History Of Civilian Review Boards

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Recommended: Importance for law enforcement to adhere to ethics

The existence of the civilian review board dates back around the 1920s, started in the United Stated as an aid to police departments in conducting external reviews after investigations by the department internal affairs. Civilian review boards has the authority only review and recommend discipline if needed, they have no authority to investigate. Civilian review boards can either find the innocence or guilt of an officer after the initial investigation of the police department has been conducted. Citizens seeking justice within their community, involving an officer of the law enforcement due to his or her unethical behavior or misconduct utilizes this option. They may feel as if the police department failed to thoroughly investigate there …show more content…

There has been a need to oversee the unethical behaviors and misconduct from officers of the law by the civilian review board. According the Prenzler(2000), in the United Stated, the Knapp Commission in New York is recognized as one of the first inquiries to significantly break the cycle of reform and corruptions (p. 660). The civilian review boards were created as a response to the negative outcry of the citizens within the communities after questionable actions taken by police officers were conducted. According to (Ferdik et al., 2013), the backlash against citizen oversight by police unions, police officials, and the associations, including The International Associations of Chiefs of Police (IACP), continued to limit the viability of citizen review boards (p. 106). As a result, civilian review boards have set limitations and regulations to follow regarding unethical actions by law enforcement officers. Some boards hold investigation power, some hold subpoena powers, and others simply review finding of the internal affairs investigations. Condon(1995) stated, take a look at the people that are running the police departments now, you would notice to the person in charge in the internal affairs bureau came from within the department(Condon, 1995). This may be the answer as to why the civilian review board has been rejected within agencies; some …show more content…

Officers are known as public servants, they are held at higher standards than everyday citizens. According to Wyatt-Nichol & Franks(2009) when officers behave unethically, it is a violation of public trust and damages the image of law enforcement everywhere (p. 40). Officer should receive in-death training of cases that make headlines within the newspapers or media. For example, the Freddie Gray or Eric Garner case could be used in scenarios with the steps taken to avoid any ethical dilemmas they could possibly run into. Updated training should be conducted every 6 months for ethics alone in addition to the yearly training that’s already in place. The civilian review board can recommend more training of officers that engage in unethical behavior or misconduct. Intense training, followed through with morals is important factors to avoiding the civilian review board and their process in reviewing investigations against officers. When all training officers receive has been overlooked and failed to comply. Police officers should be held accountable for their actions, through training officers learn to understand their position and need within the community. Although training is offered yearly and on an as need basics, officers are held to a high standard within their community. Some tend to lose sight of their mission of daily duties which are to maintain order and

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