U.S. Law Enforcement
Name
Institution
Introduction
Law enforcement is an important element of the United States’ system of criminal justice apart from the corrections and the courts. It is one of the major functions of the various governmental agencies of police. It is therefore concerned with police service or functions of police departments. In this paper, the author analyzes at law enforcement and related issues. Specifically, the author discusses law enforcement, theoretical understanding of the different models of policing as well as policing styles. The author also looks at the question of stress associated with the life of a police officer and how such stress affects them. This is a purely theoretical discussion based on secondary sources of information. Time and resources constraints could not allow for a more empirical, experimental fieldwork research. The materials relied upon are mainly journal articles from respectable academic journals and databases.
Law Enforcement: Past Perspective
In most cases, law enforcement involves investigation of all forms of suspected, potential or actual criminal activities and presenting evidence arising from investigation to the courts for determination of criminal culpability and subsequent punishment. Law enforcement is also concerned with detaining criminal suspects pending further investigation or judicial action. These, however, are not the only responsibilities or functions of law enforcement. Law enforcement is also concerned with deterrence and prevention of crime as well as enforcement of all the orders given by the law courts such as writs or warrants. In addition, law enforcement play an important role in ensuring public safety, maintaining public order, operating c...
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As taught in the lectures, it is impossible for police officers to win the war against crime without bending the rules, however when the rules are bent so much that it starts to violate t...
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the psychological health of police, fire, and ambulance officers.” International Journal of Stress Management, Vol. 11, pp. 227-44.
The law enforcement officers suffer quite more job-associated stress than the people living in the community. Many have had to realize that the nature of the profession itself may be exposing officers to the increased levels of stressors. In essence, job-associated stress is among the major health concerns of the law enforcement community, and this is because it can have some impact on the physical, mental and emotional well-being of the officers. The difference in the stressors between the law enforcement personnel and other individuals is the fact that, the enforcement officials get to interact with the human population that are quite angry, upset or even uncooperative, in which case it takes some toll on
(Swanson, Territo and Taylor, p. 2). However, in recent years some major changes have occurred in a shorter time period. Innovations in law enforcement During the past two decades, I have observed major changes in the viewpoint of society towards police officer's as the symbol of trust and dignity, the technological advances of communication and information systems in law enforcement, and the revision of selection and hiring practices for police officers. Organizational change occurs both as a result of internal and external agents (Swanson, Territo and Taylor, p. 664).
Training, talking, and the policies of the department are sometimes a viewed as a necessary evil by officers, but when used effectively, the benefits, and knowledge obtained in these setting, will reduce duplication of the tactics for the reduction of stress that were non productive in the past, and will allow management to harness each of the individuals personal strengths, to meet stress reducing objectives. In today’s high-performance work environment, traditional skills of command must be combined with influence skills, and persuasion strategies for this type of success in creating a less stressful workplace. Focus must be applied on larger patterns of leadership effectiveness for stress reduction to be an open talking point, and not marred in officer criticism, and fear. It is important for law enforcement administration, to take the time to address concerns, and gather information for their own experiences, to reduce unneeded stress within the profession. This will allow administration to make better personnel decisions, and make management of a stressful situation more effective, thus reducing stress on themselves, and the officers below them, while in turn demonstrating the team concept.
Police stress is viewed as a structural problem that is amongst the police culture (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). The argument made is that the working environment causes the stress. Even though a police officers job is not as dangerous officers still determine the danger as a source of stress. Police stress can be split up in to three sources: occupation, job-related and external stress (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). Just the thought of the job gives officers stress. Job-related circumstances such as responding to calls can also create stress. Finally, external sources such as personal stress can all lead to an officer being highly
Some of the world’s most-loved and well-known superheroes include Superman, Batman, and Spiderman. However great these superheroes may appear, their fictional stories also include stressors that they face everyday, such as the villains that they encounter and the pressure of being a hero and an everyday citizen. In this way, stress often negatively impacts the lives of the ones who watch over every neighborhood, every street, and every house. Such is the job of a police officer. Because stress has become an important topic in the community of law enforcement, things that are commonly discussed are the causes of stress, the effects of stress, and the handling of stress in the lives of police officers.
The origins of law enforcement can be traced back to English roots. The first incorporated stages of policing involved kin policing which “involved families, clans, and tribes enforcing informal rules and customs,” in the community in order to keep the peace. Law enforcement refers to any system by which some members of society act in an organized manner to enforce the law by “preventing, detecting, and investigating.”(Worrall & Schmalleger, 2013, p. 2) People who violated the rules and normal behaviors of the governing system, would be prosecuted in a court of law. The evolution of policing developed into watches, constables, and sheriffs, who took care of their communities. This method of policing eventually changed, when the Greek and Roman Empire took over.
The definition of justice and the means by which it must be distributed differ depending on an individual’s background, culture, and own personal morals. As a country of many individualistic citizens, the United States has always tried its best to protect, but not coddle, its people in this area. Therefore, the criminal justice history of the United States is quite extensive and diverse; with each introduction of a new era, more modern technologies and ideals are incorporated into government, all with American citizens’ best interests in mind.
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).
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...
Gul, Zakir, Hakan Hekim, and Ramazan Terkesil. “Controlling Police (Excessive) Force: The American Case.” International Journal of Human Sciences 10.2 (2013): 285-303. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.