Seperation of Powers, Rule of Law and Responsible Government

One of the biggest debates when talking about police discretion is do police officers enforce the law equally in all situations. It’s a little hard for officers to treat every situation the same way. When someone runs a red light because they were late meeting friends at a bar it is almost

The following paper is to discuss the statement by Brien (1999, p9)” the Rule of Law is one of the necessary elements of any decent, society civilized society. More specifically, it is an ideal and aiming to practice it is a necessary element in any liberal, democratic community”. The ethical policies and practices of the New South Wales Police Force (N.S.W.P.F), including the Oath of Office, Missions and functions, Statement of values and Code of Conduct and Ethics will be discussed in relation to the “Rule of Law”. Two real examples will also be discussed to demonstrate the ethical dilemmas that exist in the N.S.W.P.F.

The rule of law is whereby the government and all those who govern are bound by the law and everyone must follow the law. Rule of law is also known as nomocracy. Government individual officials are not entitled to make any decision which is not in accordance to the law (Paulsen, Calabresi, McConnell & Bray, 2013). All the citizens are governed by the law including those who make the laws. A. V. Dicey has highly advocated for rule of law in modern times and has popularized it. In history the idea of rule of law can be traced back to the ancient civilizations like China, Mesopotamia, and Rome among others.

I understand police officers everywhere have their own lives on the line, every time they suit up to protect and enforce the law amongst the population. I do appreciate the risk they do to keep us safe from absolute chaos. However the authority these policemen have is mostly abused in one way or another, John Cassidy’s report in the NY Times article “ The Statistical Debate Behind The Stop-and-Frisk Verdict” provides statistical evidence that Black and Latino citizens are stopped a lot more frequently than White citizens. This is because racial profiling, this practice of racism should be ceased completely, especially with law enforcement. They are clearly directed towards minorities, which is a violation of the fourteenth amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law.

Police officers are held accountable for everything they do. The public is always watching. Police officers are members of the communities they work in. They are just paid to protect and serve their neighbors within that community.

When thinking in The Police, as responsible for law and order, people often expect respect to the standards and protection. But, when law enforcement goes beyond the boundaries of civil rights and becomes abusive, the relationship between those involved just breaks out.

State and territory police play a pivotal role in protecting community safety and protection. ‘Policing’ was a combination of national economic interests, domestic and international security, and represented in time by distinctive organizations (Chapman, 1970; Emsley, 1994). They have responsibility for peace preservation, and crime prevention as well as upholding the laws, providing assistance in personal emergencies, and coordinating and managing emergency incidents. Since the police can employ the discretionary powers, which is a flexible way to dispose of social problems, in a manner that either directs offenders to or diverts them away from, further penetration into the justice system, they are seen as the ‘gatekeepers’ of the criminal justice system, model authority, and law-abiding enforcement (Rob and Santina, 2015, p.348; Wortley, 2003). “They seek to sustain politically defined order and ordering via tracking, surveillance, and arrest. As such, they require compliance to command from lower participants and citizens. " (Peter and Jeffrey, 2015, p.246). Discretion is universal and legitimate power applied by criminal justice professionals in modern policing, which requires employing individual judgment for adjudicating whether they use a legal sanction in a particular situation (McLaughlin, 2013).

We all acknowledge we are policed by consent. We expect the police to show respect not only to the individual, but the law they have sworn to uphold

In the real world, there is many cases that happen where someone abuses the power they have in a bad way. There is some cases where people have to use the power they have in a good way. For example, there is some cases where cops shoot people that are not armed & they end up killing them. In cases like this, ther police do abuse their power. Just because you’re a cop, does not mean

The reason we have the police is to maintain order of society (Fahy, Sir P. 2013).

Since the emergence of the first policing systems, there have been many different types emerge throughout different periods in history. The three main types of policing have been preventative, reactive, and proactive. These were each created in their own times to help combat crime or to aid the publics general safety. Each were suited to society’s needs at the time, the technology, and the diversity of the people. The preventative approach focuses on preventing future crime. To do this the police use methods such as patrolling areas where crime rates are higher to deter criminals. The reactive approach was more of a crime fighting mentality, where the focus was on arrest rates and response times. Police officers were very detached from general society and the us vs them mentality was strong within the force. The reactive policing style came about due to the technological advancements being made in the field such as having patrol cars instead of foot patrols, thus, taking the officers out of the public (Goff, 2017).

Although majority in our Society seem to dislike police officers because they term them as “Bullies” who enjoy handing out summons,stop and frisk people and making arrests because they have the right to do so, Police officer however make some of this decisions because they believe they are keeping the society safe.

Most people confuse police authority with police power. What are police authority and or police power? Souryal, (2007), stated, “That Authority is the right to control the behavior of others within legally determined parameter. These include constitutional and professional limitations, which are designed to resolve conflicts in an orderly fashion. Authority stems from the practitioner’s

In some ways the law and order situation add to the exasperation of the criminals. Not only are the keepers of the law easily corruptible but are also exceedingly brutal and vicious in some ways. “Some laws of state aimed at curbing crime are even more criminal”, said Friedrich Engels. With the aforementioned depiction of policemen as

Rule of law in simplest terms means law rules, that is, law is supreme. The term “Rule of law‟ is derived from the French phrase “la principle de legalite” (the principle of legality) which means a government on principle of law and not of men. Rule of Law is a viable and dynamic concept and, like many other concepts, is not capable of any exact definition. It is used in contradistinction to rule of man. Sir Edward Coke, the Chief Justice in King James I‟s reign is said to be the originator of this principle. However, concrete shape was given to it by Professor A.V. Dicey, for the first time in his book “Law of the Constitution” (1885) in the form of three principles.