Challenges Of Having Independent Prosecutor

Undoubtedly the thought of a National Police Force in the U.S. seems somewhat intimidating and not something American society would willingly accept, but, in reviewing countries such as England, France, Germany, and Israel, there appear to be some advantages to such a centralized force. While we appreciate the freedom of localized law enforcement whether police, sheriff or otherwise, the lack of a consistent standardized operating procedure for all agencies creates issues in the implementation/administering of the law as seen in recent months. While it would seem the cons of a national police force would outweigh that of the pros, it is worth taking into consideration when we look at those countries that have implemented such systems and have

In a democratic country law enforcement officers are expected to undertake their duties with dignity and respect thus following both the rule of law and its procedure. Law enforcement officials whose duty is to enforce the law should abide by the law and should be accountable for both their decisions and consequences of it. But the main issue is – quis custodiet ipsos custodes – who controls the controllers? This critical issue is of importance because the history of policing is littered with scandals in which police officers broke the law and also in which the police organisation failed to detect the deviance (or colluded in it; or tried to deflect investigations by defensive opposition). I will be examining in this article police corruption and its prevention and I shall focus on three main aspects: definitions of corruption; the forms it takes in different societies; ways of preventing

There have been several studies and implemented policies within agencies all over the world directed to prevent and deter police misconduct / corruption. In the early 1990s, the Mollen Commission of Inquiry revealed a serious police corruption problem in the New York City Police Department (NYPD). One of the key recommendations of the commission was that their internal investigative structure the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) be reconstituted as it had failed to effectively tackle the problem. Almost a decade since the establishment of a new IAB, it is hailed as a noteworthy example of how such a structure should operate if police corruption is to be adequately dealt with. (Newham, 2003).

The increase of the municipal system, and having standards for such systems is why the police departments are like it is not. From centuries and centuries of having vague ideas about what the police officers do and why the police offers are doing what they do, the unification of the police department is just would change how we answer those questions. In the United States southern region, their use of the policing departments was similar to the north but had some dissimilar roots or causes for the change in the various cities policing departments. Reformation of the police department from very scattered policy of ideas to a nationwide acceptance of the various roots in the basic police department is revolution of the police

Prosecutorial Discretion comes from the Bordenkircher v Hayes (1978) case. The Supreme Court ruled “ so long as the prosecutor has probable cause to believe that the accused committed an offense defined by statute, the decision whether or not to prosecute, and what charge to file or bring before a grand jury, generally rests entirely in his discretion.” (Whitebread, Slobogin, 2008, p591) Some states require the prosecution to give them a detailed written reason as to why they chose to dismiss a case. In most cases, the prosecutor has absolute authority and are rarely challenged. Similar to most government officials, prosecutors also have both legislative and administrative restrictions.

Society as a whole can only be improved by a more transparent police presence. Both sides of the this debate, the public and the police departments, are both after the same goal. The biggest hindrances are usually the police unions trying to protect their members from the added scrutiny and culpability that more supervision would

Historically, local police agencies have little or no communication with any agencies outside their own, the creation of Joint Terrorism Task Forces provides very little in the way of relaying or relieving intelligence. Also, "Police, especially local police officers, are used to exercising discretion" meaning, they will do very little to compromise their flexibility and/or professional judgements. This, along with the competition with state law enforcement for market shares, becomes an even more complex problem to handle. (Cordner, Scarborough 2010)

Since the founding of the United States, the responsibility for enforcing laws has been given to state and local governments. The biggest strength that this distribution of power has granted is that the citizens can have a connection to their officers because they are feeling that they are being policed by one of their own. This keeps the law, law enforcement, and your connection to it close as opposed to (only) having it enforced by entities who do not know your area or the people that live in the area. Along similar lines, local policing provides the opportunity to build relationships with the people they serve, which can go a long way in reducing crime. Despite these two strengths, the biggest weakness is that local law enforcement agencies can, and often are both underfunded and understaffed, preventing the agency from being able to combat crime and help their communities to the level that they wish. The other big weakness to local law enforcement is that due to there being so many localities (most with their own law enforcement agencies), there can be some confusion to the overlap of jurisdictions. The alternative to local policing, which has been gaining some steam in the United States since the start of the 21st century, is placing the responsibility for law

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

According to academic journal Enhancing Accountability and Trust with Independent Investigations of Police Lethal Force by Walter Katz, local prosecutors are not immune from bias. When a cop is under investigation the prosecutors are put in a situation because they usually work together. Usually the police officers are giving the prosecutors all the evidence when dealing with a normal case so when the situation is reversed and the prosecutor must indict a cop it sometimes put them in a bad situation. “Prosecutors face ‘an impossible conflict of interest between their desire to maintain working relationships and their duty to investigate and prosecute police brutality (Walter, Katz 239).” That statement supports the idea that there should not

From the first police station built in Boston to what is today's modern police force there has always been corruption inside the criminal justice system, whether it be something as little as a small bribe to look the other way, or something more serious like getting away with a major offense. The department of justice has had trouble from top to bottom with corruption and it has proven to be a difficult problem to fix. When policing in the U. S. were just starting out corruption and law bending was more prevalent but harder to see which Police officers who were following the rules and who was bending the law in their own favor to gain an advantage for themselves rather than looking out for the community as a whole. This is because when policing first started out there were limited officers, which meant less word of mouth and less people to respond to and

Explain whether we should continue with multiple layers of police agencies, some as small as a single officer, or whether there should be fewer agencies, like regional police agency and a national police agency, to handle all aspects of law enforcement in the United

While the Reform Era worked to professionalize police, as society became more complex, so did the role of the police officer. The Community Policing Era was developed as a result of the need to develop cooperation and positive relationships between the police and public. What developed out of this era was an essential element of community policing – public accountability. Police officers became accountable to their supervisors who in turn became accountable to the community. Accountability can be seen as an honest evaluation of achievement based on clearly defined objectives. Many of these objectives are defined by complex community and social problems; as such police officers require the capacity and flexibility to work on them in a variety of styles and employing a variety of strategies.

Police corruption has become an international problem. This was initially a common practice during the period when the police institutions were being developed but the effect has been felt by many people, even affecting peacekeeping operations. The police abuse and corruption has become endemic in the U.S making many citizens seek help from other organization. An example of such a case was experienced in the police training program in Afghanistan were the civilians were brutally abused forcing

This English method also contributed three features: limited police authority, local control of the police agency, and a fragmented system of law enforcement (Walker, 1983). A fragmented system of law enforcement is very evident today. The United States currently has approximately 15,000 different police agencies. These individual police agencies are subject to little coordination with minimal national regulation (Walker, 1983).