Imagine being a police officer doing your daily routine job. You are in a patrol car on the highway, watching the cars and trucks drive by. You are also looking for speeders to warn them to be more careful and maybe you’ll ticket them. It has been a very boring day for you, since you have only been called on your radio once, and it was for an accident (fender bender). Almost at the end of your shift, a blue car drives by going ninety miles an hour, but you know the speed limit is only fifty-five miles an hour. You pull the patrol car out of the gravel area that you had been sitting in and you start to follow the car. You put your lights on and catch up to them. After a few minutes you pull the person over. …show more content…
Ten people were killed due to police pursuits in 1998. “Of the ten fatalities, eight of the people were drivers fleeing from police officers”(1998 Analysis, 1). And the other two deaths were people who were not involved in the pursuit. The good thing for police officers is that none died during a pursuit in 1998. Some people say that there should have been no fatalities, including the people fleeing from the police officers. The majority of pursuits in the last four years that have had fatalities occur are provoked by the fleeing driver and also injure passengers in that car and innocent bystanders.
There are a lot of the same problems that occur repeatedly when dealing with police pursuits. Most of the time (around ninety percent of the time) police pursuits are generally triggered by a traffic violation. These violations could be running a red light, driving without stopping at a stop sign, or a speeding violation. Most likely, the driver in the pursuit is a young male, generally, under the age of twenty-four. They usually have very poor driving records. In more than half of the cases of attempted fleeing drivers, alcohol and driving under the influence plays a major role. Also, in most fifteen percent of all pursuit cases, the drivers did not have a valid driver’s licensee. Another interesting reported fact is that “approximately half the offenders had at least one prior licensee suspension on their records”(Nugent 6). Only three
Police officers pull drivers over for a number of reasons, ranging from driving recklessly to suspicion of possessing illegal substances. Traffic stops pose stress onto police officers because of its hazards. First, police officers risk the chance of getting hit by incoming traffic. According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, over 150 U.S. Law enforcement officers were killed since 1999 by getting struck by vehicles along America's highways (National Safety Commission, 2012). When a police officer pulls over a driver, he or she is focused on documenting information on the incident report, leaving him or her open to the risk of getting hit by incoming vehicles.
USlegal.com refers police chase as a pursuit of an actual or suspected violator of the law by a police officer. The police felt there was a need to pursue Victor Harris after he failed to stop his vehicle after the lights on the patrol car was activated. In this pursuit Victor Harris was driving at speeds up to 100 miles per hour. The officers continue to pursue him in the dangerous conditions. At this point the officers had reason to think the driver was running for something more than a speeding ticket.
Police pursuits are a common liability for departments and the operating officer. These particular suits generally allege negligence on behalf of the
The myriad of issues surrounding police pursuits have been sensationalized to the point that the general public has been presented with an inaccurate and highly suspicious picture of pursuits (Barth, 1981). Police officers understand that their actions in many pursuits will be questioned and scrutinized by administrators as well as scholars researching the issues surrounding their decisions. Debate concerning the viability of a national pursuit policy has generated much controversy as speculation and pseudoscience have been used by the unscrupulous in efforts to portray pursuits as highly dangerous and in need of new administrative
Petitioner’s recording posed an unreasonable risk to bystanders, passing motorist, and the police, essentially creating an inherently dangerous situation. Kelly v. Borough of Carlisle, 622 F.3d 248, 262 (3d Cir. 2010). The Third Circuit has firmly recognized that traffic stops are especially fraught with danger to police officers. Id. A traffic stop always poses danger because of its unpredictable nature, but even more so, when a potential suspect is on the loose. Petitioner was a suspect for a crime of several residential break-ins, which a reasonable office would assume is armed and dangerous; thus creating a heightened risk to the officers’ safety. Furthermore, the Petitioner was stopped on the side of a road congested with traffic. If the officers do not maintain control of the situation, any unpredictable movement could result in grave injury; therefore, the police officers acted reasonably by minimizing the unnecessary danger added by Petitioner’s recording during an already dangerous situation.
The video clearly shows Harris him driving in a way that could have killed or seriously injured anyone around him or even the law officer’s life. Harris was the one that intentionally put everyone in danger including his own life. If police officer’s do not continue chase that will tell others that if you run fast enough they will stop pursuit and escape is possible. Court ruled 8-1 in favor of Scott saying that it was not excessive force under the Fourth Amendment. This is a victory to police officers involved in high speed chases. Today police are faced with more and more issues on how they handle things. They only have a split second to think, a second that could cost his or her life or the life of an innocent bystander. With all of this they also have to think of the outcome of whether things were handled the right way and if they will have a job after their
Leading up to the establishment of the Chicago Police Department, the first rank of “constable” was created in 1830. Authorization of Chicago’s very own police force occurred on January 31, 1835. On August 15, 1835, the Chicago Police Department was born. The department’s mission reads, “The Chicago Police Department, as part of, and empowered by, the community, is committed to protect the lives, property, and rights of all people, to maintain order, and to enforce the law impartially. We will provide quality police service in partnership with other members of the community. To fulfill our mission, we will strive to attain the highest degree of ethical behavior and professional conduct at all times.” Orsemus Morrison was elected Chicago’s first constable; he was assisted by Constables Luther Nichols and John Shrigley. The three men served and protected a population of about 3,200. In the year 1837, the Municipal Court of Chicago was created. It had co-jurisdiction with the Cook County Court within corporate limits of the city of Chicago. Between the years 1838 and 1854, the Chicago P.D consisted of very few collection of officers, constables, and part-time night watchers to maintain the quickly-expanding city.
Growing up is exciting and very scary. Being young is fun while it last but eventually everyone has to grow and go in to the working field. Law enforcement has been a big topic whether it be bad or good things said the law enforcement is always brought up. When I was young I took a fast interest in business. The moment I decided I wanted to be a cop was when I met my dad’s best friend that was a cop, and businessman. All any person wants in a career is to make a decent living and do something that they enjoy doing. I’ve always enjoyed helping people that needed help, the Kansas career pipeline let me take some surveys and showed me that I enjoy helping people more than I enjoy building myself something, which I believe that is true.
Police Academy and policing are some of the most controversial things in today 's world. This particularly pertains to our society, in which it seems that there is a different incident involving the police every week. It is extremely controversial, the media uses its power of manipulation to “expose” the police often abusing their power. This is leading to a division of our nation. There is a large clash of who 's to blame in this situation, we can even see this in class based on the various opinions of my fellow students.Some of my classmates and many others blame things like police academy, methods of policing, and the cultural separation between police and the community. I interviewed somebody who lived through both. He was in the police force for 21 years and continued on to teach and direct police academy for 25 years.
How did the Kansas City Patrol Study affect routine patrol all across the nation? It affected routine patrol in the fact that It made officers realize that traditional routine patrol in marked police cars did not appear to affect the level of crime. Nor did it affect the public’s feeling of security. The experiment demonstrated that urban police departments can successfully test patrol deployment strategies, and that they can manipulate patrol resources without jeopardizing public safety.
All my life I have been fascinated with police work and firefighting. As a result, I have spent a vast amount of time volunteering at local fire departments working closely with local law enforcement personnel in emergency situations. Although I have wavered for years about whether to pursue a career in law enforcement or firefighting, I have always known that one way or the other I am going to be involved in emergency services. While local police enforcement is interesting, I have always wondered what it would be like to be a State Police Trooper. With that in mind, I secured an interview with Delaware State Police Trooper, Master Corporal (CPL/3) Douglas Brietzke.
The Ride along programs are exceedingly favored amongst juveniles that it sometimes becomes the primary or only activity in which they want to participate. Ride along activities are physically strenuous and entails known and unanticipated risks that could result in physical or emotional injury, paralysis, death, or damage to property or to third parties when involved in high speed chases. However, most police agency policies on ride alongs fail to cover the guidelines and procedures that should be taken in the course of extreme measures. Each agency that provides a ride along program to its community must include a policy and standard operating procedures for the ride along participant. That is why I will be amending the ride along policy to help deter physical or deadly injuries in every ride along involving high speed chases. The policy will secure a protocol for spontaneous situations that require an aggressive and risk inherent response on the law enforcement officer.
Police officers have a very reputable job, meaning they must be professional at all times. The job of a police officer is to protect and to serve the public. Since most of their time is spent in the public eye, they are expected to maintain professional behavior. The first step in projecting their professionalism is their dress. They should be dressed neatly,
One aspect of the criminal justice system that has been debated for many years is that of police discretion. Police discretion is defined as the ability of a police officer, a prosecutor, a judge, and a jury to exercise a degree of personal decision making in deciding who is going to be charged or punished for a crime and how they are going to be punished. This basically is saying that there are situations when these law enforcement officers have to use their own personal beliefs and make choices coming from their own morals and ethics. The subject of police discretion was discovered in 1956 by the American Bar Foundation and has been an important problem in criminal justice since that time. When it
Patrol accounts for the biggest portion of police work in most police agencies. The terms “patrolling” and ”on patrol” generally refer to what officers do while not handling calls for service—officers do this mostly in patrol cars, but sometimes on foot, on bicycles, on horseback, or the like. While on patrol, officers may look for traffic violations, suspicious behavior, disorder, and unsafe conditions. They may also look for opportunities to interact with the public in casual or more formal situations. This is all considered patrolling.