“The Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Justine Damond was put on an accelerated police cadet program that required only seven months of training, a nontraditional route that aims to help those who have a college degree enter law enforcement” (Fox News, 2017). Just because you hear a noise that might have startled your partner does not give you the authority to shoot someone who is clearly unarmed and called you out to her residence to investigate a crime that is happening on her property. There was little to no inspection by administrators to make sure he was qualified to be out there doing police work. Leaders are responsible for everyone under their control and the policies that this department had at the time were substandard to say the least and to fast track someone into this line of work
Police officers would often have to make quick and objective judgements to minimize casualties and losses. In 2015, more than a thousand young black men were killed by the U.S. police force--11 of which were unarmed(alternet.org). The flaw with the system is how limited the word “reasonable” means as it is always the one(police) who has power that defines the word. In most academy, police goes through trainings with regards to handling those dilemmas, but the final decision would always lies among the officer’s experiences and/or knowledges with similar cases, showing evidence of
As routine officers arrive on scene to carry out the purpose of the police department by providing peace, safety, and to maintain order emotions, rights and authority can disrupt judgment. In the case of Oscar Grant one officers actions were quickly misunderstood because another unarmed person would be killed by a police officer. In my opinion the officer failed to carry out the purpose of the police department because officers are expected to not do unnecessary harm but protect and serve. With new policy educating the public and police officers on how to commutate and react to one another could help decrease these types of actions.
Ethical challenges are of universal span; many people including police officers are confronted with the opportunities for violating organizational rules and norms daily. Most of the stories about police officers in the media, including Cops and Criminal Minds, are about respectable police officers, but the intense 2001 movie Training Day is not. Alonzo Harris, a veteran police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is training Jake Hoyt, a rookie officer on his first day with the narcotics unit. Harris’ character is an example of police officers’ potential for corruption. For instance, when Harris misuses the police authority and uses some fake arrest warrant seizing millions of dollars from a former LAPD veteran, now an informant
Officers are taught at the police academy to meet deadly force with deadly force. They are trained and given the techniques and skills to make sure they make it home at the end of their shift, and they spend extensive time training in the use of firearms. It's important to realize that, when discussing the use of deadly force by police officers, the expected result of a subject's actions don't have to be death. Instead, deadly force is described as actions that would likely cause death or bodily harm, which could include permanent disfigurement without necessarily causing death.
After these assessment tests recruits must attend a police academy. These academies are taught by licensed instructors and focus on giving students the knowledge and practical skills needed to successfully serve their communities. Instructional areas range from the criminal justice system, law, investigations, patrol fitness, communications, traffic investigations, defensive tactics, use of firearms, and driving ( Police Academy, 2001 ). Rookie officers then go into field training. During this training, a veteran officer monitors the rookie while in the field.
Officers spend a great deal of time working with criminals and dealing with threatening scenarios". Although officers in America face several types of dangers, it does not give the officer the right to engage in unlawful acts. Police officers who receive more education and training will more than likely interact with different minorities through his/her institution. Officers should be more diverse because they will not be very biased and it could help end the problem with racial profiling. Police officers should be randomly drug tested for the safety of the citizens.
Further research has shown that police officers ages typically correlates to the years of experience and officers who are younger or has a young mindset receives more excessive force complaints than the ones who are older and with experience (Hassell & Archbold, 2010). The issue can result in different reasoning. For example, research concluded by Alpert and Dunham The Force Factor: Measuring Police Use of Force Relative to Suspect Resistance, has shown that police officers needs to do a better job on training new comers on policies and procedures in order to avoid incidents such as unnecessary use of force. Alpert finds that additional training will help serve the officers by reducing the number of incidents using excessive force, which includes, “training officers on how to gain control without using a gun, training officers on the correct amount of force to use based on the given situations, training officers on using pepper spray as a way to reduce any physical harm or the use of weapons, training officers to use the baton to restrain rather than shoot, training officers on conflict resolutions technique that can keep the situation under control rather than escalating (which female officers are found to be good at)” (Alpert et al., 1997).
While it can be interpreted as standing for ones beliefs, a police officer must uphold a high moral code in accordance to the society which is being served. The ethics to which police officers holds themselves, must include the character traits demonstrated in personal life, in addition to operating as public servants. If an officer is deemed untrustworthy at home, they cannot be trusted to work legally within the police department. Honesty within policing is just as important, where failing to admit a mistake can weaken a reputation and call previous cases into question. Although these traits can be trained into an individual, integrity must be developed personally before it can be applied
The public has a misconception that deadly force is the same thing as excessive force. They can be similar if the police use deadly force to a point where every officer discharges their entire magazine on person when the threat has been eliminated. Officers receive hours of training on how to shoot a gun, but sometime receive little instruction on how to determine when to use the gun. Training starts in the Police Academy, and continues throughout their careers. There are officers who teach and train the departments every month.
Their job is to protect the public. They should be able to make the right judgement and act upon it without the public saying is should have been done differently. Police should possess weapons of deadly force. Use of force is a necessary part of the job. No officer knows when force must be used until the situation arises.
It is easy to learn about a subject from a book, but it is an entirely different matter to learn about a subject through real life experience. I hope to learn how to serve and protect while implementing the law correctly, especially in today’s world when the level of support for police officers is very low and the level of misconduct cases concerning the police are very high. It is not easy to know what to do in every situation, especially when some reactions are needed with very little or no time to think about. It is one thing to hear about a crime happening and the response that would be best to give, and another thing to need
There is a misunderstanding with how police deal with intense situations. The public don’t understand that we only have a split second to make a decision in an intense situation like this. The media uses negative news to attract more attention. People don’t get all the facts, they only know one side of the story. He gives the example of the incident
Many young people aspire to become police officers. However, not everyone is fit for the role as police work is extremely demanding both physically and mentally. In order to be effective in the job, a policeman should possess superb communication skills, extra-ordinary courage, excellent judgement, empathy, and a high degree of professionalism, to name a few. Choosing this career in law enforcement can be a quite challenging yet rewarding. If you aspire to join the police force, then you are bound to make a difference in your community as well as your own personal life.
‘’Most officers enter law enforcement with minimal experience in the field or in handling the moral dilemmas that officers typically encounter. They learn how to perform their jobs, as well as recognize the organizational norms, values, and culture, from their peers and supervisors. While supervisors provide direct, formal reinforcement, officers’ peers offer friendship and informal rewards that, in many cases, hold greater influence than official recognition from the agency’’ (Fitch, 2011). Officers who come across situations where they are unsure what is morally and ethically best to do often turn to their peers for assurance and guidance. Good ethical behavior can easily be influenced by officers and those in law enforcement.
