Police Misconduct
Most commonly the police are viewed as be brutal and are associated with misconduct. Maybe you have heard about it, read about it and seen it on the media. Still the debate about police misconduct lingers on even today. Does it actually happen? Is it real or do people just blame the police for things they don’t deserve? Some people claim that the news and the media usually hype things up and give a wrong impression about the police. They argue that police misbehavior is only a problem to those who commit it. While it is not a problem with every police officer out there, police misconduct does happen, and it is very immoral.
Police officers are government officials who are employed to administer the law and keep order in society.
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Unlike the past, when a police career was highly regarded in keeping morality and order in the society, in our times, people have lost respect for the police. Rather than doing the duty bestowed on them by the community, a big number of law enforcing officials are making use of their authority to do immoral things. Many police officers have been engaged in different scandals and even drugs. The police are using the power given to them in an unethical manner. The public no longer has trust on the police due to their conduct toward the people. The so-called “law enforcers” have been seen beating and harassing people for no apparent reason. The community has witnessed police brutality and broad daylight theft being carried by the police. Differentiating between the real criminals and the police on eyes of the public is …show more content…
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 term “Police Officer” by definition is [1]“ :a person whose job is to enforce laws, investigate crimes, and make arrests”.[1] For such a straight-forward position there is quite a massive amount of stigma attached to the title. Police officers are supposed to be seen has community heroes or helpers, but it seems as the year 2016 continues the general public have manifested a resentful standing towards the law enforcement system. There are many factors that play into these emotions, but the reoccurring problem is the presence of police brutality.
Police misconduct is currently on the rise in many cities. Police misconduct can be define as false confession, false arrest, falsified of evidence and lying under the oath. For many years police crimes have went unreported and punishments are never given. We now have to put an end to these wrongful duties taken by police officers around the world.
Police officers are individuals who enforce the law upon their community to ensure that their citizens remain safe. In the past couple of years, officers of the law have been involved in acts of brutality that seem to go beyond the proper measurements of protection for their citizens. Policemen are supposed to protect their citizens from danger and from harm, not impose a threat on them. The fact that officers have a history of abusing their power indicates that their trust amongst the community has been corrupted. Those who have been affected of police brutality feel as though they have been deceived. They no longer feel that police officers will protect them, but rather abuse them, and that is a problem. We have began to live in a community in which an individual feels frightened when seeing a cop, rather than feeling protected. Some individuals may argue that police brutality is not a problem due to the fact that it is not consistent enough to catch the attention of needing a solution. However, that idea means little when the level of brutality has led to the death of several innocent victims in some cases. We must not wait for there to be a pattern of death at the hands of police officials to consider this a problem. One death indicates that preventive measures must be taken to ensure that these officers are no longer put in the position to abuse their power to begin with.
Mistrust and opposition of law enforcement officers with the communities they serve continues to be a situation that garners much public attention. Allegations of police brutality, over policing, and militarization of the police are prevalent among campus discussions. Activists are calling for reform and accountability of law enforcement agencies. Is there a problem with policing in America?
Law enforcement agencies involvement in inappropriate police activities include any illegal actions taken by the respective officers within the jurisdiction of their official responsibilities. Misconduct often leads to injustice and segregation. Types of misconduct range from unwarranted seizure of property, false imprisonment, corruption cases, tampering with evidence and witnesses, racial profiling, unwarranted searches, bribing legislators to maintain laws that grant officers excessive power, sexual misconduct, influence on alcohol while on duty, usage of police ID for access to concerts among other minor cases. On March 3, 1991, members of the Los Angeles Police Department following a police chase in Los Angeles beat up a young man and the outcome was a major incidence on the brutality of law enforcement officers’.
Public Policy and Police Misconduct and Types of Misconduct Police enforcement of public policy and social order has played a crucial part in current shootings, deaths, and other misconduct in the United States population. Law enforcement officers around the nation carry out duties that involve stopping crime, saving people from threats, and protecting the streets with showing respect and regard for their community and abiding by the law. Nevertheless, corruption and brutality continues to afflict the majority of police offices throughout the current twenty-first century (White, 2007). Police misconduct affects public policy of the United States Department of Criminal Justice by corrupting the system of the law, and those with authority utilizing
Since a very young age we have been taught to put our trust into police officers. If we are in distress, they are always there to help since it is their job to protect and serve the common citizen. So what happens when the individuals we are supposed to trust to bring justice are the ones causing the injustice we see in the news? Recently, several police officers have been under fire for their excessive use of force. The number of casualties caused by police officers in the recent years have citizens demanding a reform in the system that officers work under.
What is police misconduct? It can be defined as any action performed by a law enforcement officer that is unethical by established employment guidelines, unconstitutional, or a crime with in itself. When people hear the term “police misconduct” they automatically think of a police officer using unnecessary force against a civilian. While that is a form of police misconduct it is not only form. Throughout this paper I will bring light to the many types of police misconduct that can happen in the law enforcement industry.
The police roles in today’s society are to try to maintain the order as well as to control to keep the public safe. I will describe the issues that police departments are experiences in today society. The police departments are facing from today’s society are corruption, as well as danger on the job, and most of all the use of deadly force. For the police when things start to happen and the police needs to use force you overthink that someone will try to accuse you for racial profiling and exposure to civil liability. Understanding that the hardest things the police have to do are serving a large society. The society
In recent years, society has heard cases of police brutality at an increasingly shocking rate, thus creating a sense of distrust among communities towards police officers and other authority figures. As the first line of defense against crimes such as home invasions or crimes against persons, police officers are expected to be an ally towards victims; however, it seems that society is now viewing officers as the perpetrators of crimes as opposed to the protectors. This has already posed an issue because community members are choosing not to seek police help when needed, and when they do decide to seek help, forgoing police assistance results in being uncertain of where else to go.
Police officers are given a lot of power because it is needed to help protect citizens and the community. However, police often abuse their power by the over use of force, corruption, sexual misconduct, bias based policing, and failure to maintain police ethics. (Peak, 2011)
For the people of the community to have trust in the officers of the law, change needs to take place. A solution is to allow police officers, one hour a day just to visit their local community. They will have the time to communicate with the members of the community. By doing this, it reinforces the relationship between police officers and the community. Furthermore, if the police officers learn other cultures besides their own, they will have a better understanding of other people's habits, cultures, and customs. It will also improve how the community perceives police officers within their community, and this will help the communities view officers of the
What they do or fail to do can affect seriously the span of the damage to life, property, and community spirit. Police officers are required to take an oath when they first join their department. The police oath is a code of ethics. The Law Enforcement Code of Ethics establishes the basic responsibility of a police officer is and I quote: “As a Law Enforcement Officer, my fundamental duty is to serve mankind; to safeguard lives and property; to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation, and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the Constitutional rights of all men to liberty, equality and justice. I will constantly strive to achieve these objectives and ideals, dedicating myself before God to my chosen profession…law enforcement.” These are the expectations of the citizens, and when they are abused it threatens the faith of all. The most recent case raising unethical questions may be the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, an unarmed black male shot down by police officers. Another reason might be the rise in reports of suspicious deaths of inmates in custody making headlines across the country. These type of situations bring up difficult questions regarding the limits of police authority, are there some inequalities in the way that law enforcement officers treat certain racial, socioeconomic, or cultural groups? Are the factors, such as whether a citizen is ethnic or white, poor or Middle class, making a difference in the type of treatment one is likely to receive from the
When you hear the words ‘police officer’, what is the first thing that comes to mind? The people that protect us from the bad guys, right? Well, that might be the stereotypical answer, but is that really what we all think? Most would agree that in today 's society, the words do not have the same positive correlation anymore. It is actually almost the complete opposite. Police officers and others in the criminal justice system have created a poor reputation for themselves from the actions they have taken. Crooked cops seem to be the headliners of countless news stories. Now, that is not to say there are not any stories of people of the law doing their jobs to the best of their abilities, but lately, those stories are like finding a needle in a haystack, abnormal. It is not hard to search for a story on a legal personalities questionable conduct. Now, here 's something to think of: if these are the people that know the ins and outs of the law and are put in their positions to help protect us, why does it seem like us citizens are the victims of their actions in a greater part of these stories? How are we supposed to put our trust in these so-called notable people if they are the ones putting us in danger? The people within our criminal justice system are corrupt by brutality, drugs, money, and just overall abusing their powers.
When we think of the police, we normally think of the brave men and women out on the street, enforcing the law, catching criminals, helping out the public in cases of emergency and making us feel safe in general. Most of the Police in most of the world is like that which is a good thing, However in the United States of America the police here are a bit more ruthless. Most of the police officers are very nice people and they really do want to help out in their community, but unfortunately there are some bad and corrupt cops in the system that will break the law and do some bad things. In the Modern world most bad cops are seen as racist and trigger happy. They don’t kill for fun of course but whenever they feel threatened they are trained to feel as though they need to take down their target since they are taught to make sure they don’t do something that will end up killing them. While nobody is at fault with these cases it is unfortunate that it does happen. Thankfully most of those cops are not as bad as the actual corrupted ones where they do business with drug lords and take their money just so that the criminals don’t get ratted out and so that they can continue their business. While there are some organizations that are corrupted the people in America do have power and a decent morality to do something about it. There are many organizations and cases that happened in the supreme court that has changed how the police behave and act when they are out on the