preview

Police Misconduct Research Paper

Decent Essays

Police Misconduct
Denise Byrd
Bryant & Stratton College
Policing
Sargent W. Verna
June 6, 2015

While most people automatically think of police brutality whenever the term “police misconduct” is brought up, brutality is but one subtitle of what we call police misconduct. Police usually have broad powers to carry out their duties, the constitution place limits on how far police can go when enforcing the law. Sometimes police officers go to far and they violate the rights of citizens. When one acts outside of those established rules, the victim of the misconduct may have recourse through federal and state laws. The purpose of these laws are to protect citizens from abuse by police misconduct. There is an important difference …show more content…

Ehrlich (Ehrlich 2010) are:
False Arrest: This is most often asserted against police. Being stopped and questioned by police in connection with a crime is an unsettling experience for anyone. Police must have reasonable suspicion in order to pull you over and probable cause in order to make an arrest. Police can make an arrest without a warrant for felony or misdemeanor committed in their presence, even if the information relied upon later turns out to be false, the officer is not liable if he believed it to be accurate at the time of arrest.
Arrest Without Probable Cause: When you are pulled over, the police must develop something called “probable cause” in order to make an arrest. Probable cause is more than the reasonable suspicion necessary to stop your …show more content…

Police officers have a certain code of ethics they must follow to perform their jobs and police misconduct and corruption are abuse of police authority. Misconduct is "procedural" when it refers to police who violate police dept rules and regulations; "Criminal" when it refers to police who violate state and federal laws and "Unconstitutional" when it refers to police who violate citizen's civil rights. Law enforcement officers are expected to uphold the laws regarding due process, search and arrest and discrimination as well as other laws.
Police departments have their own codes of conduct. They investigate and discipline their officers against civilian complaints and the review boards which provide independent evaluative and remedial advice. There are also protections found in state laws which permits victims to sue police for damages in civil actions. Most often these claims are brought on by police brutality, false arrest, malicious prosecution and wrongful death. The punishment in police misconduct cases can range anywhere from an infraction by the police department to criminal

Get Access