Analysis and Application-Police Encounters with Suspects and Evidence

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

Lack of training and policing standards are closely linked to the myriad problems bedeviling police work, especially in small departments (Brodeur, 2010). All over the country, police departments report cases of officers being caught in uncompromising and unprofessional situations, resulting in disciplinary actions such as redeployment, suspension or sacking. These cases of unprofessionalism have led to questions being asked about policing, occasioned by recurring series of questionable and controversial encounters with police officers (Brodeur, 2010). The consequence of such encounters is increasing public distrust in law enforcement agencies.

Over the years, the nature of policing has changed and developed drastically. Their role not only entails crime fighting and emergency response, but also social enforcement and social peacekeeping. Bound by a code of ethics, this highly demanding role asks police to remain professional in their dealings with society, and ensure they uphold the law impartially and fairly. When it comes to enforcing the law, it is important to look at the methods and approaches taken by police in order to combat crime, and whether or not they meet current ethical standards. Although this may be the case, it is also important to acknowledge that aspects of police culture such as loyalty, deception and protection of colleagues will ultimately shape the nature of approach to resolving crime, gaining helpful information and protecting fellow officers. Police officers are granted large amounts of discretion within their roles, however, when officers deliberately abuse this amount of discretion and become display misconduct, it becomes challenging to limit discretionary authority of police officers because of the frequent circumstances they encounter where deception may provide highly constructive outcomes. Throughout this essay, methods used by police officers including entrapment, wiretapping and planting of evidence will be assessed for their strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, the ethical standards of these methods and approaches will be assessed as to whether or not they prove as ethically

Law enforcement officers are given much power and authority over one’s civil liberties. Not only do they have a duty but also a responsibility to enforce laws and ordinances in their jurisdiction, maintain order and protect its people. In some cases, the only way to accomplish this is through legitimized use of force. Use of force can best be described as "the amount of effort required by a law enforcement officer to induce compliance of an unwilling subject" (nij.gov, 2012). With that said, law enforcement officers have been given the right to apply only enough force necessary to control a situation, while defending others, preventing escape, during self-defense and while a subject is resisting arrest (Pollock, pp. 234). It is not until that force becomes excessive that it becomes say an issue.

This paper will discuss issues related to the use of excessive force by the police. In doing this the paper will look at the concepts such as the need for police officers to use force, the definition of excessive force and causes that contribute to the use of excessive force. The paper identifies inadequate training, adrenalin overload, accidental application and retribution as the major causes of the use of excessive force. In order to reduce the use of excessive force as a result of these circumstances, the paper argues that it is instrumental to provide adequate training as well as regular training to police officers in order to improve their relations with the community and reduces occurrences involving the use of excessive force.

The police serve as the initial point of contact for crimes, generally speaking, because they operate on the front lines. Even if we assume that the police do not catch the criminal red-handed, in their duty to promote public safety, the police will typically be responsible for following a set of pre-trial, investigative procedures that aim to yield identification of the perpetrator. Their main function in pursuit of this goal is to find out what happened overall by determining all facts and collecting all information relevant to the case. Most commonly, the police will rely upon eyewitness identification and testimony as the primary means to identify suspects. For instance, eyewitnesses can be brought to a local police department and led into a room, where a photo lineup of possible suspects takes place (O’Connor, 2010).

The initial stop was legal due to the factor that the officer thought the taillight was nonoperational. Officer Taylor was allowed to frisk the driver when the officer suspected the driver may have committed a crime, and the factor of the driver speeding off gave him right to pursue. The weapon was in plain view and the marijuana is admissible in court because the driver was being arrested for fleeing. Search and seizure laws protect citizens, but in this case, the driver isn’t protected when they don’t conclude the initial traffic

Facts: Defendant Wardlow was seen holding a “opague bag”by Officer Nolan. Officer Nolan was driving with fours car, his being the last one. The cars were in a “heavy narcotics trafficking area” examining the area for “drug transactions.” Wardlow saw the police cars and fled the area, even though Wardlow was not doing anything “suspicious.” Officer Nolan seeing the defendant flee, chased and caught the defenfent. When caught officer Nolan did a “protective pat down search for weapons.” Officer Nolan looked at the bag, opened it and found a gun. Wardlow was then arrested by Officer Nolan. Wardlow’s attorney filed a “motion to suppress” the gun, under the action of an “lawful stop and frisk.” The motion was denied by The Illinois Trial Court.

My personal interest project, an in-depth discussion of the police institution , aims to explore the hypothesis as to why on many occasions police have received public questioning due to their forms of verbal attacks, psychological intimidation, and their use of excessive force. To undergo this project better understand the role of police within Australia.

There were no eyewitnesses to the murder and no weapon was ever found. The defense was somehow able to discredit all of the evidence

1. Did officer Smith have reasonable suspicion to make the initial stop of this vehicle?

The dictionary definition of the police is “the organized civil force of a state, concerned with maintenance of law and order, the detection and prevention of crime, etc,” (Collins English Dictionary, 2002). This definition states the minimum of what the police actually do. Providing support for families, protecting society from criminals and responding to calls 24 hours a day 7 days a week are just some of the other roles that police have to deal with. In this essay the evolution of the police will be discussed as well as how the police are facing challenges.

This paper will describe police power and police authority. I will also talk about police discretion as for as whom gets locked up and who is allowed to go free. This paper will discuss the different use of police force. In this paper I will also talk about police attitude, police misconduct, and physical abuse among police officers.

This report shall examine the role of the police in the criminal justice system. For background it will detail a brief history of the development of the police then look at the later development of police powers of arrest, detention and of stop and search. Further to this it will examine the role of the police in miscarriages of justice and the effects of these miscarriages on the development of safeguards for people detained by the police. Also the measures taken to prevent further miscarriages of justice such as the development of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to decide if the evidence is there and a prosecution is likely to be successful.

In today's society the police, play may roles. They are the peacekeepers, law enforcement and many other jobs. However, recently they have become the subject of a very heated and large debate. Many believe that the police should give up their brute type tactics for a more civilized and humanized approach, while others feel that the police should crack down on the most insignificant of offences to type and disparage crimes that are more serious. In this paper, we will be analyzing both sides of this issue, from the look of the police administration to the public's view of it. When we mention today's police force we will be using the New York City police force as are basis of comparison, because they seem to