Police Accountability vs. Police Independence Essay

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

In this essay a discussion will be explored about the benefits and problems associated with police use of discretion. Which current policing strategies have the most potential for controlling officer discretion and providing accountability, and which have the least, and why is that the case? And finally, how might these issues impact the various concerns facing law enforcement today?

Police forces or Law enforcers have been used for centuries all around the world but America took particular interest in the English’s policing system. America’s policing ideas and process began

As each new member of a police department officially becomes a sworn member, friends, family and other members of the public gather as they speak an oath. The oath these officers take, promises their commitment to ensure the safety of the public they serve. This means more than protecting civilians from individuals who may stray from the law, but to also ensure the protection of basic human rights. Police and other public servants are given a great deal of trust and power, what they do with it is based on the ethics they choose to uphold. In this paper we will look at why it is important for these justice professionals to study ethics.

Police corruption and misconduct come apparent in many different forms. A basic definition for police corruption is, when an officer gets involved in offenses where the officer uses his or her position, by act or omission, to obtain improper financial benefit. The main reason for such corruption is typically for personal gain, such as bribery. Police abuse of authority occurs in three different general areas such as physical abuse, psychological abuse, and legal abuse. Physical abuse is such abuse where one uses excessive force or physical harassment. The psychological abuse occurs through disrespect, harassment, ridicule, excessive stops, or intimidation. Finally, legal abuse is abuse that occurs during unlawful search and seizure

The Oath of Office is a legally binding vow or affirmation that enables Original Authority & discretion. It Provides guidance on what to do & how to do it, at a high level. It requires you to keep the peace, impartially to the best of your ability, and faithfully according to law (ADPP, Lesson 1.3, slide6). Original Authority as stated in the Oath of Office, came from common law giving police the right to make a decision on rationality rather than command or authority. Police discretion can be defined as to act according to your own judgement where ever your authority leaves you free to do so, and at the same time being responsible for your own actions (ADPP, Lesson 1.3, slide6). The responsible use of power through discretion can also be displayed by liaising with the community on matters that are important to them. Birch (2011) and article 19 from The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, both recognise that to maintain peace, the members of the community need to be given their right to express their opinions and ideas on how society and the police enforce and uphold the standards upon one another. Therefore signifying the Rule of Law. By knowing what the community expectations are, the governing party is able to develop and introduce Act’s to meet the societies expectations. This is seen in the Mission and

Police legitimacy is composed of two elements: trust and acceptance of authority. The public needs to know they can trust the police officers. We have to know if they are honest and are really concerned with our well-being, which would lead to respect and accepting their directives knowing it is for our own well-being or the neighborhood’s. I personally experience both sides of this concept, due to my residential situation, as I live both in El Paso and Juarez. In El Paso I truly trust the police officers that I have encountered, but I cannot say the same about the Juarez police officers. In Juarez many police officers are corrupt and do not care about our well-being. I’m not saying that in El Paso they all do, but their authority is more accepted by its 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.

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

It has been said that power inevitably leads to corruption, and it is yet to be recognized that , while there is no reason to suppose that policemen as individuals are any less fallible than other members of society, people are often shocked and outraged when policemen are exposed to violating the law.

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,

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.

The main aim of security activities is to preserve the values of society against external and internal threats, preserve the peace and freedom of the people and to ensure the existence and smooth development of society (Bebler et al., 1999). Perception of threats is crucial since threats generate the functions of the two most important actors of the security system – the police and the armed forces. Traditionally, the police are expected to play the central role in policing that has a narrow law enforcement and crime control or crime repression focus (Greene, 2000). Police are therefore traditionally responsible for public order and safety maintenance, for law enforcement, for intervention

Which means in order to maintain a certain decent living standard the protectors of the community. In my opinion to keep the community or the criminal element for trying to overrun the officers. Therefore, officers must be trained to conform to the different situations may arise and be able to efficiently maintain order. Civil unrest happens (not often) but when the time does come officers must be able to handle the unrest with the strength of the officers. This is true in society now department must have the strength and organization of the military to combat the resistance of the civil unrest.