Each and every-day of our lives we are protected by men and women in the police force. Police officers must handle extremely dangerous situations like fights, robberies, or even riots. During riots police officers use many weapons to subdue rioters, but sometimes the less lethal weapons can be just as bad as the lethal ones. What do you think the world would be like if you didn’t have anybody to enforce the law every day, or when you are in trouble and there is nobody is there to come and help you? The world would be a completely different place if there weren’t any police officers. Everybody would just do what they want or get whatever they want. Well that is why one day somebody decided to change that. People that protect …show more content…
Demonstrate your physical fitness for the job through agility, strength and endurance tests. Pass a criminal history check. Pass the civil service exam. Impress people with your interview, where you’ll demonstrate why you are a viable, trustworthy candidate for a job protecting the public. Complete police academy training, where you will study subjects like policing tactics, crime scene processing, police ethics, and proper use and care of firearms” (How). On everyday basis police officers have certain equipment they have to carry. Some of these things can be dangerous and others are not. Almost all police officers carry a pistol with them at all times. A lot of the police officers today choose to carry a glock handgun. The Glock is a very reliable gun because it is known for its accuracy and durability which give them a one up on other handguns. But police officers are allowed to carry any handgun they choose. “Also, almost every police car comes with a standard 12 gauge shotgun. Officers will use buckshot which is used for targets farther than 20 yards. (Equipment) Shotguns are not used very often, if they are used though they may be used in standoffs with suspects that have weapons with them. There are some things on a police belt that are not as lethal as a shotgun or handgun but can cause pain. Some officers like to carry knives for several reasons. They could be used as a last resort if they are being threatened or if somebody is in a car accident
Police officers are faced each day with a variety of situation in which they must deal; therefore we should ask ourselves the following questions: Should police officers enforce the law equally in all situations? In what situations should police officers be allowed to not enforce the law? What types of situations would they be required to fully enforce the law? Why does police discretion exist? What are its strengths and weaknesses? And what is the relationship between police discretion and police ethics?
This book also offers a chapter on the pros and cons of becoming an officer. In general, it has information on how to become an officer. The book also sheds light on the inner world of police officers, how officers will protect their own--even if that individual is wrong. There is also a chapter on the traits an individual should have to better function as an officer. I will use this source to build on the "initial entry" of my outline. I will also be able to extract information for the "requirements" section of my
Many people know of the police officers of today’s world and that it is their job to enforce the laws set by their government, but not many people know the history of your typical everyday United States police officer or how they came about. The idea for neither your everyday police officer nor his or her department they work for or how a police department operates, originated in the United States. Over the years though America has made changes and adapted its system over the years to make it more suitable for its countries beliefs and practices.
There are several different types of force. These types of force include verbal commands or persuasion, physical force (unarmed), force using weapons that are non lethal, force that involves using weapons such as the bean bag gun or taser, and lastly, deadly force. All officers have to give way to each force option before last resorting to the use of deadly force, unless of course if the officer is in a life or death situation. This may be the only way to use deadly force in the first and last resort. They have a couple of weapons that they carry in case the need to use them arises. They carry a baton, tasers, handcuffs, guns and they also have police dogs. Some police do follow the guidelines for using force. Others may abuse their authority and not use force properly. It is really only up to the officers to do the right thing. Some cops are great and live to protect our communities while others abuse their authority.
The police must be stable, efficient, and organized along military lines (Bohm & Haley, 2012). Officers must be professional in everything that they do. The police department must be able to withstand departmental changes. The military is always uniform, clean, knowledgeable, trained and always prepared for the next mission and most police departments follow a military chain of command
Guns and other equipment in an officer’s arsenal play a key role in the officers safety as well as the safety of others
In light of the recent spate of police-involved homicides of suspects who may or may not have put the lives of the police involved in fear for their safety and well-being, this paper seeks to examine the use of deadly force by police officers in the line of duty. The training involved in using one’s service weapon in situations that call for a determination of the use of force will be explored, as will the rules, regulations, and extenuating circumstances that lead to the firing of a service weapon in the line of duty, resulting in the death of a suspect. The Supreme Court cases that have led to and/or upheld laws allowing a broader interpretation of what is considered justifiable use of deadly force will be briefly examined. Additionally, the use of non-lethal weapons, such as Tasers, by police forces and how the availability of these weapons influences the rate of deadly force will be inspected. Finally, an elucidation of the various perceptions of the general public of the police after use of deadly force is used within their communities will be addressed.
Police officers have been a part of history for a long time, the earliest time is recorded back to the sixteen hundreds. When the first Europeans came over to the United States, they felt that it was necessary to protect themselves and their people from the inhabitants that were already here and had no interest in sharing their land with them. Any man and young boy that was physically able to protect their people was required to do so. There
In order to become a police officer, individuals have to be twenty-years of age, a United States citizen, have basic law enforcement training, mental evaluation, physical evaluation and no crimes committed. This article compares to the next article listed below because it provides background information and insight into how to become a police officer and the training they must acquire. The article helps me understand a basic component of my essay, which is the training police officers receive.
The use of deadly force in extreme situations goes back several hundred years when it was first admitted as a right during the early nineteenth century as sheriffs realized that they needed to kill certain threatening individuals in order to protect others. Thousands of police officers were killed during the recent decades and this raises an alarm regarding the authority to use deadly force. Individuals criticizing this right have to acknowledge that police officers fight with the purpose of preserving a peaceful world and are constantly exposed to criminals who are unhesitant about
Police officers are faced with a wide variety of threatening situations on the job every day, they go through an intensive training at the academy to prepare them for the safety keeping job they have. The use of force may or may not be a significant predicament but it should be viewed by the community as well as the police. Often police officers find
Use of fire arms as the choice weapon by police officers have been around since the late 1800s. Police departments started issuing firearms to police officers in a response to better-armed criminal populations, (Bulman, 2010). Recent studies have shown that less lethal weapons decrease the rate of police officers and suspect injuries. Because evidence supports less lethal weapons for police officer, many law enforcement agencies have agencies are stressing the use of less-lethal weapons. In the early 19th century, the less than lethal weapon of choice was the wooden club, (Bulman, 2010). Less than lethal weapons have evolved to technology such as conductive energy devices (CEDs), commonly known as the Taser.
This journal article discusses data on various types of less then lethal use of force weapon systems and the effect they have on the suspect and the officer who was forced to use it. It examines the future of police action and new advances in suspect restraint systems (Albert, 1999).
Martin Luther King Jr., an American Baptist minister, African-American civil rights activist, and non-violent protest leader, once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (Ali-Dinar 1963 p.1). Such an iconic and fearless leader recognized the unjust behavior within society as a result of racially motivated police brutality and societal discrimination. Though his efforts were not in vain, today’s media representation of law enforcement impacts the societal cultivation of police officers in a negative way. Media outlets, in the forms of television, radio, or social websites, create a cynical view of police officers, which influences societal beliefs and creates negative connotations.
Over many years the idea of a policing body took many forms. In many societies they were just a group of hired men that served a particular person, needless to say they were not acting in the best interest of society. Usually these groups were made up of workless men whose only ability was his strength. As more years role by the policing body adopted a more sociological or philosophical approach. These tactics included using the people themselves to police them selves. An example of this would be in early china where the people were expected to report on the neighbors and families for crimes committed against the state and ruling body. The idea behind this was to instill fear and unknowingness in the public to give the ruling body an upper hand. In other societies instead of punishing the wrong doer for a criminal action the ruling body would punish the families of the wrong doer. This would created a society that one would prevent crime on the idea f not wanting to harm one's family and two would created a society that would turn in a brother or neighbor to prevent harm done on one's self for another's actions. This would free up the government to deal with other matters.