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From Officers to Administrators, law enforcement professionals never know what will transpire on a given day when they report to their establishment for work. Perhaps more than any other area of Criminal Justice, law enforcement is contingent on external factors which influence a given industry. Nevertheless, it does not matter what part of the country you live in or what your role is in law enforcement, these external stakeholders can benefit you or make your jobs even more challenging. Law enforcement agencies continue to face increasing social, financial and organization pressures to reevaluate the role of their law enforcement officers in the community. A major commitment to community policing must be reevaluated. Law enforcement agencies that are viewed as social forces should interact more with the community. Public enterprises are superior in defining problem areas of need, then the law enforcement agencies that are functioning alone.
The topical area in law enforcement is the lack of integrity and corruption that is going on in our local police departments today. Law enforcement officers are empowered with the awesome responsibility and authority to maintain public order. At the same time, officers have the unique opportunity to engage with citizens, identify and solve problems, and positively affect their communities on a daily basis. The result is a dynamic profession that blends tactical response, critical thinking, and interpersonal skill. A topical area in law enforcement would be the local police department. Law enforcement agencies respond to tens of thousands of calls for service each year. Each day presents new challenges that require application of these varied skills in new and different situations, but not all officers take this career as seriously as they should, and some allow themselves to make the laws suitable for themselves, which is where the problems in law enforcement stem from. The problems arising in Law Enforcement are the same as they have been for many years, and from my perspective, not many people have ever overcome all of them. In my research, I will refer to personal integrity, police brutality, and unbecoming conduct of law enforcement officers.
The context of the problem in law enforcement today, is the lack of integrity and the increase of police corruption that is going on in our streets today. Recent news coverage of high-profile shootings in places like Baltimore and Cleveland have arguably raised public awareness of the fact that police abuse is a problem, but without data, it is hard to make a strong case regarding what to do about the perpetuation of over policing and police abuse throughout the country. [Epidemic of Police Brutality, 2015] The issue is more prevalent today, because the media is there to unveil the truths behind police brutality in America today. It seems every week new names of victims of police violence appear in the media. Twitter users often create hashtags to remember the fallen, many of whom are unarmed black victims, but activists can only recount so many heartrending stories of people killed by police. [Epidemic of Police Brutality, 2015] History of police brutality and corruption date as far back, as the civil rights movement.
The problem in law enforcement has not been solved because excessive force is the most common form of police misconduct today, and according to Mapping Police Violence, the number of police officers convicted of a crime for killing a black person while on duty in 2014, was zero. As of a factual matter, there is zero centralized and federally operated up to date police misconduct tracking systems. The number of officers involved in police misconduct cases in 2010 was 6,613, according to the Cato Institute, public research think tank behind the National Police Misconduct Reporting Project. [Epidemic of Police Brutality, 2015]
There are several cases that date back in history that account for police brutality against people of color. The beating of Rodney King by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991, captured on videotape and broadcast around the world, shocked America. The tape all but confirmed the officers’ use of excessive force and exposed to the public longstanding racial tensions in Los Angeles, with which its residents were all too familiar. Fifty years ago, many people living under Jim Crow could not envision a legal system in which equal protection under the law would extend to all Americans. From the Civil War until the 1950s, lynching was accepted as a method of imposing law and order in the South and maintaining a social caste system. An anti-lynching campaign was gradually legitimized and supported by the NAACP through legal challenges, but the law continued to criminalize Black behavior. The brutal murder of Emmett Till in the summer of 1955 exemplifies the extent to which southern extremists were able to preserve Jim Crow under the guise of law and order. During the initial period following the Brown v. Board decision in 1954, the South witnessed tactics of massive resistance that resulted in pockets of highly publicized racial violence. In 1955, fourteen-year-old Emmett Till, who traveled from Chicago to visit relatives in Mississippi, was viciously murdered and disposed of in the Tallahatchie River for whistling at a White woman. Although the crime was prosecuted by state authorities, the defendants were acquitted by an all-white jury after deliberating for just over one hour. Immediately following the acquittal, the defendants publicly and shamelessly admitted their guilt. These and other murders persisted unabated. [The Long Road to Justice, 2015]
Internal stakeholders are people who are already committed to serving an organization as board members, staff, volunteers, and donors. External stakeholders are people who are impacted by organizations work, as clients and constituents, community partners, and many others. [The Denver Foundation, 2015] In law enforcement, the internal stakeholders will be the decision makers; the chief of police, the officers and investigators, employees and a few of the volunteers for each agency. The external stakeholders will be the people who are impacted by the internal stakeholder’s actions, such as community leaders, civilians, and active protest groups that are supporting one another from the harsh crimes occurring within law enforcement today. [Kevin M. Gilmartin, Ph.D., 2006] Stakeholders are often those who are allocated in how a project is planned and whether it is effective, but they may have undeviating responsibilities and tasks that impact project completion. The primary stakeholders in a police-led project are the citizens who are affected by the problem or issue being addressed and who will profit from the resolution.
Internal stakeholders have influenced law enforcement in both a negative and positive way. The nature of policing, requires law enforcement professionals to react too many preemptive situations with slight militant culpability and bearing. This alone has had both a negative and positive influence on law enforcement, but the use of excessive force on a repetitive basis, has been the collapse within all agencies. This method used of course is essential for the operational conveyance of police services. Nonetheless, when this is the prevailing style, line employees see themselves at the inferior end of the scale of authority, and this makes for a negative influence as well. Internal stakeholders within law enforcement should use the situational leadership model. A positive influence that internal stake holders can have in regard to the external stake holders and law enforcement, would be to emphasize the significance of management tractability and deliver the use of organizational flairs that are dependable and accessible with the situational burdens being addressed.
Being a stakeholder means having an actual input on the investment in the development of a successful law enforcement agency. [Community Policing Dispatch, 2008] The issue today is the internal stakeholders, which are the officers; using excessive force in the communities that they are policing and conveying a lack of moral and ethical judgement and integrity on themselves and their agency. In order for community policing to become a reality and be viewed as successful, the problem must first be evaluated by the stakeholders who invested in the agency and by the law enforcement executives. They must create an internal atmosphere of adequate problem solving that should begin at home and be carried on in the office in the streets of the community. Officers should acquire more reliable interpersonal, problem solving and group dynamic skills, that include, team building, conflict and anger management, mediation techniques and furthermore, communication skills. The case in point must become a prerequisite for all law enforcement workers, regardless of rank, in order to deliver a solution to the outlining issues within law enforcement today.
I will motivate individuals to buy into this solution by initiating collaborative problem-solving strategies that will help both law enforcement agents and the people of the community who are affected at large. To create an atmosphere of support and teamwork, internal stakeholders must reduce the sense of victimization, by both officers and people of the community. All sides must be willing to ease their level of emotional share in the outlining organizations, and they must believe that they have an evocative amount of control and input into the roles that they played as a whole. There must be relevant communication about capitalizing department members, community leaders, partnerships and those who have been affected by criminal acts of excessive force used by law enforcement officers. Problem solving in this area, will start with the organization working with the community outside the department to further decrease the amount of tension between officers and the communities affected.
The effects of technology can be seen in almost every aspect of law enforcement. Law enforcement has been altered by technology in many important ways. The primary police strategy of the twentieth Century, was the implementation of motorized precautionary patrol cars and increased rapid response to calls for service that has been developed in response to the development of the automobile and two-way radio communications. More recent technological developments have also had far-reaching effects on police agencies and the increased amount of police brutality occurrences. Contemporary concerns over police technologies have also created new problems and demands for police agencies and the communities among the agencies, and also serve as a means of many officers racially profiling suspects and causing criminal mischief amongst many of our law enforcement agencies.
The issue at hand is the increasing role of technology within the law enforcement field. A role that most certainly has contributed to increased public safety within our communities. Given the paramount importance of technology, the Police Executive Research Forum, a membership organization of police chiefs and sheriffs, has been actively exploring ways to harness technology to help advance the field of law enforcement. [Technology & Law Enforcement, 2009] Law Enforcement officers are required to control and prevent crime from occurring, maintain order that involves both themselves and members of the community, and to provide a complex array of services, from responding to emergency situations to regulating the flow of traffic. Many agencies look to technology to further enhance their effectiveness and adequacy of their legal policies and training methods. Although, the implementation of DNA finger printing and lab testing is so prevalent today, it has also led to wrongful convictions due to officer’s lack of integrity and falsifying legal documents to cover up crimes within law enforcement. Progress in technology when it comes to law enforcement has been both a slow and very uneven progression. The crime commission was created to respond to rapidly rising crime rates and urban disorders, but many of the crimes in our communities are a result from the tension between the communities and law enforcement agents. [The Evolution & Development of Police Technology, 1998]
Other issues that stem from technology in the law enforcement field, is the response from 911 calls, that as a result of misinformation from the dispatcher, causes issues in preventing crime from happening. Agencies are relying on computer programs to assist in their training, which results in lack of training in many officers because there isn’t enough hands-on training for our officers before they are thrown out into the field. Private sector technology developers and manufacturers are reluctant to meet many special technology needs of the police. The fragmentation of the American police market, which numbers more than seventeen thousand agencies, makes selling to the police a time-consuming and expensive proposition. Liability issues are also a concern within law enforcement. [The Evolution & Development of Police Technology, 1998] There are so many significant gaps between technologies introduction and acquisition that provides many criminals, which are not limited to members of the community, but also police officers, with a clear advantage. Development strategies are needed to prepare departments with the tools necessary to maintain pace in the ever-changing technology landscape.
I have collected data on the sponsorship of the National Police Use of Force Database that is currently administered by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The pilot project that I researched, used a standard form to gather information directly from the law enforcement agencies that were directly involved in the use of force amongst its officers and the public. A fraction of the contacts have involved police force that permitted further analysis to ascertain the incidence and characteristics of police use of excessive force. I have also collected data on the surveys of arresting officers who were involved in incidence of excessive force that surrounded the circumstances of the initial arrest. [National Data Collection on Police Use of Force, 1996] When police go beyond judicious force to use unwarranted force during an arrest or in impulsive response, as during the decades of protest demonstrations involving labor, civil rights, or other controversial issues, citizens become victims of police, and the public’s buoyancy in a police force can plummet. Known abuses of force rightfully receive extensive attention from the public, politicians, media, and, in some cases, civil and even criminal courts. While reproving the incidents of unwarranted force, law enforcement officials note that not enough attention and credit is given to the police when they effectively resolve situations without any use of force or with only minimal force.
Each source of data is relevant to the issues outlined in law enforcement today, because they convey a level of understanding of the lack of integrity that out officers possess within the agencies and out in the streets with the community. The issue in law enforcement is the lack of routine and national systems for collecting data on incidents in which police use force during the normal course of duty and on the extent of excessive force. Some observers believe that abuses of force reaching the attention of the public and the media are only the tip of the iceberg. They point, for example, to recent revelations in several large cities that some officers routinely beat up drug suspects and falsify evidence. Other observers note that police resolve literally millions of incidents each year without resorting to force and believe that the incidence of excessive force has been blown out of proportion. [National Data Collection on Police Use of Force, 1996] The lack of reliable data on the extent of excessive force received the attention of the United States Congress in enacting the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. My implemented plan of action would involve a series of testing that would highlight the amount of forced used in routine stops as well as the targets of racial profiling, as well as proper training for my officers. This would help me to crack down on the lack of integrity that my officers have and would be an efficient course of action that would address the problems in law enforcement today.
The concerns around racial profiling that have caused an influx in the amount of force used by law enforcement agents today, are erupting throughout the nation. Racial Profiling Studies in Law Enforcement, clearly outline that many cities and states have decided to study racial profiling, or how race and ethnicity may play a part in stops by law enforcement in their jurisdictions. I would enforce targeted testing on all of my law enforcement agents that would help to identify markers of interest in those who lacked integrity. I would also make sure all mics stayed on in patrol unit cars and all body cameras remained on and active at all times regardless of the encounter between my officers and the general public. This would help to ensure everyone’s safety. I would enforce more training that better prepared my officers for the streets and monthly evaluations of all of my officer’s behaviors. I would hire more employees for the sake of reviewing all videos to ensure that my officers were doing what they are supposed to be doing. This would be an effective and efficient solution to the problems in law enforcement today ad would help to measure my level of effectiveness with my testing evaluations.
Emerging Issues in Law Enforcement: Public Safety. 2015. Retrieved from https://www.inpublicsafety.com
Epidemic of Police Brutality: 25 Shocking Facts about Police Brutality in America. 2015. Retrieved from https://www.truthvoice.com
The Long Road to Justice: The Civil Rights Division at 50. 2015. Retrieved from https://www.civilrights.org
Community Accountability: Minority Threat and Police Brutality. 2015. Retrieved from https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
The Denver Foundation. (2015) Identifying Internal and External Stakeholders. Retrieved from https://www.nonprofitinclusiveness.org
Kevin M. Gilmartin, Ph.D. (2006) A Guide For Law Enforcement Officers and Their Families: Community Policing. Retrieved from https://www.emotionalsurvival.com
Stephen A. Morreale. (2015) Elements of Decision Making in Police Organizations. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu
Community Policing Dispatch. (2008) Partners vs. Stakeholders. Retrieved from https://www.cops.usdoj.gov
Lockheed Martin. Police Executive Research Forum. (2009) Law Enforcement Technology Needs Assessment. Retrieved from https://www.policeforum.org
History of Police Technology. (1998) The Evolution & Development of Police Technology. Retrieved from https://www.policetechnology.net
Two Cultures. (2012) Chasing Technology: Law Enforcement’s Friend or Foe. Retrieved from https://www.twoculturesjournal.org.
Thomas Holt, Oxford Bibliographies. (2013) Technologies and the Criminal Justice System. Retrieved from https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com
Tom McEwan, National Institute of Justice. (1996) National Data Collection on Police Use of Force. Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov
Jim Cleary. (2000) Racial Profiling Studies in Law Enforcement: Issues and Methodology. Retrieved from https://www.house.leg.state.mn.us
NPMSRP Police Misconduct Statistics. (2010) Excessive Force by Type Pie Chart. Retrieved from https://www.policemisconduct.net
Q2 NPMSRP Police Misconduct Statistics. (2010) Excessive Force by Type bar graph Chart. Retrieved from https://www.policemisconduct.net
Harsh Remarks, Racism, and Police Brutality in Chicago. (2013) Retrieved from https://www.plsonline.eku.edu
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