Allen V. the City of Oakland

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Introduction
Allen versus the city of Oakland was one of the largest lawsuits filed and won against the Oakland Police Department for police misconduct. Misconduct has always been an issue with law enforcement. Starting in the early years of law enforcement there were policies set to keep officers from committing these actions. In time, the policies have been changed, reconstructed, and updated to increase effectiveness and efficiency. To get a better view on how these policies are implemented, the actions of the police officers in Allen versus the city of Oakland will be examined and the justifications for their actions will be reviewed. Not all actions can be justified though. For those types of actions with no justification, an observation of the legal and policy issues surrounding them can demonstrate how strong policies can help deter officers from misconduct. The perception of prosecution is also useful by giving an overall representation of the case after reviewing it, deciding if there is enough evidence to let the case go further, and deciding on the charges that will be given. In court, a useful tool used by both sides of the case is using case law to get the court to side with their argument. Case laws are a good way to see one of the many ways judges come to their decisions on a case and how the outcome of a case is affected. When there is no case law that can be used, the case in progress can be used as precedent for similar cases that follow.
Early and Contemporary Administrative Practices: Misconduct
Police misconduct has been a concern since the introduction of policing. The issue of misconduct was counteracted by the creation of policies that would assist with lowering the misconduct by officers. Some of the ear...

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...d from http://www.lexipol.com/disciplines/enforcement-pm-1.html
Merrick, B. (n.d.)., The Changing Mission of Police Monitoring. Retrieved from http://cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatch/January_2010/police_monitoring.htm
“Police Officers in Trouble” (1893)., Police Officers in Trouble. Retrieved from http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive- free/pdf?res=9E03EEDE163EEF33A25750C2A9609C94629ED7CF
Stanley, K. (2013)., St. Petersburg Police Chief Tightens Use of Force Policy. Retrieved from http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/st-petersburg-police-chief- toughens-policy-governing-use-of-deadly-force/2157491
United States Department of Justice (n.d.)., Addressing Police Misconduct. Retrieved form http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/cor/Pubs/polmis.pdf
Zacks, R. (2012)., Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt’s Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York., NY: Random House, Inc.

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