I participated in a police ride-along with the Fairfax County Police Department on October 30th. I chose the Fair Oaks District Station for the ride since my home falls within that particular district’s boundaries. At 8 p.m., I was introduced to Officer Crutchman; the police officer I would be accompanying for the night. We headed out after a brief overview of some safety rules and expectations. Over the course of the shift I was able to observe many of the routine duties of a FCPO such as responding to calls, setting speed traps, performing traffic stops, assisting fellow officers, and patrolling neighborhoods and public parks. Officer Crutchman provided valuable insight into police work, beyond the procedural knowledge that Mason classes …show more content…
As we cruised around the community, he pointed out countless minor traffic violations, both moving and non-moving, but opted not to make any stops. At this point he stated his main concern was to spot any impaired drivers and get them off the road. Eventually, as we came up behind an older civic (the Civic had a broken brake light) on Centreville Road, the officer stated that he detected the scent of marijuana coming from the Civic. The driver of the Civic noticed Crutchman’s police cruiser behind him and dropped his speed to 5 mph under the posted limit. Officer Crutchman began tailing the vehicle which immediately turned off on the next available road. We proceeded to follow the Civic for a couple of miles. I could tell that Officer Crutchman wanted to make the stop, and I inquired why he hadn’t done so already on account of the Civic’s faulty brake light. He responded that he is cautious about making such stops because he does not want a “new law named after him” on account of the controversy surrounding pretextual stops. It is possible that this careful attitude has developed as a result of the rising public outcry against police and …show more content…
A various points throughout the night we came across other officers who were dealing with accidents and various other tasks. Unless there was a rush to respond to a call, Officer Crutchman would slow his cruiser down and check to see if his fellow officers required assistance. Furthermore, after assisting multiple officers from his unit in a potential trespass violation at a local school, instead of driving going about their separate ways the officers began swapping arrest stories and offering their opinions on the progression of the resulting criminal cases. Afterwards, between some hilarious joke telling, the talk moved to personal and professional concerns and issues; one officer had a badly fitting bullet-proof vest that was on loan. Officer Crutchman offered to give his extra armor to his fellow officer since they were around the same
During the seventies in New Jersey created a program that could change life in society. This program occurred only in twenty-eight cities. Government and public officials were excited about this concept. Police officials were not so much. Foot patrol made officers walk in sleet and snow. Assigned foot patrol was a way of punishment for officers. State funding of foot patrol shut the mouths of some people. Silence stopped after the “Police Foundation”(Kelling) put foot patrol to the actual test. To contrary belief this rattled some arguments in the community an...
The judicial system in America has always endured much skepticism as to whether or not there is racial profiling amongst arrests. The stop and frisk policy of the NYPD has caused much controversy and publicity since being applied because of the clear racial disparity in stops. Now the question remains; Are cops being racially biased when choosing whom to stop or are they just targeting “high crime” neighborhoods, thus choosing minorities by default? This paper will examine the history behind stop and frisk policies. Along with referenced facts about the Stop and Frisk Policy, this paper will include and discuss methods and findings of my own personal field research.
To conclude, I learned many things on my ride along, but the thing that I still think about now is how police officers just do their job. The media gives police officers’ a bad name and tell the public about the bad things that they do. The media does not show what the officers do to protect the community or how they risk their lives in order to bring safety to the community. My ride along was a great experience and I am glad that I had the chance to ride along with Officer Ernesti.
Many State Troopers were being investigated for a variety of discriminatory stops. An attorney, William Merton, has been a part of the investigation of the troopers and found some very interesting information. A man named John Mean was pulled over by the troopers, where he was driving the same speed as the cars around him and he was pulled over. He then was threatened, with the probability of a search warrant, to give up his privacy rights and be searched. His car was then searched and he was release with a warning, twenty-five minutes later. This incident, like many others, was not reported, which shows a suspicion in the data collected from the department (Bouie 2014).
American policing originated from early English law and is profoundly influenced by its history. Early law enforcement in England took on two forms of policing, one of which heavily influenced modern policing and it is known as the watch (Potter, 2013). The watch consisted, at first, of volunteers which had to patrol the streets for any kind of disorder including crime and fire. After men attempted to get out of volunteering by paying others, it became a paid professional position (Walker & Katz, 2012). The three eras of policing in America are shaped by these early ideas and practices of law enforcement. Throughout time, sufficient improvements and advancements have been made from the political era to the professional era and finally the community era which attempts to eliminate corruption, hire qualified officers and create an overall effective law enforcement system.
Police corruption is a difficult issue cities have to deal with and one of the oldest problems in the police force. Corruption can be defined as the mistreatment of public power for personal benefit or private and the use of excessive force either emotional or physical. In this essay I will explain in detail federal indictments of Los Angeles Country Sheriff officers use of mistreatment of jail inmates and visitors. Another topic I will explain is the transfer of Los Angeles Country Sheriff hired officers with questionable background. Finally I will end by analyzing the hiring of new Sheriff deputies under the “Friends of the Sheriff” program. There are several ways police departments could take to reduce police corruption. The three areas I think should change are the training officers further in how to diminish abuse, improving personal character of officers, and incentives program.
Police corruption, misconduct, and brutality in the United States have been issues since the creation of watch system in the United States (Grant& Terry, 2012). New policy and training is now in place and the corruption, misconduct, and brutality has gone down since the beginning of policing. This is a huge issue that impacts all police organizations in the United States. The extent of police corruption, misconduct, and brutality is hard to track in the United States. A lot of these crimes go unreported, tossed aside, or the officer responsible gets little or no punishment. This is huge issue in the United States criminal justice system.
At some point in our lives, everybody eventually comes in contact with a law enforcement officer, some people for different reasons. Law enforcement officers work around the clock to keep citizens safe. Many people do not know a lot of things about law enforcement, some of those will be discussed. Those topics are agency administration, issues with law enforcement in today’s society, and law enforcement history.
Young people and the police have, for many years, experienced a tense and confrontational relationship (Borgquist & Johnson et al., 1995). This has led to a great wealth of literature based upon the notion of police-youth interaction. Much of this literature has tended to focus upon juvenile criminality and the reasons why young people commit such seemingly high levels of crime. Whilst the relationship between young people and the police force has been widely theorised and explained, there is very little literature on juvenile attiudes towards the police. Research that concerns societies attitudes towards the police force tends to focus upon the views and opinions of adults (Hurst and Frank, 2000). In this first section of my literature review I am going to focus upon work that allows us to gain a deeper understanding of why young people are so important when looking at crime. This section will allow us to comprehend the ways in which, literature suggests, young people view the police. This knowledge will provide a basis for my research in which I look more specifically at youth attitudes towards PCSO’s.
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
When political anarchy, social injustices, and crime end up leading to civil depravities that go against the foundation of democracy, society depends on the police to come in and keep the peace, while attempting to restore the order. These officers are asked to pursue criminals in vehicles, and on foot, repeatedly expose themselves to the dangers of the crimes, and remain calm while being under pressure at all moments on the job, and even off duty. Being an officer of the law takes a special person
Mr. Caulfield was stopped for driving a mere two miles an hour over the speed limit, and slightly veering over the centerline of the road. The question that arises on this issue is whether officer Campbell was justified in making the stop in the first place. The reasonableness of the stop comes into question. The stopping of a vehicle and the detention of its occupants are considered a seizure under the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. U.S. v. Shabazz, 993 F. 2d 431, 434 (5th Cir. 1993).
Police psychology is broadly defined as the application of psychological principles and methods to law enforcement. With the popularity of television shows like Criminal Minds and Law & Order: SVU, the job of a police psychologist has become more well known and even popular. As seen on these shows, a police psychologist can be helpful in profiling a criminal, but they also provide many other services to the members of a police department. Although the development of this field has a long history, police psychology as a separate entity is still relatively recent and growing. This intimate relationship between psychology and law enforcement can be traced back to almost a century ago.[1] It first developed out of a need for a variety of psychological services in the law enforcement field, including screening applicants and counseling during grief and stress situations. In the time that it has been around, it has proved to be a valuable resource for the law enforcement profession.
On Tuesday, September 23rd, I had the opportunity to do a ride along with the Takoma Park police department. My ride along was quite interesting. I rode with Officer Carl, a twenty-six-year-old officer who has been with the police department for six months. During the ride along we engaged in so many conversations concerning his work routine, and some the important things to be aware of as a police officer. Officer Carl and I were about the same age group so I felt much comfortable talking to him. Before I went for the ride along I had a different perspective about police work, I thought police work was much amusing and entertaining, but after the ride along with Officer Carl, I have realized that there is much more to police work and it often
In Intro to Criminal Justice class, I had the opportunity to learn about the Criminal Justice System more thoroughly. I learned that there are three components that make up the Criminal Justice System such as the courts, law enforcement, and corrections. Each component has its own role in making sure the the Criminal Justice System is functioning properly. If one of these components are not efficient the Criminal Justice system will not be as strong as it could be.