Perspectives on Crime

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Crime has a different effect on every person that is a part of the situation. Just as no two people have the same reaction to a medication, no two people have the same reaction to a situation dealing with a crime. The law enforcement officer that steps onto the scene has been trained to deal with the situation in a professional and removed manner. This allows the officer to help everyone involved in the most effective way possible. The victim, however, is emotionally invested into the situation because the crime personally attacked their sense of safety. A victim is often confused and panicked which gives them a skewed perspective of what happened. When dealing with the criminals, the personal history of the criminal helps put the crime committed into perspective and help others form opinions about what happened. This makes the situation difficult to analyze for the law enforcement officer and victim during the hectic hours following a crime. The different facets of crime make it one of the more fascinating aspects of our society. As long as there are people in the world, there will be crimes committed making the deciphering of the multiple perspectives so important. When dealing with crime, the law enforcement officers, victims, and criminals all approach the situation with different viewpoints and emotions.

Law enforcement officers are trained to react to crime in an impersonal manner which makes them more apt to approach the situation from an unbiased standpoint and begin to solve the problem at hand with a calm demeanor. If a law enforcement officer becomes emotionally involved in every situation presented it is easy for the officer to get burnt out very quickly and become an ineffective peace officer. This is one of many...

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...an emotional wall up that keeps him removed from the heart of the situation. The victim, however, has often just faced the worst day of their life and is emotionally shattered. The criminal, if the situation has ended with an arrest, does not understand what destruction he has left behind. It is these different perspectives that make crime one of the most fascinating aspects of our society. Televisions shows about criminals and detectives pull in millions of viewers every week. A crime mystery novel is almost always on the New York Times Bestseller List. These multi-faceted situations are why little boys and girls grow up playing “cops and robbers” and dreaming of wearing a badge one day. For a law enforcement officer, it is important to always be aware of the different perspectives of crime if one is to ever truly understand how to have empathy instead of apathy.

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