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... the people. As Thomas puts it, [T]he fundamental plank of the constitution is the supremacy of the people and that the democratic imperative is a representative government which can only be protected when there is an independent judiciary to adjudicate oppression of the peoples rights. Meek outlined the consequences of adhering to the doctrine of separation of powers. For one, the legislature must put its hand out of the judiciary as to the manner and outcomes when the latter adjudicates cases and complaints brought before them (Meek).
For another, the judges are considered to be out of the control of the executive branch (Meek). There are instances, however, where the Parliament, in the exercise of its substantive legislative power, may usurp the power of the Courts in independently adjudicating cases before them. This was discussed lengthily by Gerangelos when he dealt with the issue of parliamentary interference in pending cases under judicial adjudication. Although, as recognized by Gerangelos, there has yet to be a consensus that a separation of powers of the three arms of government is clearly provided for by the Constitution, there is already an acknowledgement of this doctrine as a fact as this has been practiced in almost all jurisdictions in Australia. Even in pending cases before the Courts, the Parliament may alter or change the laws and this would not be considered as a usurpation of the powers and independence of the Judiciary as long as these are within the substantive legislative power of the Parliament (Gerangelos).
The administrative law for police officers has to be promulgated effectively because many feel unappreciated by the public they serve, which may be due to the underlying conflicts inherent in the police role. Police may want to be proactive crime fighters who initiate actions against law violators; yet most remain reactive, responding when a citizen calls for service. The desire for direct action is often blunted because police are expected to perform many civic duties that in earlier times were the responsibility of every citizen: keeping the peace, performing emergency medical care, dealing with family problems, helping during civil emergencies. While most of us agree that a neighborhood brawl must be stopped, that shelter must be found for the homeless, and that the inebriate must be taken safely home, few of us want to personally jump into the fray; we would rather call the cops. The police officer has become a social handyman called in to fix up problems that the average citizen wishes would simply go away. Police officers are viewed as the fire it takes to fight.
The public needs the police to perform those duties that the average citizens finds distasteful or dangerous, such as breaking up s domestic quarrel. At the same time, the public resents the power the police have use to force, to arrest people, and to deny people their vices. Put another way, the average citizens wants the police to crack down on undesirable members of society while excluding his or her own behavior from legal scrutiny. Because of these natural role conflicts, the relationship between the police and the public has been the subject of a great deal of concern. As you may recall, the respect Americans have for police effectiveness, courtesy, honesty, and conduct seems to be dwindling. Citizens may be less likely to go to police for help, to report crimes, to step forward as witness, or to cooperate with and aid police.
Victim surveys indicate that many citizens have so little faith in the police that they will not report even serious crimes, such as rape or burglary. In some communities, citizen self-help groups have sprung up to supplement police protection. In return, police officers often feel ambivalent and uncertain about the public they are sworn to protect. Because of this ambivalence and role conflict, more communities are adopting new models of policing that reflect the changing role of the police. Some administrators now recognize that police officers are better equipped to be civic problem solvers than effective crime fighters.
Rather than ignore, deny, or fight this reality, police departments are being reorganized to maximize their strengths and minimize their weakness. What has emerged is the community policing movement, a new concept of policing designed to bridge the gulf between police agencies and the communities they serve. Government spending cutbacks forced by inflation and legislative tax-cutting measures have prompted belt-tightening in many areas of public service. Police departments have not been spared the budgetary pinch caused by decreased government spending. To combat the probable damage that would result from police service cutbacks, police administrators have sought to increase the productivity of their line, support, and administrative staff. As used today, the term police productivity refers to the amount of actual order, maintenance, crime control, and other law enforcement activities provided by individual police officers and concomitantly by police departments as a whole.
By improving police productivity, a department can keep the peace, deter crime, apprehend criminals, and provide useful public services without necessarily increasing its costs. This goal is accomplished by having each police officer operate with greater efficiency, thus using fewer resources to achieve greater effectiveness. Despite the emphasis on increasing police effectiveness, serious questions have been raised about how the police accomplish their assigned tasks. One basic complaint has been that the average patrol officers spend relatively little time on what is considered real police work. More often than not, highly skilled police officers can be found writing reports, waiting in court corridors, getting involved in domestic disputes, and handling what are generally characterized as miscellaneous noncriminal matters. Police department are now experimenting with cost-saving reforms that maximize effectiveness while saving taxpayer dollars.
For example, J. David Hirchel and Charles Dean described how a program to summon offenders to court via a field citation is considerably cheaper than a formal arrest. Factoring in the cost of rearresting offenders who fail to appear in court, a citation program would save about $ 72 per case. Considering the millions of arrests made each year, the adoption of a citation policy could produce considerable savings, not to mention the cost-saving effect on the over crowded jail system. Other cost-saving productivity measures include consolidation, informal arrangements, sharing, pooling, contracting, police service districts, use of civilian employees, multiple tasking, special assignment programs, budget supplementation, and differential police responses. One way to increase police efficiency is to consolidate police services.
This means combining small departments (usually with under ten employees) in ad-joining areas into a superagency that services the previously fragmented jurisdictions. Consolidation has the benefit of creating departments large enough to use expanded services, such as crime labs, training center, communications centers, and emergency units, that are not cost-effective in smaller departments. This procedure is controversial, since it demands that existing lines of political and administrative authority be drastically changed. Nonetheless, consolidation of departments or special services (such as a regional computer center) has been attempted in California (the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department), Massachusetts, New York, and Illinois.
Unwritten cooperative agreements may be made between localities to perform a task collectively that would be mutually beneficial (such as monitoring neighboring radio frequencies so that needed backup can provided). An example is the Metro Task Force program implemented in New Jersey that commits state troopers to help local police officers in urban areas for limited times and assignments. Sharing is the provision or reception of services that aid in the execution of a law enforcement function (such as the sharing of a communications system by several local agencies). Some agencies form mutual aid pacts so that they can share infrequently used emergency services such as SWAT and Emergency Response Teams. Some states have gone as far as setting up centralized data services that connect most local police agencies into statewide information net. Maryland's Date Services Division provides the services.
Some police agencies combine resources by two or more agencies to perform a specified function under a predetermined, often formalized arrangement with direct involvement by all parties. An example is the use of a city-country law enforcement building or training academy or the establishment of a crime task force. Another productivity measure is a limited and voluntary approach in which one government enters into a formal binding agreement to provide all or certain specified law enforcement services (such as communications or patrol service) to another government for an established fee. Many communities that contract for full law enforcement service do so at the time they incorporate to avoid the costs of establishing their own police capability. For example, five small towns in Florida (Pembroke Park, Lauderdale Lakes, Tamarac, Dania, and Deerfield Beach) contract with the Broward Country Sheriffs Department to provide law enforcement for their communities; contracting saves each town millions of dollars. In conclusion, each of the arms of the Government has been given its own sets of functions and powers.
Corollary to this delineation of powers and functions is the necessity of non-interference of one branch upon the jurisdiction of the other branches as this would result into a concentration of powers in just one arm of Government, which all representative and democratic states all over the globe despise to practice. The question as to when should the court strike down an enactment of a law by the Parliament or when should the Parliament amend or alter laws despite cases pending before the Judiciary would really be uncertain or difficult to answer. One vital indicator, however, that could be used is the interest of the people. The Constitution embodies the ideals, wishes and the principles of the people hence, as long as the rationale for the interference between and among the arms of government is to put the sovereignty of the Constitution and the people, this would not amount to usurpation as a violation of the separation of powers doctrine. In the end, the effectiveness of the relationship between and among the three arms of government will be measured along the idea of how well the Constitution and the welfare of the people are protected.
REFERENCES Gaze, Beth. Context And Interpretation In Anti-Discrimination Law. Melbourne University Law Review web Gerangelos, Peter. The Separation of Powers and the Legislative Interference with Judicial Functions in Pending Cases.
Retrieved April 3, 2008: < web >. McAllister, Ian, Mackerras, Malcolm Mackerras, Alvaro Ascul, and Susan Moss. Australian Political Facts. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1990. McMillan, John. Politics and Public Administration Group.
Nov. 7, 2000. Parliament and Administrative Law. Retrieved April 3, 2008 at: web Meek, Michael Kingsley. The Relationship between the Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary. 2001. Retrieved April 3, 2008: < web print Article. asp?
id = 578 >. Spindle, Graham. Separation of Powers: Doctrine and Practice. 2000. Retrieved April 3, 2008: < web E 88 B 2 C 638 DC 23 E 51 CA 256 ED>. Thomas, W.
E. Centennial Lecture: The Relationship of the Parliament and the Court. 1999. Retrieved April 3, 2008: < web 2000 / 3. html>.
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