To start off the Sean Bell case was an example of Police brutality. Police Brutality is one of the most serious issues of human violation that is unaddressed because of the cover up by fellow police officers during internal investigations. There are many instances when police officers engage in the activities of rough physical behaviors such as shooting, beating, torture and other unnecessary brutal acts among citizens which often result in injury or sometimes even death. Suspects of a crime, the victims, as well as their families, who are seeking justice, are usually disregarded. Usually if not always the people who deserve to be held accountable by the brutal violation of human rights getaway from the due punishment and continue to do their foul crimes (Collins 1).
This type of ghetto lifestyle creates a lot of tension between the Baltimore Police and the community. It’s evident in the book
Corruption among police is an issue that has been known for many years. In many parts of the United States as well as in other countries the citizens do not trust the police and are even scared of them. Mexico is a very well know country in which many officers are corrupt. In instances such as these, police officers are persuaded and even threatened to work with different drug cartels around different parts of Mexico (Pollock, 2010). This paper will discuss police corruption and misconduct in different areas of the world as well as the ethics involved.
Methods to prevent corruption will then be explored, such as more rigorous recruitment procedures and the reinforcement of the motivation to do what is right. Lastly, it will be explored why in fact it is so hard to reduce corruption in the police force and subsequently why it will never go away. Before it can be examined why police corruption occurs, it must first be defined, what police corruption means, as there are many widely accepted definitions. Punch as cited in Palmer (1992: 103) defines corruption as, “When an officer receives or is promised significant advantage or reward…for doing something that he is under a duty to do anyway, that he is under a duty not to do, for exercising legitimate discretion for improper reasons and for employing illegal means to achieve approved goals.” Barker and Wells as cited in Palmer (1992:104) offer a similar definition, “Police corruption is any prescribed act which involves the misuse of the officer’s official position for actual or expected material reward or gain.” (For a more detailed explanation of corruption, see Ivkovic 2003:595). As a part of their job, police are given a number of rights and powers, such as the ability to exercise discretion.
The civilian oversight of law enforcement movement in the United States is expanding and evolving. Oversight is becoming integrated into the fabric of our society and government; there is recognition that oversight is beneficial and here to stay (Attard, 2010). The reason behind there being a need for civilian oversight is because of the apparent failure of the police to show accountability of actions to the public. Commonly, it is much easier to have something along the lines of misconduct to transpire and because of it being by the police it is overlooked or unaddressed. This may be a problem
As time went on and the natives became more settled and peace was more successful, policing became one of the primary duties of the Justices of the Peace. As evolution took hold of the colonies, they became cities and towns making it necessary to create a more organized form of law enforcement. Then “The Night Watch was born, in 1636 as a productive way to control the actions and criminal activities of the area in Boston. New York later took on the same idea creating the Shout and Rattle Watch in 1651(Schmallager, 2009). Through the success in some areas of these teams and the weaknesses in other areas, Philadelphia felt that policing could be more productive if the area was divided and assigned small teams per area.
Racial Profiling is when a single group or race is singled out and watched closely because the police feel that they are more likely to commit crimes. The example that is most common is “driving while black”. This means that black people are pulled over and searched more often then others. Racial Profiling is currently illegal but it still happens. Racial Profiling is a violation of the people’s civil rights.
Personality Traits of a Police Officer Policing today is very complex. Police officers are expected to be all things to all people and to make split second decisions under varying stress conditions. Police officers must be effective at what they do. The decisions made by a police officer could potentially affect the lives of many people. Being an officer of the law takes a certain quality of person and some personality types certainly do better in positions of authority than do others.
This can also tie into cynicism, in ways that a police officer can approach his job in a cynical way. Punish others for
I also believe that crime leads to more violence. When we talk about a criminal behaviour it usually involves violence, for example, robberies, assaults, gang conflicts, etc. So my opinion: Crime and violence breaks the community. 2. How is poverty and crime connected?