A Brief Note On A Public Safety Career

As of September 1, 2015, in the United States police officers have killed 776 people and 161 of those people were unarmed at the time of their death (MintPress). There have been too many incidents where police officers have injured or killed someone that could have been prevented. Using maximum force with a suspect has become a routine in many confrontations. Officers have not been given the proper training to deal with individuals and how to handle them without using a weapon. If they were given more training on how to deal with situations resulting in using a weapon to stop an individual during certain scenarios police brutality situations would decrease, lives would be saved, and police would get their good reputation back. However, police departments would have to spend more money on re-training. Some people agree with police brutality and think that a civilian deserved their punishment, which is not right because no one deserves to be beaten or killed. Situations involving police brutality have been increasing throughout the years, which is a problem that must to be solved.

One hundred and seventeen police officers died in 2014, and one was a police officer from Placer County Sheriff. His name was Mike Davis and gunned down on October 24th, 2014 with another officer from Sacramento County. Since 1791, 20538 police officers have died in the line of duty. Also, videos have ruined their reputation, like a San Francisco homeless man who resisted arrest, but the bystanders did not see him kick the officer. Finally, the reason why there is police is to stop people from killing other people.. To conclude, police officers deserve credit and honor than they have been receiving right now because they risk their lives to make our world safer.

The media has portrayed Officers in a new light. Rather than protective guardians, they are now unstable, power-fueled workers of the law. It is their choice what they will do with the duty of enforcing the law. Anyone can fall victim to Police Brutality. However, America’s social and economic society is improving at an alarming rate. America is at a time now where peaceful protests and the like are promoted, while aggressive out lashes, unlawful activities, and excessive force is frowned upon. The economy today is a result of the hard work of ancestors who protested and ensured a better future. In the future, it is possible that Officers will no longer be stereotyped as abusive, or unlawful. A united front is required for this future, where there are no more sides, violence, or

Police work can be dangerous because with any situation they face, there can be a possibility that it results in personal injury or death to the officer. Throughout their line of worker, there are many variables that create constant dangers for police officers. They are responsible for ensuring everyone’s safety, which means if an incident occurs they must correct the problem. Any of their every day duties can lead to an accident as a result of the offender’s, victim’s, or officer’s actions. Dangerous incidents can take place during their police duty can happen while: responding to a code 3, responding to traffic violation, involved in pursuits, or making an arrest (Brucia). These incidents

Each year citizens die in encounters with law enforcement officers. It is reported that “Americans are eight times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist” (Rucke, 2013). Although there is no official data base tracking these occurrences it is estimated that between 500 and a 1,000 people are killed by police officers each year. To put this in greater perspective this number equals approximately 5,000 since the 9/11 terror attack which is roughly the same number as U.S. soldiers who have been killed in the line of duty in Iraq (Rucke, 2013). This statistic is justifiably concerning. The cause of police related killings are multifold and cannot be attributed to only one factor. Many deaths may be unavoidable and perhaps, dependent on the situation, necessary. I contend, however, that many of these deaths may very well be preventable.

The term “Police Officer” by definition is [1]“ :a person whose job is to enforce laws, investigate crimes, and make arrests”.[1] For such a straight-forward position there is quite a massive amount of stigma attached to the title. Police officers are supposed to be seen has community heroes or helpers, but it seems as the year 2016 continues the general public have manifested a resentful standing towards the law enforcement system. There are many factors that play into these emotions, but the reoccurring problem is the presence of police brutality.

Choosing the job occupation of being a police officer inherently has its own risks and dangers that come with the title. A routine traffic is one of the many dangers that can lead to tragedy by sometimes not taking the correct precautions for the officer when dealing with a dangerous situation. One of the many options that an officer can take to be proactive in reducing these situations from going south, is actually, keeping more space between a suspect and the officer. “In​ ​the​ ​30​ ​years​ ​between​ ​1985​ ​and​ ​2014,​ ​the​ ​trend​ ​rose​ ​slightly​ ​higher. During​ ​this​ ​period​ ​69.7​ ​percent​ ​of​ ​officers​ ​killed​ ​with​ ​firearms​ ​in​ ​the​ ​line of​

An article in the Washington Post revealed that across the nation 963 people were shot and killed by police in 2016. This puts police in a losing situation. Not only have they lost the trust of many, but they are now portrayed as the enemy. A police officer’s duty is to protect the people and enforce the law. After the shootings, people don’t see them as protecting anyone, but instead harming the population. More than often now the perception is that they are the bad guys who take advantage of their power.

Over the years, the United States has faced many cases of police brutality. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday forcing them to make split-second decisions expecting the worse, but hoping for the best. Therefore, police brutality severely violates human rights in the United States. Police officers have one of the hardest jobs America has to offer. They have to maintain public order, prevent, and identify crime. Throughout history, the police community has been exposed by violence in some way or another. Police officers have been suspects in dangerous shootings, severe beatings, fatal chokings, and unnecessary killings. The history of police brutality is repeated, going through stages of violence, corruption, and

Over the years, police brutality has increased. According to statistics, "at least "865 Americans have been killed by police so far in 2015. As of that same date in 2014, 804 people were killed by police."

Therefore, if anything influences the public safety work environment in a negative way, it needs to be dealt with as soon as possible or it can destroy the organization from the inside out, so we need to insure that this never happens first and foremost. Since organizational culture can only be as “powerful when leaders can guide and control these types of behavior in the workplace every day, and be commitment make changes if need be to insure unity” (Cooper, 2001, p. 1). But nothing ever stays the same; because as races or cultures changes within the organization so do policies and something will not. For example, in the public safety organization there might be set culture that other races will not deviate from if not necessary, like certain beliefs, practices, and values, that will “govern how they will functions from the rudimentary level, and it is believed that employees will use this as a way to learn how to cope daily with internal and external issues that have proven to worked in the past” (Sumwalt, n.d., p. 4).

In 2013, 49,851 officers were assaulted in the line of duty. That same year the injury rate was up to 29.2%. In 2015 a poll was conducted for the justice department. They analyzed 394 incidents involving deadly police force. They found that “officers do

Writing for the Washington Post, Sunil Dutta informs us, “Using the data from Bureau of Justice Statistics, between 2003 and 2009 the police made approximately 98 million arrests. During that same time, there were 2,931 arrest-related deaths by police. This data is incomplete and most likely an under-count. However, it provides an important benchmark, suggesting that homicides by police are extremely rare.” And remember, that’s over a six-year period. Now, how many of those officers had reason to fear for their own lives? Well, as per the same article: “As many as 49,851 officers were assaulted while on duty in 2013; 29.2 percent were injured and 27 were killed.” That works out to as many as 14,556 injured and 13,459 killed. And that’s just in one year. Accounting for the sixfold difference in time period, police are as much as 28 times more likely to be killed in the line of duty than a civilian is to be killed by police. Even if we suppose both of those numbers to be off by a factor of 2, that would still equate to a sevenfold disparity. Statistically, a policeman has more reason to fear being killed by a civilian than vice

“Stressful, but rewarding career. Some must be good at dealing with the public, that is the majority of what they do. But they also must be willing to accept and handle the stress of a dangerous work environment.” Ultimately the increase on murder, rape, and burglary rates, many have came to believe that their police department is ineffective.

Law enforcement officers have encountered some very deadly days. The life of a law enforcement officer is one of constantly being aware of your surroundings, dealing with the uncertainty of not knowing the individuals you have to approach, and being able to cope with the visual images seen after vicious crimes. The life of a law enforcement officer, who protects and serves, is both challenging and rewarding. The first law enforcement system was established in Boston, Massachusetts over 350 years ago. During this time in the Colonies that were not heavily populated, the sheriff served as the main law enforcement officer. During the 1800’s, 24-hour law enforcement service and systems similar to what is used today began to emerge (NLEMI). Law enforcement officers face incredible dangers. With over 900,000 law enforcement officers nationwide the Federal Bureau of Investigations reported approximately 1,165,383 violent crimes in 2014. Approximately one law enforcement officer dies every 61 hours (NLEMI).The law enforcement profession is the most challenging and dangerous career, because officers must be aware of every law and action they take at all times, manage constant training and stress, and protecting others as well as themselves in the line of duty.