There are many possible solutions that will help change the public perceptions of the police. These solutions consist of the use of social media, training chiefs to be stronger leaders, and annual in-service training for the officers. The use of social media, such as department Facebook pages has many great benefits. A few benefits of police department’s using social media include building a relationship and a sense of engagement with the community, telling the real stories before the news can, gaining back their reputations, allows citizens to ask questions, and spread information more quickly (Burger, 2013). This has worked for many departments, but will only exist as a starting point. Another solution is training chiefs to be stronger leaders. Many chiefs are not trained to recognize officers engaged in use of force, so when use of force happens the department chief turns his head to it in order to save the departments reputation. If chiefs are trained then many use of force cases could be prevented. Another good solution is an annual training for officers that encourages a very limited amount of force unless necessary and how to behave in hostile situations. The best way to do this is through in-service trainings which have been proven by recent studies.
Factor of Use of Force There are many factors that go behind the use of force. These factors include how the officers are trained, the situation the officer is in, the suspect’s behavior whether it is cooperation or
The use of force is without a doubt an important aspect in policing. The decision to utilize any type of force comes from a multitude of recourses; department policies, training, situational variables and ethical systems. There are three major categories in which an officers use of force is categorized under; justifiable, excessive and deadly; with a thin line between justifiable and excessive. Cases where excessive force has been used, has lead to injuries, deaths, civil damages, officers convicted and sentenced to jail and police chiefs and elected officials being removed from office (Fyfe, 1988). It is an officer`s discretion in determining when the use of force is justifiable.
Society in general have showed the distrust, protests and many questions for the like hood of the police profession. The reputation of the police profession is that of the 6 pillars of policing in the modern world as outlined by the President’s Task Force on the 21st Century Policing, which sought to recommend steps forward. Under the banners of ‘Building Trust and Legitimacy’, ‘Policy and Oversight’, ‘Technology and Social Media’, ‘Community Policing and Crime Reduction’, ‘Officer Training and Education’, and ‘Officer Safety and Wellness’ – here are concise definitions for each one and what they mean for American policing ("Final report of the resident’s task force on 21st century policing," 2015).
“Hispanics were also just as likely as blacks to believe that the treatment they receive from police is definitely prejudiced and unfriendly. In October 1994, in Lincoln, Nebraska, Francisco Renteria was escorting his mother home from a Laundromat when he was accosted by University of Nebraska police dispatched to investigate a crime. Mistaking Renteria for the suspect, they fatally beat him
The use of force is inevitable in police work. In many situations the lives of officers or civilians can be taken by not using force when necessary or using it improperly. Many factors come into play when an officer decides to use force. This includes is the use of force justified, has the officer been properly trained to use force, and will the department be held liable if the force is used improperly?
Cochran, J. C., & Warren, P. Y. (2012, May). Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Differences in Perceptions of the Police. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 28(2), 206-227.
Lack of training and policing standards are closely linked to the myriad problems bedeviling police work, especially in small departments (Brodeur, 2010). All over the country, police departments report cases of officers being caught in uncompromising and unprofessional situations, resulting in disciplinary actions such as redeployment, suspension or sacking. These cases of unprofessionalism have led to questions being asked about policing, occasioned by recurring series of questionable and controversial encounters with police officers (Brodeur, 2010). The consequence of such encounters is increasing public distrust in law enforcement agencies.
This research will look at data collected by multiple surveys and field research that has been carried out over the past decade. The data that is collected will be able to give us a better look at the amount of media the public consumes and what their perceptions are on police brutality. This proposal will review the research and data collected by others who have previously studied this topic and outline a new study. Prior studies have examined the media’s effect on the public’s perception on how effective the police are. The proposed study will attempt to look deeper into how much the media truly effects how often the public perceives that misconduct and brutality incidence occur among police forces.
Police officers are not held accountable for their actions, which is why there is social media awareness. Social media viewers see unfiltered videos and footage of officers getting physical. “Social Media” explains how law enforcement try to not show how physical they get to detain a citizen: “... but thanks to technology, social media audiences are becoming more and more exposed to tense, unfiltered events by clicking through shared links and by watching live video feeds” (Social Media 1). The public should see the unfiltered videos to see what kind of bad things are happening in other states. Technology is progressing so users on social media can share videos to raise awareness and bring change. Live videos on facebook of police brutality
Whenever a law enforcement officer places an individual under arrest or is involved in a deadly force scenario the officer has used some degree of force. The incidents where an office has to make a split second decision and use physical force to control a situation is known as “Use of Force.” The use of force varies as situations present themselves to the officer and they must decide what level of force is necessary to control the situation. Often the use of force is subject to much debate and not a year goes by without some media coverage of some law enforcement officer accused of using excessive force. In dozens of studies of police use of force there is no single,
Over the last several years, most police departments have been facing numerous financial challenges. The main reason is law enforcement agencies are expected to do more with less and the stagnant economy. The combination of these factors has been placing pressure on many departments to begin imposing budget cuts. Evidence of this can be seen with a survey that was conducted by the University of North Carolina. They found that 67% of police departments made some kind of budget cuts for 2011. The most severe reductions were occurring in large police departments such as Los Angeles, Atlanta and Detroit. (Delfem, 2011, pp. 199 - 205) This is illustrating one of the most pressing issues affecting a wide variety of police departments across the country. To fully understand what is happening requires: examining the situation, how they are able to interact with other agencies (i.e. state / federal) and recommending the way this relationship can be improved. Together, these elements will offer specific insights about how police departments can effectively address this problem.
Officer Characteristics are a very intricate piece to the study of use as force as the officer is the one who will be demonstrating the action against the suspect for whatever the reason may be. Most research focuses in the basic demographics such as in the suspect characteristics which are race, gender and age. Alternate officer characteristics that tend to be significant to the use of force during an encounter with a suspect are how much experience the officer has, and the education/training of an officer. Initial studies of race of an officer were not directly related to use of force. Recent studies have linked the two through a series of studies conducted by (Lawton, 2007;
Police brutality and office involved shootings have sparked national debate and created a strain between police officers and citizens. Recently, there have been more home videos that display acts of aggression by police officers. These police officers often use excessive forces or a condescending tone towards people of color which is why there needs to be a better way to mend police and civilian relationship. People should be able to trust the police in their communities rather than fear them.
It is no secret that the media is able to influence the general public’s opinion on most anything. Whether the subject is fiction or non, movies, documentaries, and the news especially, are capable of swaying the public’s opinions and perceptions one way or the other. Not even the world of law enforcement is safe from the media’s purview (Barlow, M. H. and Barlow, D. E. and Chiricos T. G., 1995), as media portrayals often romanticize law enforcement as a well oiled machine that always gets the bad guy, and has a perfect relationship with the public. On top of this, the media has displayed a poor habit of portraying crime as predominantly violent and racial, rather than showing the whole picture(Gilliam, F. D. and Iyengar, S. and Simon, A. and Wright, O., 1996). In this paper, the motives driving these depictions, as well as the scope and effect of the media’s influence on public perception of law enforcement, will be explored and discussed.
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
The police have lost trust among the people they serve. This is because of the controversial use of excessive force when handling people. In some