Police Dichotomy

With an upsurge in highly publicized negative police-citizen encounters, Australia police have gotten the attention and are facing challenges nowadays. In such a democratic country, the dichotomy of function of a modern police agency appears to make the public doubt whether the police is a service or force, which is contributed to the current crisis in police legitimacy (Avery, 1981). In fact, policing is always close to controversy because police are always expected to limit or control dangerous situation with minimal force. Their ability of using physical control over citizens allows the police agency to successfully operate, which is a typical feature of the police (Bittner, 1970, cited in Mastrofski et al., 2016). While, according to the

In this study, police use of force toward this special group of people will be explained, on both macro and micro level, by applying conflict theory and symbolic interactionist theory. Since police use of force is an urgent and contentious issue, it is important to restrain the use of force and to improve police-citizen interaction. By applying theory into practice, the law enforcement could better control the public’s unlawful and deviant behaviour through the reasonable application of force, rather than using coercive power to fight with the public. The study will then investigate the effectiveness of the theories on explaining the practice and law enforcement

It has been organized as a form of public institution with the duty to enforce the law. Police are uniquely placed in the society. They have the power to protect citizens, keep peace within communities, and enforce the law. Meanwhile, they are granted power to detain individuals under statutory authority, and in certain circumstances, deny them their liberty. At the street-level, discretion is most commonly exercised, which usually autonomously work without direct supervision (Edwards, 2005). In such situations, the degree of discretion, which drives the police to use certain degree of force, could be the sources of major tensions and conflicts. It is indicated by Bittner (1970, cited in Shane, 2018) that “the mandate of the police is organized around their capacity and authority to use force”. Their rights to use force against civilians legitimizes police work, meanwhile, provides opportunities and justifications for deviance (Bittner, 1970, cited in Shane, 2018). In contrast to ordinary people, deviant behaviour by police officer is less likely to be detected because there is lack of both government supervision and public scrutiny. Whereas, with the continuous development of communication technology, police-public tension and the incidents of police misconduct have become more and more visible (Frank 2009). For example, between