. It is postulated that role diffusion has created problems affecting police productivity. Finally, other peripheral government agencies are examined along these same lines and suggestions for the reorganization of public service agencies are proposed in an effort to increase overall government productivity.     

Issues in public safety

This paper proposes to deal with the eternal dilemma of melding systems response and public expectations and issues relative to that fusion. Public Safety is defined by the writer as, “Those activities of government which promote the health, safety, and welfare of the people through regulatory policies which attempt to eliminate hazards.” Acting on behalf of the people as a whole, is a never ending concern of government and usually consumes a major portion of a municipality’s budget. The author attempts to illustrate the fact that there are ways of delivering the necessary services efficiently and effectively.     

Causing the Conditions of One’s Defense: A Theoretical Non-problem

My contribution to this symposium is short and negative: There are no theoretical problems that attach to one’s causing the conditions that permit him to claim a defense to some otherwise criminal act. If one assesses the culpability of an actor at each of the various times he acts in a course of conduct, then it is obvious that he can be nonculpable at T₂ but culpable at T₁, and that a nonculpable act at T₂ has no bearing on whether an actor was culpable at T₁ when he caused the circumstances that are exculpatory with respect to his act (or conduct) at T₂. Moreover, as I interpret the Model Penal Code, it gets matters close to right on this point.     

‘We Need Our New OSS,Our New General Donovan,Now ...’: The Public Discourse over American Intelligence, 1944-53

The popular origins of the modern US intelligence bureaucracy have largely escaped the scrutiny of historians. This article examines the critical public discourse over American intelligence and the clear domestic support for a new type of national intelligence system following World War II. The organization of American intelligence was thoroughly examined in newspapers, polling data, popular magazines, public speeches and lectures, petitions to government officials, and for the first time — the medium of radio. This frank discussion, fostered to a large degree by William Donovan, undoubtedly influenced the tenor surrounding the establishment of the modern intelligence bureaucracy, but also resulted in an unwelcome public relations quandary for intelligence officials. This distinctly American postwar dialogue illustrates the great challenge of conducting intelligence in an open democratic society.     

The Treatment Needs of Substance Abusing Batterers: A Comparison of Men Who Batter Their Female Partners

Though the co-occurrence rate of intimate partner violence (IPV) and problems with alcohol and other drugs (AOD) is 50 % or higher among men in clinical samples, little attention has been given to examining the characteristics of batterers with AOD problems (AOD batterers). We compared 274 AOD batterers and 524 non-AOD Batterers (batterers who do not have AOD problems). Results indicated AOD batterers were more violent, and were more likely to perpetrate violence that is severe in nature. They also reported higher levels of anger and trauma, had a greater proclivity toward a borderline personality orientation, and were much more likely to use AOD during an incident of violence at least half of the time (41 % versus 9 %). Results underscore the need for screening of batterers for AOD problems and substance abusers for IPV, and suggest that AOD problems might serve as an important indicator to help identify particularly complex cases.