Every day, law enforcement officers encounter danger while carrying out their duties. The foremost duty of law enforcement officers are to serve and protect citizens. Most law enforcement agencies do this successfully. However, many people view law enforcement officers as the enemy. People need to be better informed about law enforcement and why officers take specific actions in certain circumstances. In our society, police are in a very dangerous position when it comes to the amount of force they can use when dealing with an individual. Officers use discretion when deciding the best course of action for the situation, whether it be physical force, persuasion, or coercion. They must take the correct course of action, because if they are too lenient or to forceful, even when dealing with petty things, they can be reprimanded by superiors and the public. Should police use force? Which circumstances warrant use force and what are the limits of force they can use? These questions are often asked when police are compelled to use force.
A majority of the population have erroneous beliefs concerning law enforcement agencies. Many believe police should not have the authority to use force, no matter what the situation. Often people believe everything can be resolved in peaceful terms with no one injured or killed. Likewise, people do not understand the need to use force and the responsibility of use of force by the police. Sometimes problems cannot be solved in a
Police use of deadly force in the United States has been growing at a rapid pace due to several incidents that have taken place over the last few years. The biggest question today remains why has this been such a relevant topic across the U.S. lately? The use of deadly force is specifically important because it directly affects the publics’ attitudes and behaviors towards the police and government. Some will blame police policies, some will blame abuse of power, and some even claim the use of deadly force is necessary to in order to properly defend themselves. The use of deadly force continues to increase due to lack of what the true definition of “use of force” and what actually means. This lack of definition creates
The force used at the scene of the crime is ultimately left in the hands of the officer; however, when it is misused or overused it usually leads to a divide between community and law enforcement. Given the high stake at hand, a formal rule has been placed known as the force continuum which provides both law enforcement officers and civilians how much force is to be used in a given situation. Not only does this teach officers how much force to use, but it also teaches officers how to avoid the use of force in general. They are taught mediation tactics so that if force is not needed, it is not used at all. This affords the community to not fear police and also stops legal actions and stigmas from being drawn on all police officers. The riots that take place haven’t occurred because a police did not choke, beat or shoot a civilian they occur because they
Controversy surrounds law enforcement officers and their respective agencies when force is used in the community. Riots, protests, and mobs have screamed their anger when officers have chosen to use force. Officer discretion and training
Police officers are allowed to use force as part of their day-to-day duties. Officers must use their judgment to determine when the use of force is warranted. In order for officers to make the appropriate decision, proper training must take place. In order to perform at their best, they must become familiarized with federal and state court cases, state law, and departmental policies directing such actions (Lim & Lee, 2015). According to Lim & Lee (2015) failure to fully understand and simply just following the regulations can lead to community resistance, loss of public confidence in law enforcement, and legal liabilities. Improper use of force is one of the few behaviors that reduce community confidence in police officers (Lim & Lee, 2015).
The police of any democratic society are faced with an inescapable dilemma by their profession: Their role in the society requires that they competently balance the legal authority they have been bestowed by the public (government) with their responsibility to protect public safety as a whole while protecting individual rights. Police officers are a visible figure of government authority. They have been granted the power to stop, detain, question, arrest, and when required the use deadly force, at the same time being conscious to the wishes of the public. Police officers are required to carry out complex tasks while respecting important legal and constitutional protections. There have been times when law enforcement(police) has been required to enforce unpopular laws while attempting to foster or maintain public support. How much force the police uses to balance these concerns often determines
reported a naked young male in the middle of the street bleeding and unable to
“Technology is a double-edged sword: it arms evildoers with potent new weapons of crime commission, yet is provides police agencies and criminal justice personnel with powerful tools useful in the battle against crime,” (Criminology Today, Frank Schmalleger, pp. 385). Criminology will always be linked to technology, even if that technology is seen as primitive or groundbreaking. Earlier forms of technology used within criminology include the telegraph, telephone, automobile, and radios.
We can see that the media focuses greatly on these issues of appropriate extents of force and deadly force that is used by law enforcement. Society has always been observing law enforcement through the lens of a microscope and focusing on the negative light that has been shedding over
I believe physical force should be resorted to by police when they are, or the public is in danger. If I am held by someone that has a weapon on me or my family, I would want the police to use whatever means in protecting us. Do I think they should shot an innocent man or beat down someone without a weapon, no? They are intelligent men and women with training and must have common sense to know when, what type of force is needed. If they do not they should not be on the force nor passed the physiological exam.
The evolution of law enforcement’s use of excessive and deadly force against black males ‘dates back to the 1800’s during the segregation era involving social and inequality issues. In 2010, the National Police Misconduct Reporting Project (NPMRP) reported that nationwide from December through January of 2010, there were approximately 4,681 recorded reports of police misconduct that resulted in 6,286 alleged victims who experienced some form of deadly force by the police, resulting in a debt of $346, 512, 800.00 being spent on misconduct-related civil judgments, settlements, sealed settlements, court costs, and attorney fees. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Arrest-Related Deaths during 2003-2009 within the following states had the highest arrest-related deaths New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington. The states with the lowest arrest-related deaths of black males are: Arkansas, Vermont, Alaska, Wyoming, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota, New Hampshire, There is no information provided on a statewide level that provides details of
The problem in Law Enforcement Agencies is the brother and sisterhood aspect of the department, for in order to survive as an officer, they need to support each other inside and outside of the department. When there is a person doing some sort of unethical or questionable action and recognized by a member of the department, there is two paths they can take: they ignore the act or take action. The government has legislation to protect those who fall under the “Whistleblower” title, but unfortunately, the dilemma of whether or not to report questionable or unethical behavior is an extreme one. Many people who are faced with reporting or ignoring what they saw often have their jobs, social, and personal lives to consider, as well as future opportunities. The lack of reporting and creating ignorance of something that should be brought up is what is creating a bad reputation for law enforcement professionals. Law enforcement officers do complain about the negativity of their jobs, yet there are times, where they are part of the problems; the ignorance of unethical decisions leads to foreseeable consequences.
Missoula, Montana is beautiful place, which is a distinctive college city or place. Missoula is a beautiful place with a great state university in the state of Montana, beautiful surroundings in the mountains, and a fun social campus, and an excellent football team in the University of Montana Grizzles or other wise known as the “Griz”. It’s got a wild fan base like NCAA division 1 teams have. However, The police department and justice department in Missoula investigated 350 sexual assaults reported between January 2008 and May 2012. Either the university or local authorities correctly handled few of these assaults. Unfortunately, this is a normal situation in Missoula. The department of justice has reports released in December of 2014 estimates 110,000 women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four are raped each year. Now that is devastating to know that in Missoula it doesn’t make clear sense why rape reoccurring on college campuses, and why rape victims are so scared to report a sexual assault.
The constant association between police officers and criminals exposes them to temptations to engage in corruption. The police officers interact with people who make a lot of money from breaking the law (Walker, Spohn & DeLone, 2012). They are also offered generous bribes that tempt them to engage in corruption. The vice can also be linked to a mismatch that occurs between the status of police officers in the society and the income that they get.
There are thousands and thousands of law enforcement agencies in the United States and most of these agencies are local, small to medium sized agencies. These agencies are tasked to do the dirty work outside of the larger cities and can be relied on heavily by people for the public safety being sought out. Every agency is different about how they go about handling these allegations regarding police conduct, corruption and the complaints from citizens. Unfortunately, there is no consistency between all the agencies which is sad. The agency I am writing this paper on is Inglis Police Department, a police department that was small agency and are no longer in existence as of 2012. The department is no longer in existence because the city needed funds for other matters and decided to grant Levy County the option to patrol the area. Throughout this paper I will be outlining the process of how complaints are processed and investigated when they are sent into the department, also touching on the police conduct and corruption that can take place within the department and what can be improved moving forward to better serve the citizens of the area.
In the book, Cordner says ‘Specialization tends to increase unit competition and negate overall departmental cohesiveness.’ In the police force everyone has one goal which is keep the community safe. However, there is group cohesiveness within the force, which could be the narcotics, DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) team, among others government agencies as well. The better cohesive groups are, the better their members tend to be satisfied. (Cordner, Gary W. (2016))