Deck 3: The Nature of Police Work

Question 1

Traffic stops

A) often end in violent confrontations
B) rarely end in violent confrontations
C) often end in injury or death
D) none of the above

Answer 1

B

Question 2

"Symbolic assailants" means

A) guns and other weapons
B) any person on the street could pose a danger
C) terrorists
D) none of the above

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The duties that police are supposed to accomplish and the roles that they are supposed to play are multiple, conflicting, and vague.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

On the street, the police must focus on substantive guilt. In the courts, the focus is on

A) substantive guilt
B) who has the best lawyer
C) procedural guilt
D) civil rights

Question 5

By keeping some distance from the population they police, the police can appear callous and uncaring.

Question 6

The three major functions of the police include each of these except:

A) enforce the law
B) maintain order
C) protect VIPs
D) provide services to the community

Question 7

Muir labeled five paradoxes of coercive power.

Question 8

Which of the following is not a common stereotype held by the public about police?

A) they are overly aggressive and authoritarian
B) they are both intelligent and well-educated
C) they are racial and religious bigots
D) they are anti-gay and lesbian homophobics

Question 9

The three main functions of police (enforce the law, maintain order, provide services to the community) rarely conflict with each other.

Question 10

Officers tend to normalize things. This might include

A) how a beat looks
B) who belongs in a beat and who doesn't belong
C) traffic flow at a given time of day
D) all of the above

Question 11

The three major functions of the police are to

A) enforce the law
B) maintain order
C) provide services to the community
D) all of the above

Question 12

Stereotyping in and of itself is an operational principle of life.

Question 13

If police observe drug use at a huge, orderly rock concert, or deal with a large group of underage drinkers at an otherwise calm and controlled fraternity party, the

A) law enforcement function is in direct conflict with the order maintenance function
B) law enforcement function is in direct conflict with the service to the community function
C) order maintenance function is in direct conflict with the service to the community function
D) none of the above

Question 14

Everyone who experiences police work develops at least some level of frustration due to the fact that the job is replete with paradox.

Question 15

Police officers, like others in the criminal justice system, tend to "normalize crime."

Question 16

The paradoxes of coercive power are the only paradoxes faced by police officers.

Question 17

The duties that police are supposed to accomplish and the roles they are supposed to play are

A) multiple
B) conflicting
C) vague
D) all of the above

Question 18

The overwhelming majority of people hold stereotypes about the police.

Question 19

Every day the police are confronted by questions about whether they should

A) arrest and/or use force
B) use deadly force
C) eat a doughnut
D) engage in a high speed pursuit

Question 20

Because of how the criminal justice system operates, the police can be at odds with its due process principles.

Question 21

What is the paradox of detachment? Why is it so important for American citizens to understand it in an era wherein we are fighting a war on terrorism? What are other examples of people who make themselves un-coercible (other than terrorists)?

Question 22

The second half of Muir's paradox of irrationality is that

A) the crazier the victim, the more effective the threat
B) the crazier the victim, the less effective the threat
C) the crazier the coercer, the more effective the threat
D) the crazier the coercer, the less effective the threat

Question 23

What is the RCMP Syndrome? What are examples of other unrealistic images that are sent out to the public via the media? Why/how can this be frustrating for police officers?

Question 24

Examples of people the police find difficult to coerce include all except

A) the drunk or stoned
B) the sane
C) the homeless
D) people engaged in family disturbances

Question 25

The paradox of detachment means that

A) someone has nothing of value to threaten
B) someone has detached themselves from caring about things of value
C) the nastier one's reputation, the less nasty one has to be
D) the crazier the victim of coercion, the less effective the threat

Question 26

The paradox of face means that

A) someone has nothing of value to threaten
B) someone has detached themselves from caring about things of value
C) the nastier one's reputation, the less nasty one has to be
D) the crazier the victim of coercion, the less effective the threat

Question 27

Our discussion about stereotyping suggests that the police appear to the public to be "paranoid" much of the time. Why is this? What types of actions do the police take in the name of self-preservation that seem to be unrealistically worrisome? Is there anything the police can do about this appearance?

Question 28

Construct an essay that utilizes both the kamikaze pilot and the 9/11 terrorist as examples of people who are largely impossible to coerce. Make specific reference to Muir's paradox of detachment, and how the dynamics associated with this paradox are important for all American citizens to understand in today's "war on terrorism" driven world.

Question 29

The news media's ongoing, symbiotic relationship with police means that police news coverage

A) is generally unfavorable
B) is generally favorable
C) is in short supply
D) ignores police scandals

Question 30

Paramilitarism makes police

A) invisible
B) have a sense of duty
C) less accountable
D) all of the above

Question 31

The paradox of irrationality means that

A) someone has nothing of value to threaten
B) someone has detached themselves from caring about things of value
C) the nastier one's reputation, the less nasty one has to be
D) the crazier the victim of coercion, the less effective the threat

Question 32

A downside of police paramilitarism is

A) police humanize the citizenry
B) the police command and control structure tends to work against individual problem-solving
C) citizens like the police to be aloof, detached, and impersonal
D) a lack of concern about officer appearance

Question 33

What is anomie? Do you know people who suffer from it? Do you think it is true that an inordinate number of police officers suffer anomic feelings? Why (or why not) do you agree with the authors about this?

Question 34

Muir's four paradoxes of coercive power are

A) dispossession, detachment, face, and irrationality
B) dispossession, detachment, face, and rationality
C) possession, detachment, face, and irrationality
D) possession, detachment, face, and rationality

Question 35

Officer anomie means

A) a strong feeling of connection between police and society
B) Japanese cartoons about police
C) a feeling of "normlessness," a disconnect between police and society
D) none of the above

Question 36

Muir defined coercion as obtaining desired behavior from another by

A) arresting them
B) threatening to harm something of value to them
C) outright use of force
D) pointing at pistol at them

Question 37

The police use of a police dog would fit Muir's

A) paradox of dispossession
B) paradox of detachment
C) paradox of face
D) paradox of irrationality

Question 38

The "RCMP Syndrome"

A) means "the Mountie always gets his man"
B) is synonymous with the Dirty Harry problem
C) was coined by ex-LAPD sergeant-turned-novelist Joseph Wambaugh
D) means "really corrupt mean police"

Question 39

Examples of police paramilitarism include

A) chains of command
B) uniforms
C) ranks
D) all of the above

Question 40

The paradox of dispossession means that

A) someone has nothing of value to threaten
B) someone has detached themselves from caring about things of value
C) the nastier one's reputation, the less nasty one has to be
D) the crazier the victim of coercion, the less effective the threat