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Roles of the police
Describe the role of police
Role of police in our society
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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.
A number of studies by Loyens, Hickman, Powell, Piquero, and Greene show
However, after reading the article the author noted that police are mandated to enforce civilian law and order, investigate crimes, and strictly follow legal procedures even when in pursuit of chronic and dangerous criminals (Kagoro, 2014). Ideally, it has been argued, there should be strict dividing lines between the police and the military; the former for domestic purposes with the latter protecting citizens from external threats (Kagoro, 2014). In his article on the anti-militarization of the police in the United States, Kurt Andrew Schlichter aptly put it that the military is designed, organized, and equipped to execute rapid, violent and efficient obliteration of the “enemy”-whoever the enemy may be ( Kagoro, 2014). However, the law enforcement is usually modeled after the military and in fact there a large number of police officers who are former military personnel. This was a new criticism of police that was unfamiliar to me in the study of criminal justice but, I found it to be a valid point. The idea of changing the focus of policing to be less of a battlefield and more of a community may be a compelling approach to make interaction with citizens less
Crank & Caldero (2004) discuss the notion of the noble cause that is widely used by police officers to justify their actions. Police officers feel that there are many obstacles that prevent them to do their job efficiently. They claim that courts only hinder the process of putting criminals behind bars. They also believe that they are true patriots with a noble cause of getting rid of bad guys. To further prove their point Crank & Caldero (2004) use works of many authors, who wrote about police ethics and corruption and about how the noble cause is interpreted by police officers. Each of the authors discusses a dilemma with which polices officers have to deal when deciding what action they need to take in order to deal with criminals. Cumulatively, it seems that police conduct themselves towards criminals and citizens with hostility and with actions that maybe constituted as unlawful and corruptive in nature. But to the police officers, who are seeking justice and are driven by a noble cause, all means are good to get the bad guys. There is also a philosophical twist that puts a poli...
8 hours. It is the recommended numbers of hours one should sleep. However, between those 8 hours, something disturbing is happening. Every 8 hours, a police officer kills an American citizen. Only 1% of these police are indicted in killing compared to 90% of American that are hauled off to jail immediately (Cop Crisis). Whether it 's a police officer or an American citizen that commits the crime, there will always be an organization that supports the offender. The International Union of Police Associations is an organization that lobbies for the police department and its affairs. On the other end of the spectrum is the Communities for Police Reform. This organization fights to protects the rights of the average American citizen. Both organizations share the common ground to protect the rights of their members and can work together to reach a point of a compromise.
Walker, S., & Katz, C. (2012). Police in America: An Introduction (8th Edition ed.). New York:
What is complacency? Well as defined by Merriam-Webster it is “self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies”. In typical occupations complacency doesn’t really have any big consciences, some people at their job can be complacent till they retire and never have any issues at all. But when you become complacent in Law Enforcement there could be very serious and irreversible consciences like losing your own life or worse an innocent person’s life that you swore to protect. Complacency comes along after you do something over and over again and become good at it that you get to confortable in that situation but in law enforcement nothing is routine. You can do one hindered great car stops with no issue and get very comfortable doing the stops that you forget
The existence of police corruption in society raises many important questions. What causes police of...
With the current environment of law enforcement and the struggle with trust and legitimacy within communities; police departments are exploring programs that seek to increase police legitimacy. The You Have Options program is such an example of a program that can build trust and legitimacy with a vulnerable population within communities. Research by Mazerolle et al. (2013) noted that “police legitimacy is thought to be a sure pathway for police to elicit cooperation, obtain compliance and gain satisfaction from the public.” The pathway to promoting legitimacy is through procedural justice where police provide a high quality of treatment, are fair, and make good decisions. The 20 elements of the You Have Options program
Myths are defined as stories that are made up by society that symbolizes values, ideologies and beliefs (Phillips, 2016). Myths are used by all cultures; myths are stories that are told to support social customs in societies. Crime myths are also created by telling stories (Victor Kappeler & Gary Potter, 2005). Myths about police officers have created false imageries of officers and their day-to-day jobs. Myths about the police have played an important role for decades now (Phillips, 2016). Majority of police myths are created by both the media and the police themselves. This paper will review Victor Kappeler and Gary Potters summary of police myths and outside sources will be used to support the myths listed by the authors.
Policing relies on the public trust, police legitimacy and accountability, which can be destroyed by unjustifiable police shootings (Squires and Kennninson, 2010). Within this country, there is a recognition that the police do not always adhere to the rule of law (Newburn and Reiner, 2012: 809), which has led to consistent public outrage at the lack of effectiveness and legitimacy the police has maintained. Therefore the deliberate decision to enforce police to attend to the streets unarmed was employed to reassure the public that the police were not to be feared (Waddington and Wright, 2010). Ultimately, concerns derive from the belief that the police are completely ineffective when dealing with gun crimes (Farrell, 1992: 20). However, whilst arming police with guns can act as a protector when on duty it can also cause an increase in police misconduct. This issue will be discussed throughout this essay.
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.
Police officers are faced each day with a vast array of situations with which they must deal. No two situations they encounter are ever the same, even when examines a large number of situations over an extended period of time. The officers are usually in the position of having to make decisions on how to handle a specific matter alone, or with little additional advice and without immediate supervision. This is the heart of police discretion. As we shall find, the exercise of discretion by police has benefits and problems associated with such exercise. The unfettered use of discretion can lead to the denial of citizen rights. Strategies that control the use of discretion are, therefore, very important. The benefits and problems of police discretion and controlling strategies are the focus of this essay.
The focus is on the issues of police accountability in modern society, and in particular why their accountability is more important than other professions. This is not surprising considering the amount of power and discretion police officers have, and the level of trust that the public holds with these civil servants. Police officers accountability is the biggest thing in their profession which has been an issue of concern they have to be accountable to the police department who want the officer to be an effective and responsible person, to people in the community who have best expectation from an officer and being accountable to themselves for their acts. An ordinary citizen of a country cannot obtain the powers that police officer’s have.
Walker, S. & Katz, C.M. 2011. The Police in America: An Introduction, 7th ed. New York, NY. McGraw-Hill.
In order to understand the attitudes towards police work and the actions of police officers one can make use of the Structure-agency debate which has three distinct perspectives; structure, agency and structuration. This essay shall argue which position is best to apply by drawing on sociological theories and concepts.
The law gives the police the authority to use force when necessary in order to perform their role of implementing the law. In the contemporary world, the superiors of the police force, the government, as well as the public expect the police to use necessary force in the course of their work. However, while constantly working in a disorderly community, Norma Romm asserts that some of the police officers tend to develop a negative attitude towards the subjects despite the fact that it is their role to protect the members of the society (156). By developing this attitude, such members of the police force will tend to attain the notion that they have power over the society. To some extent, such police officers believe that they are above the law.