Overview
I need a 300 word response to the below discussion post:
In July of 2021, The Hill published a news article titled; From unfair to tragic: Consequences of not enforcing the law. The article, written by Stuart Shapiro, covered the discretionary enforcement of laws and regulations in the United States. Shapiro cites the formation of laws as the…” least exciting part of the public policy-making process,” (Shapiro 2021). The central point is the discretionary ability of enforcement officials and their decision-making process while applying the rule of law. I believe that the formation of society's rules, who makes them, and when officers utilize discretionary enforcement, are all crucial elements of the success and failures of our public policy. But, regardless of the formational process of laws, the point of collision between lawmakers’ regulatory products, and the citizens, is when enforcement occurs by the state’s representatives and it’s in these interactions that society builds its impression of the government.
The enforcement of law can make headlines across the nation, but for negative reasons. Some reasons are when corruptive practices by police are revealed, or when an officer, or officers, use excessive force when dealing with a member of society. But, what about when laws are not enforced by other regulatory bodies and there are dire consequences? This was seen on June 24, 2021, when the Champlain Towers South, a 12-floor condominium in Surfside, Florida collapsed and killed 98 people (Osborn et al., 2021). It was later found that the building code inspections in the area were years behind schedule and could have possibly prevented the tragedy (nist.gov 2022). On June 30th, 2021, the National Institute of Standards and Technology announced that they would be conducting a technical investigation of the collapse. They would be acting under the powers granted to them in the National Construction Safety Team Act, passed by President George Bush in 2002 (NIST.gov 2021). This particular legislation made it possible for federal agencies to investigate building failures, leading to a determination of fault and necessary changes to building codes.
A recent example of the importance of monitoring the enforcement, or lack thereof, of government officials is the announcement by President Biden that his administration was asking for a substantial increase in funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This request was to appropriate additional funding for approximately 87,000 new Internal Revenue Service Agents by the year 2031. This increase was referenced in the American Families Plan Tax Compliance Agenda, published by the Department of Treasury (treasury.gov 2021). The President’s administration believes that many wealthy taxpayers are circumventing the United States tax laws, leading to astronomical tax revenue losses for the country. Supposedly, the enhanced enforcement of the country’s tax laws would bring in an estimated 1 trillion dollars of additional revenue for the government (Shapiro 2021). Ultimately, the stated goal of the president is to close what is being called the “tax gap,” which is the difference between taxes that are owed and what is paid (treasury.gov 2021). The IRS says that even though 99% of wage taxes are paid to the IRS, there is approximately 45% of “less visible” income sources that are not (treasury.gov 2021).
In the article, the author draws a comparison between judgment and discretion on the part of public officials relative to abuse of power. It is interesting how the author breaks down the argument to the basic fundamental decision of choosing to do wrong or choosing to not do right. I think that both of these, alternatively described as action and inaction, can harm society. This comparison shows that regardless of the position when an individual is tasked with public safety in any manner, any deviance from their correct operational procedure may result in a tragic ending. But how do you make sure that there is always an appropriate amount of enforcement? The author believes that the oversite needed to ensure the desired outcome comes from direct supervision administered by elected officials and administrators (Shapiro 2021). Success is also dependent on the appropriate financial backing of local, state, and federal governments as well as sending the clear message that rules and laws apply to both the public and those who enforce them. But, will the necessary oversite cause a significant amount of governmental “red tape?” Shapiro simply says that law enforcement, in all of its contexts, needs to have the appropriate amount of scrutiny (Shapiro 2021).
The author touches on a fundamentally important part of social justice and enforcement, which is balance. This is a contested area of policing since police department leaders have, and will continue to utilize, reported crime rates as an indicator for asset allocations, community satisfaction, and crime trends (Sparrow 2015). But, what will the outcome be if a department leader shows preferential attention to one of these areas and not the others? Or, what will happen if there is pressure to lower crime rates, without appropriate oversite of how this will be done? This leads to the risk of over-policing a community in response to increased crime while potentially disproportionately using authority at the cost of societal trust. Police departments are always blamed when a crime is on the uptick. But, when there is a proportional response by police, it may be seen as heavy-handed tactics. Here, balance is crucial to fill the expectations of tax-paying citizens, while not seeming overzealous.
In a 2017 article, titled Balancing public safety and individual rights in street policing, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, author Peter W. Neyround makes an interesting statement regarding balance. He discusses the need for “guardian policing” and that there needs to be …” a scientific approach to thinking through and judging the right balance between proactive policing and community trust,” and that…” this is a necessary discipline for police leaders who are otherwise driven by events to see-saw between crackdown and community policing, thereby producing neither good enough nor optimal, but the worst of all possible worlds,” (Neyround 2017). The lack of balance in enforcement can result in a negative public perspective, resulting in diminished effectiveness of organizations and maybe, in the end, disastrous for relationships between the community and public officials.
References:
Administration's FY2022 budget tax proposals will promote shared growth and prosperity. U.S. Department of the Treasury. (2021, June 21). Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/administrations-fy2022-budget-tax-proposals-will-promote-shared-growth-and-prosperity
National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2022, April 5). Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://www.nist.gov/disaster-failure-studies/champlain-towers-south-collapse-ncst-investigation/background
Neyroud, P. (2017, August). Www.pnas.org. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 114, Issue 35. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2121671119
Osborn, M., Winsor, M., Deliso, M., & Mitropoulos, A. (2021, July 27). What we know about the victims of the Surfside building collapse. ABC News. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://abcnews.go.com/US/victims-surfside-condo-collapse/story?id=78517075
Shapiro, S. (2021, July 15). From unfair to tragic: Consequences of not enforcing the law. The Hill. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/563124-consequences-of-not-enforcing-the-law/
Sparrow, M. (2015, March). New Perspectives in policing - office of justice programs. Measuring Performance in a Modern Police Organization. Retrieved January 28, 2023, from https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/248476.pdf