Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Police misconduct and its effects
Police misconduct and its effects
Police misconduct and its effects
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Police misconduct and its effects
2. Police Balancing out the Need for Public Safety Ensuring Civil Liberties
Answer:
Civil liberties can be expensive for police as some of their actions can result into a lawsuit. Any officer found breaking another person rights can be expected to pay a large fine and their job could be on the line. As an officer is there to be a good respect to his city in protecting everyone and only acting upon a substantial crime if there is probable cause.
Personal Comments: In order for police to balance the need in public safety they can begin by following every citizens’ rights of freedom. By following the peoples right this will develop a trust factor between an officer and a citizen. People want to know that them and their families’ lives are protected
…show more content…
Which the reason for that to happen could be caused by a wrong thought by the police thinking that someone is up to no good. In a way this cannot be complained about or thought of wrong as they were doing their job correctly. Just they could have maybe done it in a different way that made someone feel like they were being harassed or loosing their freedom. Police on what they go through on a daily basis can make it sometimes difficult to keep a good balance for the community’s needs. Laws introduced in a state or city can only be made upon a vote and if is subjective to the better need of the community. Having more protection for the community in the end will make everyone’s life easier and possibly the crime rate low. Police deal with a lot of stress and worry when working in a city especially small town where everyone knows each other. As this can make trouble for police on being talk bad on or possibly putting the police in trouble for misusing the law. Most of the time even though there is some amount of talk upon an officer they push it off and go on helping the …show more content…
Being able to keep not only yourself protected but as well as the public can be difficult and take a lot of practice. Especially with all of the police shootings occurring this is really dreading the amount of people who want to be in law enforcement. Fearing your safety as well as other and having to be shot at it not something that anyone ever signs up to do. It is just something that police may go to work one day and be shot at or attacked, without ever thinking that day could be there last. Police can misuse the law by following someone around that may cause them to get nervous even if they’re not guilty of anything mess up. Which this should be wrong to do because its taking away their freedom of action. Although might just be doing their routine drive around checkup but if you follow someone to their house. That seems really unfair and more less seen as harassment in most cases but can be seen as protecting the public. For making sure the person is going around looking for houses to break in or to steal from
Being suspicious about someone is not necessarily bad for police officers, as long as you have a reason to suspect. For example, have you ever seen a person that you have never seen before, walk by your neighborhood? Law enforcement officers patrol the streets making sure there isn’t anything suspicious going on. There have been cases were the police have been accused of stopping people over for no reason. Some say they were racially profiled. Whatever the case is, police have to have reasonable suspicion to stop someone.
To begin with police officers faces more dangers than the average American citizen, “generally police are about three times as likely to be killed on the job as the average American” (Blako). “Some of the most important hazards police face are assaults, vehicle crashes, being struck by vehicles, stress, overexertion, and falls” (LaTourrette). Traffic stops make up a majority of the police deaths, but most of those deaths do not have to do with responding to the scene of a crime or the pursuit of a criminal suspect. Most would believe police have the most dangerous jobs in the world, yet many do not die in the line of duty. Police shows like Cops give the American population a false sense of danger when it comes day to day work of an officer. They only show the action to keep viewers interested because if you watching the normal stopping of a citizen to get a speeding ticket or to tell them a lights out the show would not be on anymore. If you do see an everyday traffic stop it is because something bad is about to happen like an oncoming vehicle probably not paying attention resul...
It is easy for police to get caught up in the idea that it is them against the rest of society (Barkan, 2012). Many citizens in today’s democratic society have a negative or fearful view of our law enforcement. Think back to grade school, who was that one kid in class that everyone was annoyed by or despised? Most people would answer the teacher’s pet or the tattletale. We have grown up from a young age to have a negative view towards those that get us into trouble when we think we can get away with something we know is wrong. In the adult world, the police force can equate to those tattletales.
In many years there has been a debate about procedural justice, policing community and communication in policing. Each of this topic is extremely important for the police to follow in order to maintain the community safe and build trust within the community. Police legitimacy is also important for the police to build a good relationship with the public. This essay analysis on what is procedural justice, community policing, and communication in policing and how each of this topic contribute to the legitimacy of police within the community. Each of this top is extremely important for police officer to be aware in order to effectively deal with any issue and build relationships with the community.
Everyday law enforcement personal have the possibility to face dangerous events in their daily duties. In performing such duties a police officer could come by a seemingly ordinary task, and in a blink of an eye the event can turn threatening and possible deadly. When or if this happens to an officer they won’t have
“Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us, in all the duties of life” (Jean de La Bruyère, n.d), this quote epitomises the use of discretion in life moreover in policing. Police discretion is a constant consideration within the law enforcement. Many people are of the view that police discretion is both an essential part of policing as well as a constant source of issues. There has been a constant quandary between enforcing the law to the latter. Police officers are faced with a vast array of situations each day which they must deal with, in which no two circumstances they encounter are the same. Moreover officers are frequently placed in the position of formulating decisions on how to handle a specific matter alone, without immediate supervision or any additional advice. The purpose of this paper is to examine the controversial topic of police discretion. Discretion in policing is an imperative aspect thus herein the benefits of the exercise of discretion will be explored. By firstly defining what the term discretion refers to and how it fits within the context of policing. Next, factors that influence police discretion will be discussed. Finally an examination of explanations supporting discretion will be articulated, which will illustrate why police discretion is essential in policing.
Why does the government make it harder for average citizens to protect themselves? Police cannot always protect everyone in the community. There are only about 500,000 police officers throughout the country, which means there is around 125,000 police officers on duty at any given time. Other than a bodyguard or a law enforcement officer at everyone’s side twenty-four hours a day, the most effective deterrent to a criminal attack is the criminal’s fear that the potential victim is armed and prepared to defend themselves.
A police officer is a law enforcement official whose job is to protect and serve all people, not to ignore racial equality. Because the U.S consists of many different races and ethnic groups, the ongoing conflict between police officers and citizens of color is constantly rising. Although police officers today are no longer allowed to have racial bias, which can be described as, attitudes or stereotype used against individuals of color to define their actions and decisions, officers sometimes abuse their authority going around racial impact tools and policies. This results in citizens viewing it as discrimination and mass criminalization. By changing the way laws and regulations unfairly impact Black and Brown communities can improve the justice
Police officer only need reasonable suspicion to stop, questions and search civilians. At the time of the search police officer have limitation, officers only have the right to patdown for weapons and don’t need any warrant to search. One of the big issue with Stop and Frisk is that people believe that violentes our fourth amendment of the United State constitution. The fourth amendment is the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures. One example of violation of the 4th amendment is that you need probable cause to searches people. In the Stop and Frisk police officer only need reasonable suspicion to stop and searches people. Another issue with Stop and Frisk is that there are racial bias. According to the United States District Court Southern District of New York, “The New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) made 4.4 million stops between January 2004 and June 2012. Over 80% of these 4.4 million stops were of blacks or Hispanics. In each of these stops a person’s life was interrupted. The person was detained and questioned, often on a public street. More than half of the time the police subjected the person to a frisk.” ( the United States District Court Southern District of New York,
In the world we live in today we see so many negative views of police officers and within the justice system. With the view being so negative there is a large fear of crime that citizens have because many are afraid to call the police. This is because they now have a reason to fear for their lives. This being said we have started to see a rise in private security officers being hired. They are now the ones being called in to come and keep the peace.
The police are amongst the powerful agents of the state. They can disrupt the daily routines of citizens more than any other public official by deciding who shall be stopped, who shall be detained, who shall be arrested, and who shall go free. Cao (2015) stated, “Confidence in the police is the preferred choice when we survey the citizenry about the level of support for the police and when the police is evaluated as a political institution” (para. 1). Not even the president of the United States has their immediate and direct power over life and death. Yet despite their awesome capacities, until recently they have been studied little by social scientists or philosophers.
Officers of the law have obtained a substantial amount of discretion due to the profession they chose. Police officers are confronted with several situations which can be threatening or potentially lethal to them to which they must react rapidly but suitably. They have also been granted the authority to infringe upon any citizen’s rights and freedoms but with great power comes great responsibilities. The foremost growing concern in today’s society is shown when police officers decide to ‘test their discretion and apply the use of force or lethal force during their encounters. Klahm IV, C., Frank, J., & Liederbach, J., (2014) argue that the defining role of police is to control civilians and to ensure the peoples safety, furthermore
Actions like these have significant consequences, the public no longer has a positive perception of the police. Trust is not something easily acquired, trust is fragile, it may be impossible to regain if lost. The article also describes police are forced into actions such as these because of pressure to meet expectations The writer provided examples and evidence to support his claim about how the public’s perception of the police can negatively impact the police carrying out their duties. The public needs to receive accurate information about their community to ensure the police have not camouflaged any information that could result in unfavourable outcomes which could include walking the streets at night, allowing your children to play at certain parks or playgrounds, and staying away from areas that attract higher crime rates.
Officers usually claim that those things are in their jurisdiction as a cop, but no cop has more rights than another citizen, other than the authority to arrest people. When a cop abuses his or her authority they are, putting their job at risk, and the risk is only high if they get caught, which they never do. Authorities have no other power over any other citizen other than their job, which most cops would argue against, but when it comes to the law they are just a citizen with a
Understanding the issue is just part of what’s needed. The purpose of the section is to identify a solution, or as may be the case, solutions. So, the question here is what can we do to improve the relationship between the police and the citizens. Over the years there has been many books written and studies conducted, all in an effort to find the best way to improve police and citizen relationships. To do this we must look at all available information. According to The Study Circles Resource Center’s Protecting Communities, Serving the Public: Police and residents building relationships to work together (2000), “Bring police and community together. We need to meet not just when there is a crisis or a big crime. We should do things to build relationships that are not so full of conflict. Then it would be easier to work together. We can build respect and trust for one another when we make time to meet with and learn about each other. This is the only way to do it.