Police Accountability And The Criminal Justice System

Police accountability is relevant to the Los Angeles county because there have been many incidents that have resulted in use-of-force both unnecessary and excessive police-civilian shootings. To increase police accountability, I propose that this

The criminal justice system is effective in achieving justice, in relations to police power and authority. Police are tasked with an essential role in protecting and enforcing the law. They are a critical aspect towards the criminal justice system and the criminal investigation process. To assist their role to the community, they’ve been provided several types of powers and authorities to achieve their duties towards the community. These authorised powers are used to stop, search and detain a person when they’re certain a crime is committed. Consequently, police can use this authority to potentially violate another individuals’ right, such as privacy. Whilst this power allows police to fulfil their duty to the community, is that justifiable to violate an individuals’ right?

Police officers are given a lot of power because it is needed to help protect citizens and the community. However, police often abuse their power by the over use of force, corruption, sexual misconduct, bias based policing, and failure to maintain police ethics. (Peak, 2011)

Police officers are individuals who enforce the law upon their community to ensure that their citizens remain safe. In the past couple of years, officers of the law have been involved in acts of brutality that seem to go beyond the proper measurements of protection for their citizens. Policemen are supposed to protect their citizens from danger and from harm, not impose a threat on them. The fact that officers have a history of abusing their power indicates that their trust amongst the community has been corrupted. Those who have been affected of police brutality feel as though they have been deceived. They no longer feel that police officers will protect them, but rather abuse them, and that is a problem. We have began to live in a community in which an individual feels frightened when seeing a cop, rather than feeling protected. Some individuals may argue that police brutality is not a problem due to the fact that it is not consistent enough to catch the attention of needing a solution. However, that idea means little when the level of brutality has led to the death of several innocent victims in some cases. We must not wait for there to be a pattern of death at the hands of police officials to consider this a problem. One death indicates that preventive measures must be taken to ensure that these officers are no longer put in the position to abuse their power to begin with.

Within the Serpico movie there was many examples of the lack of police accountability compared to police being held accountable. In that era of policing corruption was at an all-time high. When Serpico tried to do the right thing and make police accountable for their actions he was almost killed. In today’s society things have changed. Police are being held more accountable especially due to the fact with all the technology that is now being

Starting with accountability, very one’s action should be justified, however that is not always the case. Shira A. Scheindlin in the article Will the widespread use of body cameras improve police accountability? She states, “The judge found that all five officers had lied and engaged in “outrageous conduct” She called it a conspiracy to lie, and suppressed both the arrest and the fruit of the search.” ( ) Without the video the judge would not have proof the five officers lied under oath while the guy caught with a pound of marijuana had told the truth. Although there has been a recent media attention there is little to no research on

Historically speaking, authorities of the law were never in a position where their professional duties and their character as a public servant of the law were demeaned in a way that there needs to be constant surveillance of them and the people whom they come into contact with. There was never a need of documenting every encounter you had with a civilian before. In this day in age, things have certainly changed, and the past has always been something society likes to change and make better even if it raises concerns. Due to all the violent police stories that has surfaced in the past decade, the idea of having police officers wear video cameras as a part of their uniform while on duty has resulted in a radically divergent account of society’s future. The law may uphold cops to wear cameras while working, but is this really the best decision? This topic is very controversial and may create issues with cops and the civilians they try and protect in the future.

Police officers are generally well-respected in American society. They should be, since officers protect the public from drunk drivers, gunmen and other threats to the commonwealth. However, in light of uncovered events involving the misconduct of police officers, these events call into question the ability of police officers to successfully protect and serve the American people. However, in 2010, 6,613 law enforcement officers were reported for involvement in misconduct which varied from excessive force, sexual misconduct et cetera (Packman). Having 6,613 reported cases of police misconduct in America is ridiculous, especially since it is hard validating the claims against officers and it is difficult to punish officers because of this lack of evidence. While the purpose of police officers in society is to protect the commonwealth of the people, the amount of police misconduct in the United States of America involving excessive force and sexual misconduct is detrimental to the credibility of all police officers. This in turn causes rifts and distrust among the American people concerning officers. Police misconduct can be reduced in American society by requiring police officers to wear cameras while on duty, having a clear definition on what excessive force is and defining how much force is legal for an officer to utilize, and better training geared to improve overall conduct with citizens, especially mentally ill citizens.

Since these multiple cop shootings and cases of police brutality, many people have lost faith in the police force and do not trust nor respect them. In a survey from about a year ago, people were asked how the police do on holding other cops accountable for their actions, and 65% of the respondents said the police do a poor job of doing so.(Chumley) In an editorial about a New Jersey police chief pondered why nobody trusts the police anymore, Deo Odelecki gave this explanation “I don’t know what to tell you chief. It’s not us pointing out all the disrespectful, violent things cops do every day that is making you look bad. It’s the cops doing those disrespectful violent things and chiefs, like you, covering up for them that is making you look bad”(Odelecki). This sums all the police mistrust in one quote, police committing violent and unnecessary things and other police officers trying to cover it up. If the police were to wear body cameras and fix their behavior, the trust in police would eventually be

Even though more attention is being directed to citizen oversight boards and what they have the capacity to do, little attention is being devoted to how the police officer him/herself feel about them. There is no accurate number as to how many police oversight agencies there are in the United States. Although, by 2001 almost 80 percent of large departments had some form of citizen oversight boards (De Angelis, 2007). This number shows that many agencies are moving to find a way to hold police officers accountable for their actions. Since most

Police officers are often viewed as oppressors and unjust by the community, when in reality they are just doing their jobs. The job of a police officer is to apprehend criminals and detect crime, and the maintenance of public order and to the extend and complication of this duty police officers often need to make split second decision that is not often view by the public as what we call “self-defense” which is a right we all have as human beings and stated in the Universal Declaration of

Police officers are held accountable for everything they do. The public is always watching. Police officers are members of the communities they work in. They are just paid to protect and serve their neighbors within that community.

Since a very young age we have been taught to put our trust into police officers. If we are in distress, they are always there to help since it is their job to protect and serve the common citizen. So what happens when the individuals we are supposed to trust to bring justice are the ones causing the injustice we see in the news? Recently, several police officers have been under fire for their excessive use of force. The number of casualties caused by police officers in the recent years have citizens demanding a reform in the system that officers work under.

Police executives have always had different issues within the police department. Most police executives try to find a quick fix in order to solve the issue of police misconduct. Police misconduct is defined as inappropriate action taken by police officers in relation with their official duties (Police Misconduct Law & Legal Definition, n.d.). In order to solve this issue, one must acknowledge their different challenges, overcome the “code of silence”, and find out the role of organizational culture.

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