Publications
The Stream of Homicidal Violence: Procedural Justice, Legitimacy and Multi-Level Policing Model, 2nd Edition
With over 28 years of experience as a police executive, Dr. Raimundo Socorro has become a transformative leader in redefining modern policing. Early in his career, he was driven by a "crime control" mission, determined to arrest and convict offenders at all costs. However, over time, he discovered a more humane, effective approach-one rooted in Procedural Justice.
While earning his Ph.D. in Leadership, Dr. Socorro deepened his understanding of this method, which emphasizes fairness, transparency, and community engagement. As Dean of the School of Justice at Miami Dade College, he has spearheaded efforts to recalibrate police training, integrating Procedural Justice principles into the academy's curriculum to address the shortcomings of traditional reactive and paramilitary policing models.
Dr. Socorro challenges the outdated "crime control" approach, particularly its reliance on excessive force and its disproportionate impact on minority communities. He introduces a new vision: policing that integrates into the "stream" of community life rather than standing on the sidelines. By understanding the structural and cultural forces that contribute to violence, law enforcement can become active participants in community conflict resolution.
Central to this vision are strategies like focused deterrence and the use of violence interrupters-locally trusted individuals who mediate conflicts at the grassroots level. These efforts create respectful dialogue between law enforcement and communities, breaking down barriers and fostering collaboration.
Procedural Justice prioritizes legitimacy through public trust, emphasizing the importance of fair treatment, impartiality, and transparency. Its core principles-giving the public and offenders a voice, ensuring fairness, demonstrating neutrality, and maintaining transparency-offer a pathway to rebuilding relationships between police and the communities they serve.
The Stream of Homicidal Violence: Procedural Justice, Legitimacy, and Next Phase of Community-Oriented Policing
After 28 years of experience as a police executive, Dr. Raimundo Socorro, Dean of the School of Justice at Miami Dade College has led the charge to redefine policing. Early in his career he spent time on a "crime control" crusade with an intense desire to arrest and convict any and all criminal offenders. In time, he learned that there was a better, more humane, and effective methodology to policing. While earning his Ph.D. in Leadership, he learned that a system of Procedural Justice is a worthy and necessary manner in which to engage policing.In the current era, the police and policing processes have come under fire and tremendous scrutiny. The traditional crime control model has come under fire for violent and excessive use of force, particularly when the alleged offender is a minority. Dr. Socorro has structured the Miami Dade College Police Academy to recalibrate their approach to working with offenders, Procedural Justice.It has long been held that the police are a reactive paramilitary organizational structure. They stand on the sidelines waiting for crime to happen rather than becoming active participants in the community. Socorro contends that there are structural and cultural forces that shape the forces that shape homicide within communities. These forces comprise the stream. In order for the police to be effective at driving down homicide, they must be networked into the stream and not stand on the "crime control" banks. This permits the police to be a part of the communication system within the flow.He notes that pulling levers and focused deterrence is far stronger in reducing violent crime than the use of force. By empowering locally selected violence interrupters to be the "eyes and ears" of local conflict, they can deter crime through grassroot level conflict management. In working with the police, there is a respectful dialogue that breaks down the walls that have built so high.Procedural Justice is starting to garner acceptance. The focus is to maintain legitimacy by building public trust and maintain interactions that provoke images of fair treatment. The four core principles that allow this method of policing to work is to give the public (and alleged offender) a voice, establish fairness, impartiality, and do so with transparency.
Achievement Motivations of Police Officers
Leadership is important in all organizations, but it can be argued that it is especially important in policing. Ineffective leadership may lead to a breakdown in the social welfare of a society. Officers are provided with broad powers of discretion that have a significant effect on a community, and the lack of strong leadership, appropriate influence, and ethical work patterns have been shown to lead to abuses of power and abuses of force. In addition, leaders’ responsibilities are to motivate their followers in an effort to ensure a consistent and exceptional work product. To effectively manage their personnel, leaders ought to be familiar with the drives of their followers whom they lead. This purpose of this ex post facto study was to investigate the achievement motivations of patrol officers and police detectives. The result of this study assists both educational and law enforcement leaders with basic knowledge of motivational competencies, specifically the need for achievement. This study also contributes to the limited research on this policing behavior.
Past & Current Projects
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Brazil (2000). “City of Miami Basic Special Weapons and Tactics” three-week program
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Trinidad & Tobago (2015). “Use of Force” three-day program
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England (2017). “Legitimacy, Procedural Justice and Multi Level Policing Model” Lecture at the University of Derby
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England (2017). “Politics and Policing” Lecture at the University of Derby
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Colombia (2020). “Multi-Level Policing” On-line lecture on 21st Century Policing based on my research. On-line platform was utilized due to COVID.
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Colombia (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024). “Tactical Life Saver” two-week program taught to SWAT operators.
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Colombia (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024). “Special Weapons and Tactics” two-week program taught to SWAT operators.
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Mexico (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024). “Tactical Life Saver” two-week program taught to SWAT operators.
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Colombia (2024). “Female Officer Survival” two-week program taught to law enforcement officers.
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El Portal Police Department (2025). Conducted a total organizational assessment, which included: Policy Review, Officer Morale, Infrastructure, Equipment, Relationship with the community and Hazard Preparedness
Colombian National Police Training in New SWAT Tactics at IRSC's Public Safety Training Complex, WQCS Interview
“The old style of doing SWAT warrants was enter the house with speed, surprise, simplicity, safety and superiority," said Raimundo Socorro. "Today we use a more step by step approach where we come up and start calling out the residents of the house encircle the house and they stand outside getting everybody to come out one-by-one. That way they have less chances of somebody shooting because they’re afraid and it’s safer for the officers and for the people inside.”