Releasing information about police officers is an important discussion between law enforcement and the media. Over the years, is been argued whether police should have the right of privacy, or their personnel information made public. This information can contain officer’s identity and private files. Should the officers’ information be release? In what situations should law enforcement have a right to privacy? Several articles in the document “Police Officers’ Right to Privacy” exemplify the court rulings and legislative actions regarding the matters of officers’ information being release.
There have been several court rulings and legislative actions concerning the release of the different forms of officer information. Judge James C. Chalfant of Los Angeles County Superior Court ruled that there is public interest in knowing the officers information in cases where officers fire a weapon. The judge stated that since the officers’ names are not shield as personnel documentation, “The Times” had the right to know the names. The Long Beach Police union President was worried about the release of officers’ names. Law enforcement officer from all over California argue that releasing the information of misbehave officers’ to the public, would put the officers’ life and family at risk. Due to their arguments, lawmakers took legislative action and destroyed a bill that made available the admission to disciplinary records. Judge Patrick T. Madden of Los Angeles County Superior Court ruled that the police should not keep secret the information of the officers and if they will do so, they will have to justify the reason why. The Judge also declared that evidence be provided on occasions where there has been a risk or danger when the of...
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...e officers argued that, the lives of officers would be in danger they were unsuccessful to provide evidence for their arguments. Not being able to provide the evidence jeopardized their arguments. I believe that the public has the right to know about the misconducts and unlawful activities of the officers. I also believe that their identities be kept private. I feel this way because the public does not necessarily need to know the officers names and other personal information. By just knowing the officers last names and their activities are enough. We have not seen instances were officers have gotten harm because of their release of information, but what about if it happens one day. Are we going to wait until something like that happens to stop releasing certain information? I believe we should put certain restrictions when releasing officers’ information.
The duty of prosecutorial disclosure is one that is safely entrenched in our understanding of the legal system. The prosecution must disclose evidence that relates to the case and is favorable to the defendant. While not explicitly stated in that duty, it also means that the histories of the witnesses are available to the defense. And when police officers are called to testify at cases, their disciplinary histories come into play as a factor in their credibility. Taking all this prior information into account when addressing the dilemma of the police officer with a good record who used the department computers to look at pornography using his login information, and then lied about it only to confess when the internal investigation proved
However, protection of our citizen’s privacy is of utmost importance. Police and other law enforcement agencies have to learn to work with and around the laws in order to get their job done.
Have you ever heard of the idea of body-mounted cameras on police officers? If not, David Brooks will introduce you to the idea that was discussed in an article from New York Times called “The Lost Language of Privacy”. In this article, the author addressed both the positive and negative aspects of this topic but mostly concerned with privacy invasion for Americans. Although that is a valid concern but on a larger scale, he neglected to focus greatly on the significant benefits that we all desire.
The duties of a police officer are to ensure that there is maintenance of public peace and order. In order to perform their duties and obligations they require certain powers, authority in order to perform their duties and this extends the power to arrest. This paper focuses on the decision of the court in DPP v Carr, the amendments on Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act (LEPRA) section 99 and a critical evaluation of statements made by Sentas and Cowdery.
The researcher hypothesizes that the use of body-cameras on police officers would reduce the instances of gainful communication between civilians and law enforcement. The null-hypothesis is that the use of body-cameras on police officers will have no effect on gainful communication between civilian and law enforcement. In determining the implications of how body-cameras effects civilian behavior, the research will include a sampling survey of criminal justice students and information gathered from journal documents related to research on police body-cameras.
Visualize a mother of two kids and a wife of a police officer waking up everyday thinking that her husband has a possibility of being killed. With that being said, I firmly believe that police officers should protect themselves with any means necessary. Recently there have been many scenarios of people claiming police brutality and also shootings taking place in regards to police officers and members of the community. Aside from the great pride that comes along with being an officer, I believe that it is the duty of an officer to protect the community around him, but that can only be done if the police officer has the full support of the community around him. The shootings and assaults that have been taking place are all in all the result of the police trying to defend themselves by making quick, rational decisions to be vigilant and better protect the community, as well as taming the increasingly
Police officers are faced each day with a vast array of situations with which they must deal. No two situations they encounter are ever the same, even when examines a large number of situations over an extended period of time. The officers are usually in the position of having to make decisions on how to handle a specific matter alone, or with little additional advice and without immediate supervision. This is the heart of police discretion. As we shall find, the exercise of discretion by police has benefits and problems associated with such exercise. The unfettered use of discretion can lead to the denial of citizen rights. Strategies that control the use of discretion are, therefore, very important. The benefits and problems of police discretion and controlling strategies are the focus of this essay.
At some point in our lives, everybody eventually comes in contact with a law enforcement officer, some people for different reasons. Law enforcement officers work around the clock to keep citizens safe. Many people do not know a lot of things about law enforcement, some of those will be discussed. Those topics are agency administration, issues with law enforcement in today’s society, and law enforcement history.
People face ethical dilemmas every day. But it is perhaps, most prevalent in the law enforcement profession. Law enforcement officers face ethical dilemmas constantly. Some of the ethical issues that police face each day are: racial profiling, officer discretion, police officer loyalty, police officer abuse, and interrogatory deception. This paper will discuss the purpose of interrogatory deception, ways in which it is used, some of the current debates over the practice, and a landmark ruling in the Miranda case of 1966 which attempted to cease the use of intimidation and coercion practices of the police.
The author focuses on the U.S. Task Force on 21st Century Policing and Police Data Initiative or PDI to determine if it helps to restore trust and the broken relationship between and communities and police officers. The Task Force made by Barack Obama recommended the analysis of department policies, incidents of misconduct, recent stops and arrests, and demographics of the officers. The PDI has tasked 21 cities to comprehend the police behavior and find out what to do to change it. Also PDI was said to have data and information on vehicle stops and shootings by police officers. The use of statistics has a purpose to help rebuild trust and the relationship between and communities and police officers.
Police Officers Oath of Office and Code of Ethics, A Question of knowledge Richard W. Deshon (2000) retrieved from: www.emich.edu/cerns/downloads/papers/PoliceStaff/
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.
Every day Police officers are faced with fight or flight situations putting morals constantly into question with every choice. This isn’t to say however, that fight or flight situations are the only situations where the ethics of an officers are challenged. In some cases, ethics can also be more planned and objective oriented (Sherman, 1982). Ethics play a pivotal role in determining the boundaries in which officers must operate. When applied to the police, high moral standards and integrity are the key to societies trust however. “It also constitutes one of the most significant obstacles to positive police-public relations in today’s society” (Grant, 2002:12). If a working relationship between society and law enforcers is the desired end
Police decisions can affect life, liberty, and property, and as guardians of the interests of the public, police must maintain high standards of integrity. Police discretion concerning how to act in a given situation can often lead to ethical misconduct (Banks 29).
Vicchio, Stephen. “Ethics and Police Integrity.” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. July 1997: 8-12. EBSCOhost. Web. 12 Nov 2013