Before this course, my conception of the roles military officers in society and government had was that they were distinct individuals of a higher moral and ethical caliber. With these values came a voluntary but clear support of their chain of command and mission to defend the citizens of the United States of America. Prior to attending West Point, I observed an awkward separation between members of the armed forced and civilians due to lack of knowledge and familiarity of both worlds. Therefore, while I was aware that…
Regarding police brutality, policies have already been put in place to try to solve this major issue. Examples of policies are special training for police officers to teach them how to properly handle situations, body cameras to monitor officers' actions, and special out of state prosecutors to judge and indict officers and reduce bias. However, these policies alone only solve pieces of the problem, not the big picture. These plans have their advantages and disadvantages, and might not work as planned.…
American law enforcement organizations is hierarchal and it is a bureaucratic structure adopting ways of the military. The quasi-military structure found in police departments will emphasize the importance of specializations in task, duties, objectives, and responsibilities. Each level in the chain of command has specific authority and tasks to carry out. Historically speaking, Peel’s principles of a professional police organization can be seen in today’s philosophy of community-oriented policing (COP). Peel’s principles emphasized the following guidelines for a professional police organization: (1) a police mission statement and core values; (2) crime prevention; (3) respect or citizenry; (4) respect for the law; (5) minimizing the use of…
Officers are supposed to protect us instead they are just killing people in an instance.…
I personally believe that the impact on most training needs to be evaluated in greater detail. An agency can provide extensive training over and over again but if the training is not impacting the officers…
Policy is a large part of policing in the United States. Policy helps set law, and law helps keep order amid the chaos if enforced properly. But every policy must be looked at carefully before, during and after enforcement to make sure that policy is and continues to be the best fit for the issues at hand. Sometimes looking at two policies and comparing them can help find a solution in the middle. It is important to give a policy a realistic goal, to accomplish in a realistic time in order to find out if it was truly effective or not.…
United States Department of Justice ( 2003). Principles of Good Policing: Avoiding Violence between Police and Citizens. Retrieved February 26, 2012 from http://www.justice.gov/crs/pubs/principles of goodpolicingfinal092003.htm…
Law enforcement is one of the most dynamic social fields in the world. Police tactics and strategies are constantly changing to meet the needs of the communities that they serve, large and small alike. New strategies are implemented in hopes of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of police. The majority of new strategies aim to help law enforcement agencies and protocols become more systematic, and eliminate any redundancy. One such strategy was introduced in 1979 by Herman Goldstein (Clark, 2003). Goldstein’s idea revolved around identifying a specific problem, implementing case specific solutions to that issue, and analyzing the effect that the interventions had on the original problem.…
In making arrests, maintaining order, and defending life, law enforcement officers are allowed to utilize whatever force is "reasonably" necessary. The breath and scope of the use of force is vast. The spectrum begins with the physical presence of the official through the utilization…
It is up to officers to give their soldiers with good lessons good examples. Every captain should have the noble goal of having his company the best disciplined, the most cleanly attired, the best trained. He should think that the lapses of his soldiers reflect on him and believe himself lowered by the faults of those he commands. ...…
When enforcing the law, for police officers not two situations they encounter are ever the same, even when examine a large number of situations over an extended period of time. The officers are usually in the position of having to make decisions on how to handle a specific matter alone, or with little additional advice and without immediate supervision. In many cases, officer’s discretion extends to interpreting the meaning of the statutory text. It becomes, therefore, impossible to enforce the law equally due to the wide interpretation that can be a particular law. This is the heart of police discretion.…
Petrowski, Thomas states: “Using force to defend against serious assaults is a priority because of the gravity of the encounter; using force to make arrests-where there is no immediate threat to the arresting officer or others- is a significant training concern because this use of force is far more common than using force in defense of life.” Futhermore, Petrowski states: “the dilemma facing use-of-force trainers is how to prepare officers to use reasonable force in both situations-using adequate force without hesitation in defense of life but never using excessive force to make an arrest of a nonthreatening subject and the answer is to train officers to use necessary force in a timely manner when they are about to be assaulted and discourage unnecessary force when seizing an uncooperative, but non-threatening subject.”…
In contemporary America, police brutality is the preferred form of social control (Contemporary Police Brutality and Misconduct 2). The police are so feared or disrespected by people in certain communities that it gives officers great latitude in handling people when they respond to incidents. A 2015 report for the Justice Department analyzed 394 incidents involving deadly police force in Philadelphia. It was found that officers "need more less-lethal options” (Wihbey &Kille 3). A pervasive problem in dealing with police brutality is the obvious lack of training. Officers are not given the resources to handle situations that they will most likely deal with. Because they do not have the proper training there is no way to hold them accountable for their actions, leaving large grey areas for police brutality to fester. While it is clear that officers should be held accountable for senseless shootings it is also important to acknowledge how dangerous their work is. America has a higher homicide rate compared to other developed nations, and many more guns per capita. Citizens seldom learn of the countless incidents where officers choose to hold fire and display restraint under extreme stress. Instead, due to the intense media storms, citizens only ever hear about incidents that…
Every society has rules to go by and laws that must not be broken and along with that is the criminal justice that even gives the criminal rights. Criminals in the United States are to be given their rights and not to have harm to them in any way under the justice system as they may be freed from their prosecution and their case be acquitted if found in their favor if an act of unjust or immoral conduct has been found. Law enforcement professionals must execute justice by upholding the law in an ethical and constitutional manner. “The United States Department of Justice seeks to prevent or resolve community conflicts and tensions arising from actions, policies, and practices perceived to be discriminatory on the basis of race, color, or national origin (CRS National Office).” Every officer must follow and obey the law in and out of vested uniform. The Constitution of the United States are most relevant to the ethical standards of law enforcement professionals by the prohibitions against warrantless search and seizure are parts of the United States Constitution which are relevant to the ethical standards of law enforcement. Law enforcement professionals ensure that they uphold the Constitution by following Law Enforcement Oath of Honor this is recommended as by the International Association of Chiefs of Police as symbolic statement of commitment to ethical behavior: “On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character, or the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I will always uphold the constitution to my community and the agency I serve.” (The law enforcement code of ethics) Law enforcement professionals use the social justice principles of equality, solidarity, and human rights to build a more just society by it advocates as it is based on the principles of solidarity and…
The first would be being vocal to the suspect that includes yelling and commanding the suspect to stop what they are doing. The second would be using only your body whether it's the officers physical strength or patting the suspect down with their hands. The third is the use of non lethal weapons, this includes everything from batons, tasers, or chemicals. Lastly is the use of deadly force, this is intended to cause death of injury to the suspect. The often problem when officers use deadly force, with the many cameras that are around now, cause a backlash from citizens claiming that a non lethal weapon could have been used to subdue the suspect. Police officers over the United States do not follow the same standard of the use of force. This has caused a lot of backlash throughout the United States and even calling for a national police force in some cases.After the death of Freddie Gray, Al Sharpton stated “There must be national policy and national law on policing, We can’t go from state to state, we’ve got to have national law to protect people against these continued…