Throughout history laws and regulations have formed for society to abide by to avoid a world full of absolute chaos. Ultimately leading to the creation of police officers who would enforce these laws and regulations. However, this is one of the world’s most dangerous and stressful professions. Mainly because police officers are expected to put their lives on the line every single day to protect and serve society. Even though this is the case, becoming a police officer has always been a goal of mine. Edward Conlon book called, “Blue Blood” provides amazing insight on what it’s like to be a police officer. This is because Edward Conlon was previously a police officer and based this book around his personal experiences while he was on the job. Since this book is based around first-hand experience and written as they were happening it made me enjoy the book even more. Mainly because these events weren 't over exaggerated. However, since the book is based around stories within stories, I sometimes found it difficult to follow. This book presented many examples of issues that the police face daily and showed that sometimes these issues aren’t easy to handle. Three specific issues that Edward Conlon faced as a police officer that relates to my issues in policing class is dealing with the mentally ill, using discretion, and police training.
Since no one in the world is the same it means that police officers must deal with all different types of people. This makes their job extremely
Have you ever wondered what’s it 's like to be a cop? Or what cop’s families go through on a day to day basis? This book Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement written by Kevin M. Gilmartin, Ph.D. gives us an outline on the difficulty and stress that law enforcement officer and their families face on daily basis. Dr. Gilmartin discusses the stages of hypervigilance. And the long-term effects of hypervigilance and the toll it takes on the officer and his or her family.
There are cases in which police officers are found dealing drugs such as bhang or methamphetamines or officers end up shooting mentally ill people they have been called to help restrain. In the latter, case proper training on how to
Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement by Kevin M. Gilmartin, Ph.D. is a book that seeks to inform and instruct those seeking to be in law enforcement, law enforcement professionals and their families of the realities of a career in law enforcement- professionally and personally. And how to best prepare for emotional survival of “on-duty and off-duty” life. It also compares and contrasts what happens to officers at the beginning of this journey and what typical happens to officers overtime; focusing mainly on what happens to officers that don’t know the techniques of emotional survival. Though it
Police officers offer civilians a sense of protection, guidance, and trust. As we make our daily commutes in every day life, we look at these uniformed individuals as a symbol of safety and take comfort in the idea that in the case of an unexpected turn of events, officers will be sufficiently qualified to take initiative and adequately respond under stressful, dangerous, and complicated circumstances. We, as civilians expect things to automatically unfold in this manner, but how then can we be sure that these individuals are capable of handling such a delicate task? This module's case study explores the experience of an applicant named Doug regarding the main components of the police officer selection process, which include Screening and Evaluation, Written Exams, Polygraph Examinations, Physical Agility Tests, Medical Examinations, Psychological Evaluations, Background checks and Oral interviews, some of which may or may not be used at the
Many people might argue that the lack of training in the police force is more harmful to the officers than the effect it has on society. Leslie Pfeiffer mentions in her article “” that the Federal government devotes a shocking amount of money toward training, yet local police agencies are often left to fend for themselves” (Pfeiffer). Whatsoever the federal government may be doing with the funds should undoubtedly be providing effective programs and necessities to ensure a complete and sufficient training process for officers. Often time’s people forget that although the officer is vulnerable to failure, error, and possible injury, in the event of a possible suspect or wrongfully accused person the lack of knowledge perceived by the officer can cause outcomes such as hostility, hatred, and death. Not only are officers fending for themselves but in
The Book Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement by Dr. Kevin M. Gilmartin is a guide for officers and their families on the journey through law enforcement and how to coop with the ever demanding job officers face. This book discussed the demands of the job and how officers change throughout the course of their career. I will elaborate on several factors that were discussed in the book and how officers, with the proper training, can help combat the stress of the high demand place on them.
Have you ever asked yourself what it would be like to become a police officer. Becoming a police officer isn’t an easy take because they have to risk their life everyday to protect and serve the community. They have to go through the dangers of arresting criminals when there is a chance that they could die. However, in today’s society only a small amount of the police officers actually serves their community and protect citizens from danger. Right now, most police officers abuse their power to the point where they don’t seem to care for the safety of the community. They would usually arrest innocent people, make accusations, and even use their power as a source to show their dominance. If you think about, whenever you are stuck in traffic
As law enforcement officers develop “working personality” as an occupational exercise, over time it becomes a habit displayed equally during work and off duty, which leads to becoming continuously suspicious of their surroundings, violating civilians constitutional rights, using excessive force, and acts of mayhem. The following are examples of when law enforcement officers “working personality” progresses into to their personal lives as illustrated in the articles below:
As a police officer, the major objectives are to maintain order, enforce the law, protect one’s property, and to save lives. In addition, police are divided into two roles based on how they perform their duties. The two roles of a police officer are a public servant and a crime fighter. A police officer whose role as a public servant is to serve all types of people, as well as criminals. Public servants regularly provide advice and make judgments as to the degree of risk they should take with the public. Many decisions involving risk are relatively easy to make, but others are complex and significant consequences (Kernaghan and Langford, 2016). These risks may involve using force and the consequences could be media backlash or a potential termination. Public servants abide by the oath and uphold the integrity and honor of the organization as an officer. Also, public servant officers like to play it safe because they like to be known as ordinary citizens who like to go home to their
The topic of police in general, and the brutal beatings, shootings, and arrests that have occurred over the past couple of years in the United States has hit the media full force, leaving many wondering what actions should be taken to keep the peace. Many question the system as a whole, and the training police officers receive, as well as their mental health. Across the borders, police are trained differently and follow various policies that may seem ridiculous or foreign, however, when comparing and contrasting two police systems, the similarities may be alarming, and the differences may be great, but knowing the strengths and weakness of each different system, can help towards progressing to have a better system and better training for police officers.
Riding along with a police officer and interviewing him about his views on crime and behavior produced many insights towards the law enforcement attitude towards crime and behavior. The officer that I interviewed had over twenty years of experience within three law enforcement agencies and served many details from basic patrol to K9 unit to narcotics and courts.
Police Agencies in modern society are a part of the American fabric to serve and protect the American public. The United States currently have more than 15,000 police agencies, (Walker & Katz, 2011). Police Departments across the United States face similar critical issues policing. All police officers face dangers in the job of policing the dangers can emanate from internal and external origins. Police officers have continued to evolve to serve communities by finding better less than lethal alternatives to weapons used. In addition, police departments have continued to keep up with
As crime coexists with humanity, the presence of the police force ensures the suppression of crime and the safety for our society. Every occupation has its own work stress. What is unique is all the different stress found in one job. Aside from the heroic services police officers perform in their duty, they experience overwhelming stress in their daily duty. Police stress refers to the negative pressures related to police work (Police Stress, n.d.). In order to maintain peace and order, there must be an effective police force up and running. For that to happen, departments need to be aware and deal with the negative effects caused by police stress. Whereas, police officers must conquer their stress in order to work at their
Police “officers work and live in a constantly changing environment in which they are exposed to a myriad of ethical conflicts. When either unprepared or unaware, police officers are more likely to “go with the flow” than they would be if they were adequately prepared to face potentially ethical risks.” (Gilmartin & Harris, 1998) Most ethical violations are committed because the officer is exposed to a situation in which he was inadequately prepared. The lack of time to think about the situation before committing an ethical violation has detrimental life changing consequences. Police work can be very exciting and very rewarding but if not properly prepared and trained an officer can easily find himself involved in an ethical violation. Understanding the issues and being mentally prepared will help police officers become more responsible and make better
The history of policing can be traced back to the beginning of time. When looking at the subject of police work there is a large culture and history that follows along with it. There are many topics that can be analyzed when identifying, and describing the elements and the significances that are associated with policing. A large element of the police job that plays a large factor in the work and attributes to the policing culture is the amount of stress that an office will face while performing on the job. Another part of the job that plays a large part in the culture