What is complacency? Well as defined by Merriam-Webster it is “self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies”. In typical occupations complacency doesn’t really have any big consciences, some people at their job can be complacent till they retire and never have any issues at all. But when you become complacent in Law Enforcement there could be very serious and irreversible consciences like losing your own life or worse an innocent person’s life that you swore to protect. Complacency comes along after you do something over and over again and become good at it that you get to confortable in that situation but in law enforcement nothing is routine. You can do one hindered great car stops with no issue and get very comfortable doing the stops that you forget …show more content…
This error goes for both you and the suspect one. When you are confronted with a suspect and are complacent you don’t watching the person like you are supposed to be doing and didn’t see his hands go in his pocket he can then pull out a weapon and kill you. But also you can ignoring the danger signs that you may be complacent and not know. People get so fixed in there routine that it becomes more of a subconscious thing because you are going through the motions every day not even think about what you are doing in till it’s too late and the guy you just asked for his paperwork pulled out a gun and got two rounds of on you. Most people are set on auto pilot, you get up go to work, at work you do the same thing you been doing for 10 years so you don’t even have to think about it you just do it, then you go home and wait till the morning to do it all over again. That routine is deadly in law enforcement because you should always be on your toes and thinking about what dangers are around you so you can at least see it coming and defend yourself from it to go home at the end of your
Gilmartin also discusses and describes the psychological impact the officers suffer from being exposed to frequent tramatic events. Being enthralled in violent events and the victims of crimes would have an impact on anyone. The officers themselves can start to see themselves as victim. The most important psychological experience that Gilmartin describes is Hypervigilance. This can be experienced by officers on or off duty. Hypervigilance by definition means “the necessary manner of viewing the world from a threat-based perspective, having the mindset to see events unfolding as potentially hazardous.” (Gilmartin Pg. 35) According to Gilmartin this- “permits the on-duty officer to develop a subjective state of increased alertness/awareness of his/her surroundings required for maximum officer safety.” (Gilmartin Pg. 36) Gilmartin elaborates on his term of “Hypervigilance” and how it becomes problematic. When he introduces the concept theory of the “Hypervigilant Biological Rollercoaster.” Stating that the on-duty officer is “alert, alive, energetic, quick–thinking, involved and humorous,” And the off-duty officer is “tired, isolated, detached, apathetic and angry.” (Gilmartin Pgs. 48-50)
Many experts look at experts’ looks at data and research. Great experts find out and test their research. Traditional old concepts of police work caused many to venture and test anything. George Kelling and James Q. Wilson analyzed and tested their hypothesis. I will break down their “Broken Windows Theory” and how this has changed law enforcement today.
Police officers must be trained to shoot with precision; correspondingly, they must not solely be trained to shoot to kill, but also to shoot to simply harm. Once they are taught both ways, they must learn to assess their situation to conclude whether it requires the former or the latter. This is highly important for the reason that it can spare a life, and it easier to prosecute officers who failed to use proper protocol for shooting. Furthermore, this training helps to prevent discrimination against minority groups. Many officers target male minorities; however, when officers do sensitivity training and assess their situation, the officer can keep his fear at bay and civilians will be treated
"Police corruption undermines the foundation of our city..." "Officers who use the shield of service as a sword to commit crimes jeopardize the safety of all of us, and they do dishonor to their colleagues and to the city they swore to protect." Alejandro N. Mayorkas, United States Attorney, Central District of California, (U.S. Department of Justice News Release, 2000).
Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote the article, “The Myth of Police Reform,” to help inform the public of our current dilemma associated with our police force. The main claim states that the problem relies on the fact that our current social problems are solved by force. These are backed by warrants that depict incidences involving people that didn’t deserve to die. Along with examples of police abusing their power to oppress people instead of using authority. Unfortunately, Ta-Nehisi uses an irrelevant warrant about the police’s mistreatment of African Americans throughout history that severely takes away from his main claim. However, he provides an explanation of how the use of body cameras could solve our problem of police abusing their power, but
Everyday law enforcement personal have the possibility to face dangerous events in their daily duties. In performing such duties a police officer could come by a seemingly ordinary task, and in a blink of an eye the event can turn threatening and possible deadly. When or if this happens to an officer they won’t have
The police officer stands at the top of the criminal justice system in a nation where crime rates are high and where the demands for illegal goods and services are widespread. These conditions create a situation in which the police officer is confronted with opportunity to accept a large number of favors or grants. Police corruption occurs in many forms and observers of police behavior agree that it falls into nine specific areas. Drug related police corruption differs from other types of police corruption. In addition to protecting criminals or ignoring their activities, officers involved in drug related corruption were more likely to be involved in stealing drugs and/or money from drug dealers, selling drugs, lying under oath about illegal searches, and other crimes. Although not enough data was available upon which to base an estimate of the extent of corruption, the amount of cases of police corruption proved that it was striking enough to concern the public. The most commonly identified patterns of corruption involved small groups of officers who protected and assisted each other in criminal activities. The demands of the public and politicians, however, have caused an outrage and a fear that open investigations and accusations of corruption will cause the problem of distrust in the police to grow even greater.
In situations when a high profile case is public, police investigators undergo amounts of severe pressure to convict a suspect and is often led to convict the first suspect who is involved. Pressure from victims, the community, media and police supervisors often induce speed as the overriding factor when investigating a case. Police officers have human tendencies when trying to reach the overall goal of justice when solving a case. Tunnel vision is often the result of police officers having a narrow theory towards a suspect, drawn to conclusions about who is responsible early and disregarding evidence that points to the suspect as innocent.
Police brutality and the use of excessive force are unavoidable in police effort. In many circumstances, the lives of officers or civilians can be taken by not using force when necessary or use it improperly, which officers duties consist of protecting and serving the community. Many influences are involved when an officer resolves to use force toward a suspect in the line of duty. The situational consciousness is important, and officers are noted by the agencies to be proficient to evaluate when a calamity entails the use of force to reclaim control of a situation. In most cases, time converts the significant variable in shaping when an officer selects to use force. Law enforcement agencies falsify and cover-up the use of police brutality all too often in the
Canada has created a reputation for itself as a country where its citizens can live in a free, accepting and safe environment amongst a wide group of ethnic and non-visible minorities. Unfortunately, many minority groups in Canada do not agree with these notions when it comes to policing. Although the mandate of the police force is to protect its citizens and maintain social order, many racial injustices committed by police officers towards minorities have raised questions about the reputation of police services. Many regard police officers to be racist, prejudice and inherently corrupt when dealing with minorities which has opened the discussion on police reform and improving hiring practices. Under-policing and over-policing is a major issue
The use of discretion in the profession of law enforcement has shown to be an inevitable practice. Police officers routinely use their own beliefs and judgments to make critical decisions that include the life and liberty of the citizens in the community they serve in. Although discretion has both negative and positive sides to it, discretion is impossible to be eliminated from law enforcement. The best way to use discretion in a safe manner is to practice using discretion while on and off duty as well. While practicing discretion, officers should keep their own beliefs and prejudice to themselves and out of line of duty. When police officers are on duty, they must have knowledge of what is going on around them and eliminate discriminatory factors and use confidence to make a lawful
Within our police system in America, there are gaps and loopholes that give leeway to police officials who either abuse the authority given to them or do not represent the ethical standards that they are expected to live up to by society. Because of the nature of police work, there is a potential for deterioration of these ethical and moral standards through deviance, misconduct, corruption, and favoritism. Although these standards are set in place, many police officers are not held accountable for their actions and can easily get by with the mistreatment of others because of their career title. While not every police abuses his or her power, the increasingly large percentage that do present a problem that must be recognized by the public as well as those in charge of police departments throughout our country. Police officials are abusing their power and authority through three types of misconduct known as malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance and these types are being overlooked by management personnel who rarely intervene even though they know what is happening. Misconduct is wrong because it violates rights and causes people to be wrongly accused of crimes or be found not guilty and set free when they are still an endangerment to other people. The public needs to be educated on what is happening in the police system in hopes that someone will speak out to protect citizens from being violated by police officers.
Throughout history injustice and inequality have thrived in our justice system. Prejudice, stereotypes, racism, and discrimination have allowed the mistreatment of minorities to continue to exist. This is giving officers the right to violate human rights. What ever happen to the phrase "innocent until proven guilty", it seems to be nonexistent nowadays. Police officers have decided to take matter into their own hands, becoming the judge, jury, and executioner.
The New Zealand Police is the lead agency responsible for helping the community to decrease or reduce crime, corruption and improve the responsibility of safety and protection in New Zealand. There is a need to make changes to the police culture in order to improve the performance of their organisation. However there are three fundamental errors that need to be addressed which will be discussed in this essay. Firstly, there is a lack of an established sense of urgency which has the potential to jeopardize the future of the organization. Secondly is, not creating a powerful enough guiding coalition which means there is a lack of communication which resulted in an absence of leadership and teamwork from frontline staff to national headquarters. Finally, an undercommunicating the vision by a factor of ten that organisation leader needs to communicate visions and strategies. These three errors are relevant as they are pivotal in the implementation of a managing change programme. Recommendations are also provided to improve on how the New Zealand Police can be enhanced within a management perspective.
Police corruption is a nationwide problem that has been going on for many years. Not only is corruption a problem on our own U.S. soil, but police practices of corruption go as far east as Europe and Asia. Many studies, polls and examinations were taken to find out how exactly what the general publics’ opinions of the police are. Officers receive a lot of scrutiny over this issue, but for good reason.