Police Accountability Essay

Police accountability has been in the forefront of the criminal justice system much more now than in the past. The main reason being is technology. With body cameras and cameras inside police vehicles their every encounter is now captured on surveillance. Not saying that’s a bad idea. If I was a police I would want video surveillance to capture my encounter with someone.

Some people argue that police officers in our communities abuse their authority and power over citizens. Nowadays police officers seem to be more aggressive and end up being looked at as criminals. Some cops are even using their power to do bad things, and this has had a major effect on society that is making everyone afraid of cops. But, some people, too, argue the point if a cop did misuse his power was it justified. People in our communities are even beginning to feel as if cops aren't here to protect us anymore. Our laws have allowed criminals that good police officers arrest to slip through the system untouched, and this makes officers feel as if they have to bring matters of justice into their own hands. Police brutality has turned into somewhat of a myth because of our court system not punishing them as according.

Throughout the past 50 years, there have been great changes in both the legal and constitutional status of the police forces within England and Wales, (Reiner, 2010:206) and parallel to this, the concept of accountability within the police forces has become a controversial yet universal concept with regards to the encompassing regulation of the police, their performance and the use of their approved legal powers (Jones, 2008). Specifically, within the last twenty years, many issues have triggered controversy within the general public with reference to police accountability within England and Wales, such issues including, corruption, abuse of powers, discrimination, racial bias, and the perceived effectiveness of crime control. In turn, these

When it comes to accountability, there is virtually none and police are rarely prosecuted or dismissed for actions that a normal civilian would be prosecuted for. To finalise, the root cause of the failures that happened in the Stephen Lawrence case has not been dealt with by Scotland Yard because they have yet to really tackle racism in their institution.

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

This essay will introduce two competing perspectives of policing, they are the orthodox and revisionist perspectives. This essay will then relate the orthodox and revisionist perspectives to the themes of lack of structure, industrialisation and finally hostility. It will then discuss whether the creation of the Metropolitan Police by Sir Robert Peel in 1829 was an effective solution to the changes within society as well as the challenges brought about through crime and disorder. The orthodox view is that the Metropolitan Police were, in fact, a rational decision made to adapt to the needs of the society. They argue that the establishment of the ‘new’ police was inevitable. The revisionist view would state that the ‘new’ police were not a rational decision. They believed that crime and disorder were not increasing, it was just that the ways of counting crime were largely different to previously. The revisionists also believe that the new system was in part beneficial for which to tackle issues that may have occasioned due to the new ‘dangerous class’ (Monkkonen, 1981, p147). In this essay, there will be reference made to the Brixton Riots in 1981 with a clear explanation as to how the orthodox and revisionist perspectives relate to modern policing activities.

• Accountability: where every police officer is held responsible for his or her actions, omissions and decisions. Signifying that while on duty, the decisions he or she makes should be informed and within the provisions of the law. The actions taken to control a situation should be done so with respect to the constitutional rights of the public (Baker, 2011).

The New South Wale’s police system have failed to meet the needs of its society due to the misuse and misconduct of its given powers. The police have a large amount of discretion

A striking aspect that differentiates the profession of policing from other forms of professions entails the legal authority bestowed upon the police to use force should situations call for it (Greenfeld 2012). According to 2009 Victorian police data, the situations involving the use of force was encountered in every 2.5 hours and for every 49hours, there was a critical incident related to the use of force by police (Office of Police Integrity 2009). These statistics show that at some point, the

Police misconduct and the ‘code of silence’ is a global phenomenon that has been present since the formation of formal police agencies. Police leadership can shape the influence and direction of their departments through recruitment, training, field training officers (mentors), policy, and discipline. Frontline supervisors act as the bridge between the administration and the frontline officers. Supervisors exert some informal influence over officers, but must also serve their superiors and the agency mission. There is no clear cut method to curbing the ‘code of silence’ and agency transparency is needed to appease the public such agencies serve. This is a two way street, the public must respect the authority of said officers and submit to lawful and reasonable request. Police administrators must maintain open lines of communication and trust with their subordinates if the ‘code of silence’ is to ever be weakened.

The movie I chose was “Serpico.” The setting of the movie begins with Frank Serpico the main character graduating from the Police Academy, He is determined to be a “good” cop and represent everything that the image of a law enforcer is meant to be. However, where there is bad there is good and the police force is no exception. No matter where Serpico goes Police Corruption seems to be all around and his morals are challenged time and time again. He however wants to change this and break down on Police Corruption, but of course with every department being corrupt instead of making it better for himself he is slowly digging his grave. The movie shows that corruption in the

The three eras discussed in this week’s reading are the Political, Reform, and Community-based eras (The fourth era detailing policing in the 21st Century hasn’t been covered yet). The Political Era - 1840-1930 - was characterized by the appointment of police chiefs by local politicians and so were beholden to those that appointed them, often times adjusting the justice they exercised to the benefit of their patron, or rather the politician or party that appointed them. Due to this essentially powerless policing, chiefs tended to be no more than political strong-arms with very little authority over the officers under them. This lack of oversight and control tended towards corrupt or incompetent officers. Because there was virtually no hierarchy or accountability, most officers lacked adequate training which caused poor decisions and unlawful arrests and searches.

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.

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.