The Blue Wall Of Silence Case Study

Every culture is composed of four elements: “values, norms, beliefs, and expressive symbols” (Peterson, 1979, p. 137). Each police officer is influenced by the police organizational culture during training. After graduation fro the police academy, the officer is influenced by the more experienced officers of the department. Research conducted by several authors has found that peer influence never ceases even after years of experience in the field.

The subcultures of law enforcement officers exist within the ranks and will always pose a serious risk for misconduct. According to Leadership, Ethics, and Policing: Challenges for the 21st Century, the police subculture is one of the most important aspects of police officer’s attitude and behavior. It is defines the beliefs, values, views and understanding of the officers to the environment they are in. Ortmeier & Meese explain that subcultures describe the community of support and unity of officers through violence and hostility encountered on duty (2009). Often time’s police officers have the mentality of “us versus them” which creates a solid communal belief that every officer has each other’s back and when things get tough for officers they know they can rely on fellow officers for support. Within this “subculture” is also the cover up of misconduct by fellow officers. This is referred to as the “thin blue line” or “code of silence”. In a nationwide survey conducted in 1998, over half of the respondents

Policing and the way they operate are truly similar as if they are hand in hand with one another. In order for operations to run smoothly and the department to be functioning as one there has to be proper training and care from the supervisors, administrators and from everyone who works together to understand that they’re a team. Everyone in the police department has to work together instead of against one another just to make sure everyone is doing their jobs by the books with no room for errors.

Police officers need better training in dealing with minority and learn how to communicate with them. Some efforts have been made by police officers to improve these situations with plans such as community policing. A question we can ask is how do we bring force the law enforcement and the minority communities to build a better relationship between the community and the police? For instance, Officer Tommy Norman, and officer for the North Little Rock Police Department have been doing community policing since he’s been an officer.

Kappeler, Sluder, & Alpert (1998) explain that through the police subculture deviance enters into law enforcement. The police character that is developed can be attributed to several paradigms such as psychological, sociological, and anthropological. The individual personalities of an officer and the authoritarian personality, characterized by cynicism, aggression, and conservatism, is that the psychological paradigm analyzes (p. 85). The socialization process which officers experience when they go through the academy, training, and field experience, contrast that dispositional model of the police personality, and this is the focus of the sociological paradigm. When officers internalize these norms and values that are learned, this professionalization occurs. The occupational culture of policing and the -beliefs, attitudes, and values that make up the subculture is seen as the anthropological paradigm or the culturalization perspective (Kappeler, Sluder, & Alpert, 1998, p. 87-88).

im pretty sure we 've all heard of the freddy grey case in baltimore. if you haven 't freddie grey was a victim of alleged police brutality which lead to his death in police custody, it sparked nationwide outrage and protests.This outrage mainly exists because the officers who could say what happened are protected by a Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights, which limits and delays questioning police about potential misconduct. In discussion of Baltimore and Bolstering a Police Officers’ Right to Remain Silent,we will analyze facts and opinions from three people in the nytimes/room for debate section who gave their opinion on this matter..

7) The need to be in constant emotional control. Law enforcement officers have a job that requires extreme restraint under highly emotional circumstances. They are told when they are extremely excited, they have to act calm. They are told when they are nervous, they have to be in charge. They are taught to be stoic when emotional. They are to interact with the world in a role. The emotional constraint of the role takes tremendous mental energy, much more energy than expressing true emotions. When the energy drain is very strong, it may make the officer more prone to exhaustion outside of work, such as not wanting to participate in social or family life. This energy drain can also create a sense of job and social burnout.

Stolberg and Jess Bidgood and “Freddie Gray Case Ends With No Convictions of Any Police Officers” by Sarah Almukhtar, Larry Buchanan, K.K. Rebecca Lai, Haeyoun Park, Tim Wallace and Karen Yourish tell the cruel story on how the police officers responsible for Freddie Grey’s death had their cases dropped. On April 12, 2015, Freddie Gray was arrested by the Baltimore PD. He was arrested seeing the police, then running. The officers involved in the incident where Officer Edward M. Nero, Officer Edward M. Nero, Lt. Brian Rice, Officer Garrett E. Miller, Officer William G. Porter and Sgt. Alicia White. All of them were charged with second-degree assault and manslaughter for him dying in police custody. The city was outraged that the charges were dropped. They believed that the officers should have been dropped because they caused and innocent man to die by not giving him medical attention and not putting him in the seatbelt in the

The list includes but is not limited to depression, social isolation, and chronic anger (Gilmartin, 2002). We as officers and egos often deny this and try to rationalize our behavior all the while this career is taking a toll on us. This toll takes the form of physical health issues, to our personal relationships with our spouses, significant others, and most importantly our children. The good news is that “Many police officers, in fact survive emotionally and remain functional, healthy individuals” (Gilmartin, 2002).

Because police officers are identified by their jobs, members of the public frequently treat them as police, even when off-duty. This increases the need for bonding and socializing between officers, officers' families, and families of other officers. Officers are often unable to step back from jobs and separate their professional and personal lives (Hickman et al, 2004).

Police brutality is a repetitive issue throughout American history needing to be fixed. Not only is that playing a role into how the public perceives them but the media as well has a vast impact on how the public perceives them. What the media is doing to the image of the police force is negatively impacting their image. Example of this are seen time and time again to where the media only talks about the negative things that the police force does rather the positive. If the general public is constantly being told all of the negative things that the police force does, then the public will see them as a negative influence.

One of the largest issues plaguing police departments in United States is under staffing Under staffing has become ramp it all over the United States. Under staffing creates issues not only for officers with in a department but also within society as a whole. “The rate of sworn officers current habitats was 2.4 per 1000 in the nation in 2011. The rate of total full-time employees, civilian and sworn was 3.4 per 1000.” (Police Employee Data)

Most police officers are just trying to protect and serve — they would never consider discriminating against another person due to their race, and they try to responsibly deescalate situations whenever possible instead of resorting to violence. However, there are problems endemic to law enforcement culture, and many institutionalized problems that affect the work police do. No matter how good a police officer tries to be, it’s hard to make the world a better place while working from within an imperfect system. Law enforcement is something society will always need, and we are grateful to those who protect and serve, but the current system has issues it needs to address.

Police executives have always had different issues within the police department. Most police executives try to find a quick fix in order to solve the issue of police misconduct. Police misconduct is defined as inappropriate action taken by police officers in relation with their official duties (Police Misconduct Law & Legal Definition, n.d.). In order to solve this issue, one must acknowledge their different challenges, overcome the “code of silence”, and find out the role of organizational culture.

In the United States of America, the blue wall of silence have been used in many decades, which police officers are forbidden to report any unlawful actions taken by their fellow officers. Unlawful action can be describe as police brutality, misconducts, crimes, and false police reports. In the 1970s, the New York Department (NYPD) faced many police corruption including a fellow officer, Frank Serpico, that tesify against bribery and corruption with the department. Although Frank Serpico was almost killed during a drug bust and left to die, he continue to fight in order gain a full recovery and exposed the truth behind the New York Police Department. He also discussed with the media on how police officer can do to in order to regain the community