The threat of civil litigation can be an effective deterrent of police misconduct because it holds law enforcement officers accountable for their actions and improve views held by public towards law enforcement. Law enforcement officers as well as official are held at a higher standard compared to most civilian occupations. Considering this in addition to the fact that law enforcement officers are provided with sufficient training, unethical behavior and conduct is inexcusable. Civil litigation is dependent on the agency which an officer is employed, if an officer is trailed in a community which does not hold their local law enforcement agency in high regards the sentencing would be subject to bias. Comprehensive training program are already
After reading all the material regarding Jeffery Bell, Darryl Forrest and Dustin Sillings all 3 whom were members of the Kansas City Police special unit known as (SCORE) Selective, Crime, Occurrence, Reduction Enforcement unit. I came up with several unethical behaviors throughout the course of the year from January 2010 to January 2011. One, all 3 officers violated the victims constitutional rights. Rights that were taken away were the freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures and not to have their property taken without due process under the law. (The Criminal Indictment: United States of America v. Jeffrey M. Bell, Darryl M. Forrest, and Dustin Sillings) Each officer took it upon themselves to steal various items including money from
Throughout history, there has been very few careers that require such a high degree of an ethical standard such as the one required for law enforcement. There is, however, a multitude of careers that require the dedication and heart such as required for a police member. Where this dedication and heart differs relies solely on the difference in the job. Officers are required to be aware of their surroundings nearly all the time as if something were to happen they would be required to navigate through the situation successfully. Somebody such as a CEO for a multimillion dollar company would not require this same quality due to the fact it is not part of their job description and the only individual that he/she needs to be worried about is themselves. However, in today’s society, and with media being an ever growing aspect, some police officers have decided on their own personal way to handle justice. So unfortunately, this small percentage of police contract a huge amount of negative eyes to the profession. This small number of individuals bring a negative view to the police department as a whole and for this cause an issue in the public’s eye. Regardless of what many individuals believe, many of the police officers decide on the ethical side of the job and are hardworking professionals who seek out to just serve the public. However, being an African American male myself the main issue I have and want to combat is the punishment officers should face if
“When you have police officers who abuse citizens, you erode public confidence in law enforcement. That makes the job of good police officers unsafe.” (Berry) Recently police brutality has become an alarming issue in society. At the end of 2015, thousands of deaths resulted in accusing victims dying in police custody. Individuals in communities across the state are beginning to lose faith in law enforcement in their ability to properly do their jobs. Providing police officers with extensive and innovative training to give them the adequate length of experience and training will decrease police brutality.
The criminal justice system is effective in achieving justice, in relations to police power and authority. Police are tasked with an essential role in protecting and enforcing the law. They are a critical aspect towards the criminal justice system and the criminal investigation process. To assist their role to the community, they’ve been provided several types of powers and authorities to achieve their duties towards the community. These authorised powers are used to stop, search and detain a person when they’re certain a crime is committed. Consequently, police can use this authority to potentially violate another individuals’ right, such as privacy. Whilst this power allows police to fulfil their duty to the community, is that justifiable to violate an individuals’ right?
Many people might argue that the lack of training in the police force is more harmful to the officers than the effect it has on society. Leslie Pfeiffer mentions in her article “” that the Federal government devotes a shocking amount of money toward training, yet local police agencies are often left to fend for themselves” (Pfeiffer). Whatsoever the federal government may be doing with the funds should undoubtedly be providing effective programs and necessities to ensure a complete and sufficient training process for officers. Often time’s people forget that although the officer is vulnerable to failure, error, and possible injury, in the event of a possible suspect or wrongfully accused person the lack of knowledge perceived by the officer can cause outcomes such as hostility, hatred, and death. Not only are officers fending for themselves but in
After the civil war, local politicians rewarded their supporters with jobs as police officers. The officer were not trained and there was not a standard to become an officer. The are were event when entire departments were involved in misconduct and corruption. There was not much hope in this era because there was a lack of supervision that allowed officers to behave the way that they pleased. (Walker, Samuel, and Richards, M. 1996)
If there was a national certification program that certified police agencies to have a regulatory compliance certification and training in the use of force in the United States, it would minimize the number of cases of or deter the use of excessive force in America. This is demonstrated by the progress made various police agencies across about minimizing and deterring excessive use of force by their officers. The Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) and the New York Police Department (NYPD) are examples of police departments which have registered significant progress after taking measures to minimize or deter the excessive use of force.
Since the beginning of the structured police forces across the United States corruption, misconduct, and claims of brutality by police officers has been a problem. Police officers who were sworn to protect and serve the people of their communities have been instilled with authority over people. Throughout history anyone having some type of power or absolute authority over another has created controversy. This paper will look into the statements and details of concerns dealing with police corruption, misconduct, and brutality of police officers in the United States.
Officers have the power to arrest, seize property, and use deadly force. Officers have abused these powers for years now. Any other American citizen would be fired and be persecuted to the full extent of the law for these crimes but because these particular individuals have badge the punishment is very different. In majority of the cases that have been publicized, officers have only been suspended. Considering the crimes that these individuals are committing this is such a minor punishment for such an unjustifiable crime. It seems that in this truth to be extremely terrifying. In order for this madness to stop certain steps must be put in place to insure the American people’s safety. A start could be that any incident reports of any type of misconduct by police officers should be public records. The American people have a right to know exactly what officers are committing these terrible crimes, including the incidents that are not all over the media. According policemisconduct.net of the 6,613 law enforcement officers involved in reported allegations of misconduct that met NPMSRP criteria for tracking purposes, 1,575 were involved in excessive force reports, which were the most prominent type of report at 23.8% of all reports. The people of this country have a right to know exactly who this officers that committing this crimes are. Another helpful measure could be that officers much go through some type of training
Police executives have always had different issues within the police department. Most police executives try to find a quick fix in order to solve the issue of police misconduct. Police misconduct is defined as inappropriate action taken by police officers in relation with their official duties (Police Misconduct Law & Legal Definition, n.d.). In order to solve this issue, one must acknowledge their different challenges, overcome the “code of silence”, and find out the role of organizational culture.
Fair and equal treatment is a widely accepted aspiration of most Americans, but to this day is still a work in progress. It's naive to say police misconduct isn't an issue, even more so to say that young African American men aren't unreasonably marginalized and targeted. This is something we need to take action towards and make a change if we expect anything about this to change. Police are not the enemy, the majority of police are well trained and RESPECTFUL OF THE PEOPLE, but that is not to make light of very serious problems regarding police brutality, false statements, racial profiling, manslaughter, sexual assault, and much much more among the minority of officers. They are meant to prevent crime, protect and serve, and enforce the law.
Police can be credited for helping people during times of need and taking extra working hours in challenging situations. The streets may be scary to venture in due to criminals, but the police make it safe for us. Every day they will step out to deal with different types of violence in the society. However, that’s not an excuse to engage in appropriate behaviors (Perez, Douglas and Moore 119). Some of these misconducts include wrong arrests, police corruption, witness tampering, racial profiling, surveillance abuse, false evidence, intimidation, police brutality, and off-duty
The Criminal Justice System is just like every other agency or corporation ever. Police integrity and ethics are fundamental to effective policing and helps with building trust within communities. Sound conduct by police improves the community interactions, enhances communication, and promotes shared responsibility for addressing crime and disorder. (USDOJ, 2014) Restoring ethics starts from the beginning, and that is too look harder into the employees or officers that you are going to hire. The thing is that it is much harder than it sounds. People can change or lie on their interviews. So you will never be able to fully prevent every person who might break ethical codes from entering into law enforcement. What you need to do first is let all new officers be aware of what they are getting themselves into.
How can police officials solve the issue of fellow officers abusing their power and at times taking
Training is one of the most important roles at a law enforcement agency. It is never-ending as “concepts, theories, philosophies, practices, procedures, and techniques are constantly changing to meet social needs” (Iannone et al, 2009, p. 60). Without training, even the best officer will turn into one that is not respected by his peers or society. Gone are the days when an officer is sent to the training academy and has no more except for yearly inservice. This can be accomplished with field training after the academy, roll call training, inservice, emailed updates from the training staff, and outside the agency training. It does not always have to be expensive. Most think that the effectiveness of training can’t be measured, but successful training can easily be seen through “higher morale, less job stress with its high economic cost, greater esprit de corps, a lessened need for punitive discipline, greater effectiveness, in crime suppression, increased public support and confidence, fewer errors, better