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Ethical conduct in law enforcement
Police leadership philosophy
Ethical conduct in law enforcement
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Since the 1800’s, the main duties of a uniformed police officer revolved around carrying out patrols and investigations into crimes (CliffsNotes.com, 2011a). A usual patrol involves the officers either walking on foot or using vehicles travel around neighborhoods as a way of deterring criminal activities (CliffsNotes.com, 2011a).
The investigative part of a police officer’s work usually comes in when a suspect of the case at hand has not been identified (CliffsNotes.com, 2011a). Usually, the detective has to sift through some evidence so as to identify the leads to the suspect. Finally, there are special activities that require specialized law enforcement personnel to carry out. These activities include traffic control and drug control (CliffsNotes.com, 2011a).
It is clear from all this that the job of a typical police officer is hazardous. The police organization borrows much of its organizational structure from the military (CliffsNotes.com, 2011b). With its bureaucratic structure and the lines of command that pervade the organization, its culture can lead to inflexibility. It can also lead to a culture of indifference amongst the police (CliffsNotes.com, 2011b). With the tendency of the organization to ape their counterparts in the military, its workers are pre-disposed to violence. This is one example of how an organization’s culture can influence the decisions of its personnel. Furthermore, an authoritarian form of leadership also plays a great role in nurturing a domineering air in a police officer (CliffsNotes.com, 2011b). For example, the use of guns, the use of police swoops as a means of fighting crime, and the use of uniforms that closely resemble those of the military have inculcated a domineering character and, t...
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... Department of Justice, 2001). Some form of witness protection should be accorded to me to protect me from retaliatory attacks.
References
CliffsNotes.com (2011). Police Strategies. Retrieved from http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/topicArticleId-10065,articleId-9953.html.
CliffsNotes.com (2011). Police Organization. Retrieved from http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/topicArticleId-10065,articleId-9952.html
Criminal Justice Code of Ethics (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.oregon.gov/DPSST/SC/docs/F-11.pdf?ga=t
The Importance of Ethics in Criminal Justice. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/4031_Banks_Chapter_1_Proof.pdf
U.S Department of Justice (2001). “Principles for Promoting Police Integrity: Examples of Promising Police Practices and Policies”. 7-11. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojp/186189.pdf
Dempsey, J. S., & Frost, L. S. (2012). Police Ethics and Police Deviance. An Introduction to Policing (6th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.
Walker, S., & Katz, C. (2012). Police in America: An Introduction (8th Edition ed.). New York:
The Law Enforcement Profession Abstract In order to understand comptemporary law enforcemment, we should recognize the conditions that impact our profession. It is agreed upon by many scholars that major changes in law enforcement occur every five years. Policing is sometimes characterize"... like a sandbar in a river, subject to being changed continuously by the currents in which it is immersed..."
It is a myth to believe that an officers job is spend fighting dangerous crimes, in reality officers spend more time handing smaller cases. For example, police officers spend a lot of time doing daily tasks such as giving speeding tickets and being mediators in disputes (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). Handing out speeding tickers and handling minor disputes are far from fighting crime. Police officers spend more time doing preventive measures (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). Preventive measures involve officers intervening to prevent further altercations. Victor Kappeler and Gary Potter discussed the myth of crime fighting as invalid and misleading notions of an officer’s employment.
Martin, Rich. "Police Corruption: An Analytical Look into Police Ethics." The FBI Enforcement Bulletin May 2011: 11+. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Feb. 2015.
Crime is a part of society encompases the news and the public. A variety of studies of media content have estimated that as much as 25 percent of the daily news is devoted to crime (Surette 1992) and that crime is the largest major category of stories in the print and electronic media (Chermak 1994, 103). (Lawrence 18). With crime at an all time high, police are constantly having to deal with more and more issues. This can lead to stressed out and fed up officers, which can lead to poor decisions by an officer. The use of force by police is a highly controversial topic as it raises questions about a government’s ability to use force against its citizens (Lawrence 19). Today’s society is caught up on the ideals of civility and equality before the law, making police use of force a touchy
Bibliography Why Good Cops Go Bad. Newsweek, p.18. Carter, David L. (1986). Deviance & Police. Ohio: Anderson Publishing Co. Castaneda, Ruben (1993, Jan. 18). Bearing the Badge of Mistrust. The Washington Post, p.11. Dantzer, Mark L. (1995). Understanding Today's Police. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc. James, George (1993, Mar. 29). Confessions of Corruption. The New York Times, P.8, James, George (1993, Nov. 17). Officials Say Police Corruption is Hard To Stop. The New York times, p.3. Sherman, Lawrence W(1978). Commission Findings. New York Post, P. 28 Walker, J.T. (1992). The police in America, p.243-263, chp. 10, Walker, Samuel (1999).
It is both a result and a cause of police isolation from the larger society and of police solidarity. Its influence begins early in the new officer’s career when he is told by more experienced officers that the “training given in police academies is irrelevant to ‘real’ police work”. What is relevant, recruits are told, is the experience of senior officers who know the ropes or know how to get around things. Recruits are often told by officers with considerable experience to forget what they learned in the academy and in college and to start learning real police work as soon as they get to their Field Training Officers. Among the first lessons learned are that police officers share secrets among themselves and that those secrets especially when they deal with activities that are questionable in terms of ethics, legality, and departmental policy, are not to be told to others. They also are told that administrators and Internal Affairs officers cannot often be trusted. This emphasis on the police occupational subculture results in many officers regarding themselves as members of a “blue
In order to have effective policing I believe integrity and ethics play a huge part in helping build trust within communities. Sound conduct by police improves community interactions, enhances communication, and promotes shared responsibility for addressing crime and disorder. There are three ways that police departments can strengthen community relationships just by training officers about procedural justice, bias reduction, and racial reconciliation. If we implement these concepts, we can create an environment in which effective partnerships between the police and citizens can flourish.
It is often said that power brings corruption, but in reality it is an individual’s lack of character, self-discipline, and integrity that leads to corruption. Law enforcement can bring many temptations on the job, and maintaining an up most level of personal integrity can often times be very difficult. The very nature of the job surrounds officers with all of the bad things that society, produces. There can be an endless amount of training and rules put into place to try and deter officers from committing unethical acts, but in the end it really just comes down to the specific individual and their willingness to do the right thing.
A common style of police leadership is a more bureaucratic style where the leader manages “by the book”, everything must be done in accordance with pre-written policies and procedures (Cordner & Scarborough, 2010). When a certain problem or concern isn’t covered by the book the leader refers to the next level for a decision. This style removes the ability of the leader to manage and forces a strict accordance to the “book”. This style can be very effective when dealing with dangerous situations which can be a common occurrence in police work.
The changes in police culture have found some errors in managing this changes. Drawing on Kotters article, 50% of the companies failed in this error, by not establishing a great sense of urgency for changes which means that they are not setting right expectation, right goals and visions for the company which has the potential to jeopardise the future of the organisation. “Without motivation, people won’t help and the effort goes nowhere.” (Kotter 2007). As for the New Zealand Police they want urgent actions for changing the culture and to improve performance wit...
Police decisions can affect life, liberty, and property, and as guardians of the interests of the public, police must maintain high standards of integrity. Police discretion concerning how to act in a given situation can often lead to ethical misconduct (Banks 29).
Vicchio, Stephen. “Ethics and Police Integrity.” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. July 1997: 8-12. EBSCOhost. Web. 12 Nov 2013
The most common form of patrolling seen today is car patrols. As of 1984, an average police department has approximately 50 percent of their officers in patrol cars (Green, 1984). A great deal of the money that departments receive for funding will go into patrol cars (Green, 1984) and the main purpose of this form of patrol is to respond to calls of illegal activity, accidents and keep a presence within the community to help deterrent criminal activity (Green, 1984). The biggest advantage that this form of patrol has is that the presence of these officers are seen in several areas in the community in fast and efficient way. One officer can often be seen at one end of a community at any given time and again at another end of the community a little while later. Cars are easier to keep mobile in almost all weather conditions too.