Decrease in Motivation and Productivity in Law Enforcement
My department, division, and career field areexperiencing a significant decrease in both job satisfaction and productivity on a large scale. There are several factors that can be contributed to these declines on a national and regional scale, as well as how these problems are being addressed within my department.
In terms of productivity, I will speak to proactive enforcement activities taken by police officers with a focus on traffic stops. Recently, a department I previously worked for proclaimed that it "will no longer initiate traffic stops for minor infractions such as broken headlights or tail lights(Queram, 2015)" as a way of addressing racial disparities in
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My department, as well as many other agencies are referred to as modern or new, have also adapted new policies in regards to discipline and violations officers can be disciplined for. The most common form of discipline in my agency comes in the form of suspension without pay. While it is a common belief that civil servants (police, teachers, etc.) are underpaid, imagine these workers now worried about the constant threat of having their paychecks further reduced due to minor violations of policy (such as wearing the wrong color undershirt, or turning off a police siren long enough to speak into a radio microphone.) While monetary reimbursement is not specifically listed in Maslow's hierarchy, I believe it is understood that the ability to provide for one's family or ones own livelihood depends on their ability to earn a …show more content…
Many officers complain of the length of time subsequently spent at the jailwhen arresting someone, even for minor offenses. I myself have spent 4 or more hours of my shift in the booking area waiting to speak to a magistrate for misdemeanor charges. Throw in the likelihood that officers will have to attend court on their scheduled days off (more than likely several times) to have a district attorney reduce or dismiss the charges completely, and many officers simply deem certain activities as simply not being worth their time, effort, or the frustration they believe to likely accompany the lack of a satisfying result. When officers are experiencing frustration on this many levels,it can be hard to remember the words "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your understanding (Proverbs
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
possible solutions to this problem would be firing the officer, giving them jail time, or even
In our society, our security and protection is in the hands of the police. When there is a disturbance in society, we immediately dial 911 to get police officers in the scene of the crime for help. Police officers wear a uniform and a badge that symbolizes protection. Police officers are hired to enforce the laws that were placed, ensure the safety of civilians, and to detain anyone who does not follow or does not obey the laws. Although, people and the media might disagree that police officers abuse their power or racially profile people for no reason, I have not yet come across those situations, nor has my family. In fact, most of my experiences with the criminal justice system has been helpful. Furthermore, once criminals are detained, it
It is a myth to believe that an officers job is spend fighting dangerous crimes, in reality officers spend more time handing smaller cases. For example, police officers spend a lot of time doing daily tasks such as giving speeding tickets and being mediators in disputes (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). Handing out speeding tickers and handling minor disputes are far from fighting crime. Police officers spend more time doing preventive measures (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). Preventive measures involve officers intervening to prevent further altercations. Victor Kappeler and Gary Potter discussed the myth of crime fighting as invalid and misleading notions of an officer’s employment.
Law enforcement plays a huge role worldwide. They keep crime off the streets as much as they can, and make sure we are safe. They are a call away and they will come help you with whatever emergency or danger you’re in. This is why it is so important to respect law enforcement. No one like to be arrested, the first thing you want to do is be disrespectful because you are furious they are arresting you. You still have the respect law enforcement though because you could get more charges, they are just trying to help keep people safe, and respect is a main key to life.
Some of the things that companies could do to improve job satisfaction for example, would be to identify when an employee is bored on the job, address it, obtain feedback from the employee for ideas to make their job more interesting and challenging. This would allow a leader to assist this individual in designing different ways to perform duties or depending on individual’s future career goals and performance level, may need more responsibility or promotion in order for the employee to maintain job satisfaction and retention with t...
The first incident I came across was the traffic stop. A man was pulled over for speeding 10 miles per hour above the posted speed limit in a residential area. I estimated he was going about 36 miles per hour when the posted speed limit was actually 25 miles per hour. After running his license plate, he had no previous violations, no records for a stolen car, and he had valid registration and emissions for the vehicle. The logo on his uniform states, “We’re always on time”, hinted to me as the reason for the driver to be speeding. After questioning him, the story checks out to be true and he stated that his supervisor had strict rules about being at work on time. If in fact he violates that rule he could lose his job. He sounded very sincere and apologetic for knowing he went over the speed limit. He has no prior violations on file. Given the circumstances, my gut reaction is to let him off with a warning. I believe it will be a wake-up call for the driver to use more caution in the future. The driver was not a dangerous threat nor was he driving recklessly on the roadway.
Laws and procedures are the most common basis for officers choosing not to allow offenders to remain free based on their discretion, a study by Mendias and Kehoe (2006) has found. The study found that laws or responsibilities were the main reason for a decision to suspend discretion in eighty-two percent of cases involving an arrest. The study also found that keeping the peace and procedural implications were the primary justifications for ex...
Overall police are seen as harsh or intimidating even though they are society’s protector, also many stories about cops using excessive force are prominent in the media news. Even though I have witness an all of two officers acting in inappropriate manners I can say they were the minority of the group of officers there. Many of the officers displayed much control over their emotional states and told me that I should do the same and treat the inmates some in for serious crimes as regular people showing some hints of respect. This was a theme to many officers who regulated the pods within the jail most of them rarely spoke down to the inmates or in any harsh manner of the same nature. Uniquely both of these two themes were very prevalent within my internship and spiked my interest into further research about job satisfaction as well as the emotional labor in the police field.
In asking the consulting firm for assistance, President Paul Willard stated that the main issue within the organization was a “power struggle between people and departments.” This is precisely where the issues in both the sales and production departments are stemming from. After analyzing the situation, several issues can be pointed out in the sales department, the first being the leadership style of sales executive vice-president Ernie Lane, the second being the dramatic shift in the work force, and the third being the lack of motivation and compensation to maintain morale, satisfaction, and productivity. Most importantly, all the problems are
When it is discovered that a worker can fulfill the requirements of their job, but are experiencing shortcomings in doing so, many times it is believed that worker motivation may be the root of the problem (Laird 95). What, though, is work motivation? According to Laird (2006), “motivation is a fundamental component of performance “ and “is the reason that someone chooses to do some things and chooses not to do others”. In other words, work motivation is what energizes workers to the level of output required to fulfill a task, directs their energy towards the objectives that they need to accomplish, and sustains that level of effort over a period of time (Steers et al., 2004). In essence, worker motivation is what gets the job done. Employee motivation has always been a central problem in the workplace, and, as an individual in a supervisory position, it becomes ones duty to understand and institute systems that ensure the proper motivation of your subordinates. Proper motivation of employees can ensure high productivity and successful workflow, while low worker motivation can result in absenteeism, decreased productivity rates, and turnover. A large body of research has been produced regarding motivation, and much of this research is applicable to the workplace. Due to the nature of man, motivation varies from individual to individual, and, because of this, there is no one system that is the best for ensuring worker motivation in every organizational situation, and, as a product, many theories have been created to outline what drives people to satisfactorily complete their work tasks. Throughout the course of this document, the three main types of these motivational theories will be outlined and examples of each as well...
The study of motivation has long been a topic for psychologists. Motivation is described as an initiating and guiding force of goal oriented behavior. Motivation goes beyond the desires and examines the “why” of human actions. The proposed research seeks to investigate motivation of individuals seeking employment in law enforcement. Police work offers unique physical and psychological challenges.
Job satisfaction is defined as, “a positive feeling about a job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics” (Robbins and Judge, 2009, p.83). The police department where I am employed has an extremely high turnover rate. Officers, when they are hired with no certifications, are required to sign a two year contract. Any department who hires an officer under contract to another agency must pay for that officer’s training if they have not fulfilled their obligation to the original department. In my experience with this agency, several officers have left during their two year contract time to go to other departments; however, most will work for two years and then go to another agency, leaving this department with little experience on patrol. Officers leave for a variety of reasons.
In every work place you will find employees who are happy with what they do and employees who are just there to complain and collect a paycheck. My topic for this discussion will cover job dissatisfaction.
Employee performance defines the individual performance and behavior. It is essential to understand that performance is not merely a tasks and work need to be done to receive bonus or pay increase. Main objective is to enhance the skills set of an individual while helping the business performance (Baker, 1999).