AJS 502 Week 1 Discussion Questions And Answers

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Week 1 Discussion Question 1 Michael Evans AJS/502 Thursday, April 4, 2013 Steven L. Cook, J.D. Week 1 Discussion Question 1 In my office at work we have a quote hanging on the wall, that I believe came from the Department of Justice. The inscription reads, “The common law is derived from the will of mankind, issuing from the life of the people, framed by mutual confidence and sanctioned by the light of reason. I took this to mean our communities want police officers who are willing to fight for those who can’t. However, our communities want police officers to use reason and the law when fighting this fight. In order to do that correctly there are several principles we must follow in order to always be on the right side of the law. The first principle I think is important is in regards to use of force. Tennessee v. Garner (1985) and Graham v. Conner (1989) is where law enforcement agencies determine what force is “necessary” for them to use. A police officer must be able to defend themselves or another if they reasonably…show more content…
It is important that every law enforcement officer understand it is their obligation to investigate complaints from community members. It is even more important to know there should be consequences for complaints or misconduct allegations that are found to be true. Law enforcement officers have an obligation to prove to the community they can be trusted and this principle ensures that. In the City and County of San Francisco the Office of Citizen Complaints accepts and conducts investigations regarding these citizen complaints. In addition to these investigations it is important for law enforcement officers to report inappropriate conduct they witness to their supervisor as well. This, however, may be the most difficult principle to follow. What I find interesting is that few police officers actually cause a majority of the complaints (Justice,

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