Police Accountability In Law Enforcement Essay

Police officers are faced each day with a variety of situation in which they must deal; therefore we should ask ourselves the following questions: Should police officers enforce the law equally in all situations? In what situations should police officers be allowed to not enforce the law? What types of situations would they be required to fully enforce the law? Why does police discretion exist? What are its strengths and weaknesses? And what is the relationship between police discretion and police ethics?

There are three significant issues concerning law enforcement, namely enacting the law, police discretion, and assessment of criminal behavior. Different entities create and enact laws that are specific for the societies those laws represent.

2. The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.

When comparing the crime control law enforcement approach in contrast to the approach the rights-based approach to law enforcement it is import to the differences in being a crime fighter versus a public servant. The dynamics of each bring uniquely different philosophical objectives and outcomes for the public. What is the primary role of law enforcement? Some would argue combating crime is the primary role. Others would argue providing protection through service is the primary role. In either case, when examining each philosophy it is important to objectively view the outcomes each provides.

Every law enforcement officer is also required to ensure that they comply with the law and uphold Police Civil

Policing major concerns are keeping citizens safe in their state and community, and enforcing their laws. The law enforcement agencies focus is upholding the law in making sure they intercede on the goal. Once Congress appointed the federal with power to regulate the United States but came with jurisdiction, containing to the United States Constitution for states to hold their own power the people must abide by laws. The police force includes protecting and serving the people and must enforce what the law is mandated. The police have several concerns with trying to protect and serve the public, keeping the communities with peace and not violated the government rules on the United States Constitution rights. The police

against officers who violate their civil rights. Next, the media and political effects documented in this study suggest that external oversight can

This is very important when it comes to community relations and law enforcement. To implement this pillar, law enforcement agencies should start by learning to build trust and legitimacy within the communities. They can do this by partaking in community events or gatherings. They can be social with the citizens of the community and get to know the people of the community. This way the people will not see the officers as a threat to them when they are in the community. As stated in the article, Law enforcement agencies should implement a program that conducts annual community surveys. I agree with this program. This would allow officers to see how much the community has trust in them and see how little they trust law enforcement. In return, agencies can create programs that will help them gain the trust back and kept that trust within the community. Another thing that I agree within this pillar is that law enforcement officers should not be seen as a threat. They should be seen as almost as a heroic figure and an important figure in the eyes of the community. People should be able to trust police officers and have faith that they are going to help them and not strike fear in the people. This to me is the most important thing about law enforcement. The trust between officers and communities. If no one has trust in law enforcement, I believe that law enforcement would not

1. The basic mission for whom the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.

The Amendments found in the United States Constitution contain several provisions to protect citizens from various infringements from the government. These provisions have greatly influenced what law enforcement is today. Due to the power of a law enforcement official, the public expects officers to be held to a higher ethical standard. Part of that expectation entails that officers will follow in the law and lead by example. Unfortunately, no one is perfect and departments will always have those law enforcement officers who stray from what is right and act questionably on and off duty. To ensure that officers are being held accountable for their actions, departments will employ their own Internal Investigation division to help identify, discipline, and/or remove employees found guilty of misconduct. Therefore, it is important that administrators develop safeguards to ensure that internal investigations are conducted fairly and ethically, demonstrating the best interest of both the

Numerous police agency’s and police officials work on a distinctive local, state, and federal level and role. It has its individual area, sectors, and function, and work according to local streets parts inside policing. In order for any local, state, and federal police division to work successfully it must hire chiefs, deputy’s, and sheriffs who retain leadership and who uses creative thinking skills to teach comprehensive, and aggressive instruction to make the police division a tougher department by holding all its workers tasks for doing his or her job according to its agency’s guidelines and procedures known as code of conduct. “Municipal police work for municipalities such as towns or cities, county police and deputy sheriffs work for counties, state police work for states, and federal police work for the federal government. Some have the same duties as one another or very similar duties, and some have different or additional duties. Their jurisdiction is sometimes the main difference. For example, a municipal police officer normally has primary

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,

Police leadership uses standardization and procedure as a way to create consistency and predict¬ability in law enforcement operations (Batts, Smoot, & Scrivner, 2012). The San Diego Police Department, like nearly all law enforcement agencies uses leadership models mimicking the United States military. Paramilitary organizations use highly structured framing to conduct business operations. The structural frame creates compartmentalized specialization, and predictable, uniform task performance desired by police executives. The tightly designed rank-and-file structure delineates locus power and control based on position (Bolman & Deal, 1991). Power rests at the top. Contained with this structure is top-down control of personnel,

In today’s society it seems as if all the violence that is occurring is revolved around race. Negative law enforcement involvement has been one of the major controversial topics that our generation has been faced with. Race, violence and authority is a very well-known racial disparity that will take some time to be seen otherwise. After the incidents occur, what really shakes the nation is that there is no real accountability. No one wants to admit that an injustice occurred and a small altercation lead to a casualty. Leadership within the justice system often gets challenged with such scenario. Does one discipline and makes an example out of his law enforcement officer (LEO), or does one address the public so that there is no uproar on such final decision.

Within our police system in America, there are gaps and loopholes that give leeway to police officials who either abuse the authority given to them or do not represent the ethical standards that they are expected to live up to. Because of the nature of police work, there is a potential for deterioration of these ethical and moral standards through deviance, misconduct, corruption, and favoritism. Although these standards are set in place, many police are not held accountable for their actions and can easily get by with the mistreatment of others. While not every police abuses his or her power, the increasingly large percentage that do present a problem that must be recognized by the public as well as those in charge of police departments