The main point, and perhaps the most important point I can make as well, would have to be; officer safety. Making sure one’s equipment is secure, should be the most important part of officer safety. Whether that means your equipment is secure around your waist, in a locker, or in a weapons vault, as long as the equipment is secure, it cannot fall into the wrong hands. If one was to leave a duty belt on a bus, unsecured, it can be accessed by anyone, including people who may want to use the items on that belt to harm others. Now, not only is the officer’s safety at risk, it is safe to argue that the officer has put innocent people’s safety at risk as well. Making sure that one is wearing their duty belt properly, with all the keepers, and making sure all snaps are secured before walking out of the detachment on duty, or off a bus, not only makes it safer for the officer to perform his/her duties, but the safety of the public is satisfied as well. The public wants to have trust and faith in the police services of their communities, and their abilities to keep them safe and secure from harm. Not securing equipment, would dissolve that trust, and show the public that some officers are inept, or neglectful in their duties, thus giving way to the public losing faith in our responsibilities and roles as public defenders. It is important to remember that all police services are painted with the same brush. When one community starts to lose faith in their police service, other communities will soon start asking if their police service is similar, and that doubt is extremely harmful.…
The fifth reason is that the top cops don't want to hear about it. Some incidents aren't reported or addressed. Steven Rosenfeld reviewed supervisory investigations of officer’s use of force that appear to be designed to justify the officer's actions. He found out that some specially trained investigators use their investigations to make it seem like the accused police officer is a good person. His sixth reason is that the top cops ignore the worst abuses. His seventh reason is most cops don't face disciplinary threats. However, when we examined CDP’s discipline numbers further, it was apparent that in most of those 51 cases the actual discipline imposed was for procedural violations such as failing to file a report, charges were dismissed…
In the police force in the Ferguson area, there were “allegations involving use of force that raised questions” (50). Police officers rarely stay in the same department over their career. Therefore, there is almost no familiarity between the officers, and the community they are serving in. Most of the revenue of…
This thesis will examine the public perception of the consolidation of two of Michigan’s small police departments, The City of Walled Lake and the…
There are multiple risks associated with being a police officer that all who choose to work this field must embrace. There is a commission in every state on peace officer standards and training. Each agency must meet the minimum standards required by the state. Once an officer has met those standards and gets hired, a lot of training hours are given to the officer for to gain the necessary knowledge and tools for be able to protect the citizens in their community against criminal activities. No matter how much training one can receive, there is nothing that can prepare them for every situation they could possibly encounter while on patrol. Officers routinely run the risk of sustaining injury or death when dealing with situations involving physical struggles and/or violent…
As stated on the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) website, “every day, law enforcement officers face danger while carrying out their responsibilities. When dealing with a dangerous-or unpredictable-situation, police officers usually have very little time to access it and determine the proper response.” Proper training techniques about how to access and handle situations teach officers how to implement use of force. “The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in its study, Police Use of Force in America 2001, defined use of force as ‘the amount of effort required by the police to compel compliance by an unwilling subject.’” There are many instances of abuse of how the use of force protocol is abused by an officer and very little done about…
Seeing this happening begins a collective fear of our law enforcement which can lead to mistrust and separation of hope. According to an L.A. Times article, in Inglewood, a city located inside of Los Angeles County, California, residents were beginning to get tired of treatment by police and began to call and complain to the U.S. Department of Justice in order to demand reform. A Times investigation found that Inglewood officers repeatedly resorted to physical or deadly force against unarmed suspects (Kim et al.). When further investigation was demanded and started, they noticed that “The agency's rules on using deadly force are vague and inconsistent with U.S. Supreme Court guidelines” (Kim et al.). This demonstrates that there is a clear correlation between outdated reforms and the excessive use of force.…
There are many reasons why someone would abuse their level of power that comes along with the position of being a police officer. One of the main problems could be their level of training with those in control or management positions, or merely the lack of being held accountable for actions. A police officer may think they are above the law because of their badge, and grow a false sense of allowable actions. Gottschalk (2011) lists traits of officers that tend to have grandiose thoughts or actions that are outside their lawful duties. These personality traits or behaviors stated include overall misguided thoughts, greedy, putting self in place of isolation socially or professionally, staying silent about peers committing injustices, insubordination or lack of corroboration in general, and lack of respect for the badge, position, fellow officers, or the public people overall (Gottschalk, 2011). These characteristics of personality put the officer in a place to take more than they give, and have personal gain over public service and heart of giving. It could be possible the way in which they were trained at that precinct allowed these…
Deficiencies in Police Practices American Military University Professor Dena Weiss CMRJ303 Criminology Abstract This paper will serve to describe the deficiencies in police practices. This paper highlights constitutional due process and the amendments violated in the process of administering justice. It will show civil rights violations to include profiling and race discrimination. Furthermore, this paper addresses police brutality and the use of deadly force. Keywords deficiencies, race, due process, amendment, civil rights, profiling Deficiencies in Police Practices…
The nature of police work can be one of stress and long, hard working hours in which police officers deal with many types of situations that endanger themselves and their fellow officers. The fact that many people do not trust, appreciate, or support the police department is a terrible result of the public being taught to hate them. They do not like the police presence and the authority that the police have over them. Once a police officer shoots a suspect who more than likely deserved it due to the intent of harming or killing a civilian or a fellow officer, the public outcry is that the police are killers and that they will shoot anyone they come into contact with. Although we hear about police shootings in the news that grip our attention, we must put ourselves in the shoes of a police officer as we consider the training her or she has received and realize how the levels of stress and quick decision making to stay alive can result in a police shooting.…
The problem is that the departments are paying too much out to overtime. The reason why this problem occurs is that when police officers are going to retire they ask for overtime so that it builds up there pension. They ask for they overtime because it builds up their annual salary and the pension goes off the best 3 years of an officers carrier and it determines on how much they earn on their pension after they retire. A way to solve this problem is that they get proper staffing. If the departments get proper staffing then they wouldn’t have to pay these officers who are due to retire overtime if they have an officer who they could pay at set hourly…
One police officer can make a decision that will affect their lives, their communities and of course damage the reputations of other officers. Police officers have a “crime fighter image” from popular television shows. Citizens in America expect police officers to solve crimes fast and make their lives easier to manage. We know that most of their job consists of peacekeeping and order maintenance. Whether you are a Chief of police of a small police department or a large police department you need to enforce a policing style that reflects you ‘all as an organization. There are three main strategies that police use when enforcing laws Zero-Tolerance police, community policing and problem-oriented policing. In New York, Police Commissioner William Bratton and Mayor Rudolph instituted Zero- Tolerance policing in 1993. Zero-Tolerance…
However, not addressing the dysfunction of excess force, would mean many more innocent people are going to lose their lives. As a society, we have an obligation to better ourselves and strive to always meet the ideals of this nation. One of those ideas being that the justice system is blind to race, gender, and class. Often times, racial and a falsely, perceived fear of harm has led to death or other forms of police brutality. Proper training can help prevent these simple and complex mistakes. It should be a societal goal to help ensure that the police force is protecting the general population via proper training, support, and education on racial…
Policing have become a major concern today in the United States. The citizens of the United States confidence and trust in policing of the police are at the lowest point since the Rodney King beating. Many Americans still report confidence in the police, however an unprecedented number of Americans also report no or very little confidence in policing. Throughout history poor police/community relations in minority and low-income neighborhoods has documented. It has been exacerbated by egregious acts of misconduct, some of which have been captured on video and shared on social media. Many people such as activists, politicians, and police officials themselves have called for better education and equipment, from de-escalation training to body-worn…
United States police play a very important role in the lives of U.S. citizens today. Their duty is to serve and protect us from harm, but often times this may not be the case. Americans are made to believe that these officers will serve and protect us, when in all reality police are more interested in enforcing the law and making arrests. The police often overstep their authority and begin acting as if they are above the law. Police brutality has become an ongoing topic amongst American citizens for quite some time now. Police often use excessive force physically, which often times results in death or severe injury to citizens. Police have…