Responding to the Problem Police Officer: Strategies of Early - Research Paper Example

? Responding to the Problem Police Officer: Strategies of Early Intervention Systems No: : Responding to the Problem Police Officer: Strategies of Early Intervention Systems Writ of Law The American judicial system is based on three components a) Police b) Courts and c) the Correction Centers. These components are inter-related to create deterrence amongst the criminals, although their functions are different from each other. The judiciary whom legal power is vested shall determine the conducts of other two components of the judicial system (Dempsey & Frost, 2010). The prime responsibility of the police is to maintain law and order. The police investigating suspects criminals and make a report of the criminal activities of held suspects to refer the matter to competent court of law to decide the case. The court empowers police to comply with the warrants, writs and certain orders of the courts issued from time to time (Gaines & Miller, 2010). Law enforcers are duty bound to respond emergencies and other expected threats to the life and property of the people irrespective of cast and creed at local, provincial and federal level as the case may be (Dempsey & Frost, 2010). Establishment of Police Department: Historical Background The initial foundation of police department came into being in the year 1635 at Boston. In the year 1838, the first modern police station comes on the surface in the city of Boston. Later on, the police department appeared in the city of New York. At the early stage of its establishment, the police department was not paid respect by the community due to unbridled corruption in the police department. Now the police department is fully equipped with modern gadgets to meet any eventuality or to handle the ugly law and order situation (Dempsey & Frost, 2010). The police department started focusing on community policing and strengthen its relationship with the community and the better terms of employment to police officials soon after the unrest. In the year 1990, New York Police Department established its own information based system to track down the criminals and to hold police accountable if under hand deals proved with the criminals. The hiring of women in the police department for the first time took place in Californian municipality administrative jurisdiction (Dempsey & Frost, 2010). Role of Police Department In State Police operates in the whole states of United States of America to maintain law and order situation by way of patrolling in their area of operations and conduct thorough investigations of the suspects. In other words, these operators are performing their duties under the umbrella of State Police, State Patrol or Highway Patrol. Mentioned operators are the part and parcel of the State Department of Public Safety. Moreover, in each state, the Attorney General’s office has the state bureau of investigation (Gaines & Miller, 2010). In the US, certain departments of state governments have their own set up of enforcement of law. The law division enjoys the same powers of police to implement the writ of law where applicable and needed (Gaines & Miller, 2010). In County The first and foremost responsibilities of US Police Department are (Dempsey & Frost, 2010): a) Maintaining order, which is a wider mandate for the police department to ensure peace and harmony in their jurisdiction so that law-abiding citizens are not disturbed by undesirable elements. It may ranges from dog biting to fist fighting. The police department has the authority to deal with the criminals as per the law in vogue. Otherwise, police hold responsible for violation of law or taking action beyond the permissible limit of law. b) The enforcement of law with authority is applicable where the law and order situation is not controllable due to illegal activities of lawbreakers / miscreants. Those who violate the law must be dealt with an iron hand by awarding exemplary punishment to deter others. The common example to understand it is robbery, dacoits’ doing, murder and other heinous crimes. The function of police department is to get hold of criminals by neck to keep the graph of crimes under control or to reduce it to the acceptable limit. c) In the broader term, the police department is a Service provider at the level of State, County and the Municipalities. According to the study conducted by the Cole and Smith, 80% of the callers, seeking police assistance in fact are the fake callers. Of course, this may not be helpful in reflecting the true picture of ongoing crimes in the other parts of the country. The services of police department are available to the victims round the clock besides assistance to the community throughout the year. Structure of US Police Department The US police department is comprised of federal, state, local and sheriff’s wings. It represents from lower tier officers to the top brass police officers. Details of which are as follows (Gaines & Miller, 2010): The police commissioner manages large metropolitan departments whereas the chief of police is looked after by the small and medium-sized municipalities. The mentioned positions are to be filled up with the consent of Mayor, City council or Commission. However, in few cities commissioner or member of the board takes care of police department. The Chief is on top of uniformed officer who is answerable to commissioner or to the commission for their performance. On the bottom line, you may find several deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners to supervise the police department as in the case of New York City Police Department. In the mentioned layers of police officials, we may add chief of operations who is next in command of top police official. Contrary to that sheriffs in the American States are considered as elected officials in each county who is heading the sheriff department. As far as assistants are concerned, we have seen them operating in some of the departments. In New York City, assistant chiefs are heading so many bureaus. The top aides of the police chief, commissioner, superintendant or sheriff may or may not have the specific areas to operate. Look at some county where subordinate sheriff is looking after the affairs of the county jail. Look at the example of New York City where inspectors command divisions / specialized branches of the police service. In majority of the police state, the term colonel is used by the agencies for their senior ranking executives. These senior ranking officers as they called them Colonels generally wear the gold or silver eagle as in the US Armed Forces. In the states of Baltimore and Atlanta Police Department majors are supervising the police stations to maintain law and order situation. Two gold or silver bars ranking officers normally supervise the police station in addition to another unit or smaller sections of a police station. In New York City, captains are responsible to maintain peace in their area of operations. Lieutenants are to take care of the entire shift of a police station or to man the affairs of detective staff that deploys to monitor the activities of Narcotics. Sergeant is the police officer who manages smaller departments / larger departments. In New York City, detectives do not enjoy the ranks of police officers in spite of their seniority besides in charge of allocated cases. However, detective may utilize his or her discretion, which is more than the authority of a police officer in specific scenarios. Officer / Deputy / Corporal Officers are those officers who are acting as watch commanders in their specified areas of operations. Working Environment It is true that Police force and detectives have to go through the mill while performing their stressful and dangerous jobs. Further, the police have to receive on the job injuries and fatalities at the hands of criminals during encounter (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). Apart from the above, the police officers have to be alert all the time to meet any eventuality or to respond the criminals appropriately. Moreover, police officers manage the traffic of the state, city, county and areas under the jurisdiction of municipalities as the case may be. They have to dispose of the dead bodies of the criminals lying at crime scene or to deal with accident related issues. It really hampered their private lives. Most of the officers finding it a rewarding job in terms of the services rendered for the community (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). Jobs of federal agents require extensive travelling on a shorter notice in performing their official assignments. The state agents or the secret agents as you may call them reposition number of times during the course of their careers. However, the border patrolling force has to work hard even in the harsh weather / environment (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). It has observed that the rate of illness and injuries are higher amongst the police force and the detectives in comparison to national average. The injuries and illness attributes with the conflicts of criminals. To perform duty up to the desired level, police force has to be alert physically and mentally. The expected risk can be mitigated / minimized by adopting appropriate remedial measures, rules and regulations by the police officials (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). In the United States of America, police officials or other law enforcers have to work in accordance with scheduled time. If need arises he or she police officer may work beyond scheduled time on payment. Hence, paid overtime culture is common in the US. To meet the requirement of safety and security of the common man, police department has to work round the clock in certain shifting. Therefore, the experienced police officers prefer to work at weekends, holidays and nights. Some of the experienced police officers chose to perform off duty assignment as security officers at restaurants, retail outlets and other venues (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). Issue of Policing The important issue of the policing in the developed and the developing countries is that it has to perform within the insufficient budgetary allocation. The US Courts and the Social organizations are of the view that the police have the limited authority to check violations of constitutional rights and its solution in line with the judicial definition and enforcement of human rights. They jurists are of the opinion that the constitutional law and the courts alone cannot regulate the police. Constitutional law does not effectively address the impacts of law enforcement activities (Harmon, 2011). To make the policing more effective, the US constitutionalists have to address mentioned issues. The constitutional constrains badly hampered the police efficiency. It is the right time for the scholars to think how law and the public policy to control the police in an effective manner. To come to the logical end, scholars should first examine the grey areas of police department which harm the efficiency of the police department. It is necessary to judge the deficient factors that are in the way of police performance to be corrected (Harmon, 2011). Continuous Plague There cannot be two versions of the experts that good governance has played pivotal role in running the affairs of each and every department of the state. Police department is no exception to it. The think-tank of the US, declared good vision as the most important factor, for good performance for the police officials. Few of them are of the view that they are meeting the requirement of good vision in line with the specification of newly introduced disabilities act. This has support the stance of the think-tank for good vision since in the recent past there are number of applicants who are not provided the required jobs in the police department due to visionary problems. The visionary problem comes to notice after the screening tests of individuals (Med-Tox, 2011). The importance of screening applicants to judge their vision is a good move before recruiting an individual in the police department. Look at 60% applicants, illustrated by the Los Angeles Police Department, who could not get the desired position due to lack of vision. The existing top brass of the police department in favor of recruiting a person having perfect eye sight in order to mitigate the risk for themselves and for their fellow officers (Med-Tox, 2011). The screening test to determine good or bad vision of an inductee is difficult since in the job description there is no such condition. Therefore, it is time for the police department to decide what should be the minimum criterion for a new recruit in the police department. Without any specific criteria, the absorption of individuals having moderate level of visionary impairment may add up the liability of the police department which will pose direct threats to the life and property of its citizen in general and the police officials in specific (Med-Tox, 2011). The focal point is that what should be the minimum criteria for an appropriate vision. Should it vary from layer to layer or it should be applicable to all concerned. Application of this procedure half heartedly may prove harmful for the police department. To address this basic issue, certain questions in this respect need detailed response. What should be the process required to analyze the visual demand for a job to be performed. There is an array of techniques available like job diaries, panel of experts, critical reports, etc. to carry out important visual tasks (Med-Tox, 2011). The police department with the consensus of Human Resources Department should chalk out a strategy to conduct job analysis to examine and document the visual exercise necessary for a police official to deliver. Ideally above mentioned jobs should be carried out by a panel of outside professionals keeping in mind the work load on each and every head of the police organization. The out sourced experts should prepare a report in this regard discussing each and every detail that ranges from recruitment to performance of a police official (Med-Tox, 2011). Once the critical tasks have been completed, it should be implemented in letter and in spirit in terms of visions of many kinds like near vision, remote vision, peripheral vision and color vision. No doubt that mentioned abilities decrease with the passage of time and in some of the cases it lost for good as a result of fatal accident or injuries. The survey conducted by the Med-Tox Health Services and others are of the opinion that visual capacity is necessary for a police officer to perform the assigned tasks as per his or her job description (Med-Tox, 2011). Of course, good vision is the asset of a police officer to carry out the duties efficiently. Now it is that screening test to determine the vision of a police officer is a must before induction of new recruits in the police department. If persons recruited are lack of vision, it indicates one or more reasons a) department failed to conduct a vision validation test b) left the visionary task being not treated as part and parcel of the job description c) medical examiner is unaware of the importance of good vision in the police department d) factors unique to the department e) limited relevance to the job f) proper and appropriate vision screening (Med-Tox, 2011). Misconduct There are so many laws that promotes honest and ethical law enforcement in the United States justice system besides few law enforcement officials who due to one reason or the other, commit misconduct with regard to the crimes in which they are investigating the case. Hence, bring bad name to the institution and to the officials of the institutions as well, badly hampered the performance of the institution or in other words literally destroy the lives of the persons who are wrongly implicated and convicted. Therefore, for an impartial and fair trial of a pertinent case, it is necessary for the police officials to get their job done in a professional and just manner so that an innocent person may not bear the brunt of conviction. Unnecessary influence or use of coercive methods by the investigating police officer just to extract confessional statement of his or her own choice may deprive a suspect of fair trial and just decision by the competent court of law (Lawinfo, 2009). Basis for Appeals The role of defense counsel in a criminal case is to raise reasonable doubts in the mind of judge enables the criminal to have a benefit of doubt which lead to his or her release from prison on surety till the case is finalized. It should be kept in mind that any confessional statement extracted by the police official if proved wrong may have the negative impact on the credibility of the police officer. Further, it may give benefit of doubt to the suspect criminal either in shape of quashing the case or get him acquitted on surety as your lordship finds it fit and appropriate (Lawinfo, 2009).   Apart from criminal cases, it would be very difficult for the defense counsel to prove any sort of using third degree methods / misconduct by the investigating police officer to timid the witnesses of the petitioner in the court of competent jurisdiction. There are number of reported cases where due to misconduct of police lead to conviction of an innocent person. The law of the land gives right to the convicted person to appeal against the judgment of lower judiciary in the appropriate judiciary to seek justice if it proved in the court of appeal that he or she was convicted merely on account of misconduct of the investigation officer. It can be a strong case favoring the suspect since a court cannot deprive a citizen of his or her constitutional rights, which is based on the false statements of the witnesses due to coercive methods by the investigation officer. The appellate court has the discretion to set aside the decision of the subordinate court and quash the case against the convicted criminals (Lawinfo, 2009).    False Testimony There are so many examples of upright and honest police officers in the United States of America as in the other parts of the world. Conversely, there are number of police officers who are dishonest and corrupt in discharging their official duties. Lack of willingness in performing official duties by the police attracts disciplinary action by the top notch. Such officers should be held accountable for making inaccurate, exaggerated and fabricated cases against the criminals. It would be wrong on the part of a police official if he or she exploits the respect and credibility of a community towards law enforcement agencies. It is very easy to measure the harm of a false testimony that could be in the shape of wrongful conviction of an innocent suspect criminal (Lawinfo, 2009). Improper Handling of Evidence We all agree that the Law enforcers are the prime respondents of a crime scene thus responsible to gather, preserve and document evidence to use against the suspect criminal at a later stage. Human err cannot be set aside in terms of investigating police officer. Police may mishandle, suppress or fabricate the evidence for a number of reasons. Some investigating police officers might hide their mistakes or omissions that they made during preliminary investigation. Police officers in their consensus opinion are agreed that the investigation can manipulate the evidence in order to build a concrete case against the suspect for conviction. He or she may seek punishment from the competent court on the basis of tactfully woven case against an accused. In most of the cases, the higher judiciary set aside the cases of lower judiciary (Lawinfo, 2009). Coercive Methods Apart from maintaining and controlling law and order situation in the their administrative ambit, law enforcers have the task of interrogating suspect and the witnesses in order to have confessional statement of a criminal in the light of statements of witnesses. During this process there may be the chances that investigator may advertently or inadvertently pressurize the stake holders of a case to get it proved in accordance with his or her whims and fancies. If a police officer who is investigating case believes that the person held is a criminal he or she may exert undue pressure on the suspect to have confessional statement of a crime which he or she did not do. By adopting another method, he may show number of photographs of suspect criminals or convicted criminals or line them up for identification parade to a witness or number of witnesses. Police tactics can be made unsuccessful by engaging a smart legal practitioner by the suspect criminal to exonerate him from fabricated cases (Lawinfo, 2009). Early Intervention System Those who monitor the activities of the Law enforcers have long been recognized that a small percentage of police force is responsible for complaints against police department. This of course tarnishes the image of the police force in the eyes of public. In the initial phase of 80s, number of police agencies started its tracking system, which identifies the pattern of behavioral attitude of individual police officer. The solution of the problem lies in the strategic response that identifies the attitude of a person, which goes without any action (Rothlein, 2012). The Early Intervention System is introduced to pin point police officer who is engaged in irreparable damages or repairable damages before it happens. An Early Intervention System is an effective tool to track down the complaints and other attitudes of an individual police officer to document when it came to notice to prevent further improper conduct (Rothlein, 2012). The credit of effective implementation of an Early Intervention System goes to law enforcement agency. The success of mentioned system due to the confidence of stakeholders reposed in the system since fair and impartial. By all means it is an achievement and it can better be utilized by the police chief in managing the cultural change within the organization The following is a brief outline of the essential elements required to establish an effective system (Rothlein, 2012). The purpose of establishing an Early Intervention System To achieve the following objectives early intervention system has been introduced (Rothlein, 2012): To examine the identified officers under duress prior to happening of a major incident To safeguard the officer and the department from incomprehensible behavior on account of undue stress To pin point the ongoing trends, which requires proper training needs, misconduct or policy related issues that could add departmental liability. Police misconduct / misbehavior are not new phenomena in the United States of America. The unbridled power of the police to use of excessive force, extra judicial killings, race discrimination, and above all lack of accountability for those officers whose conduct by all means considered extra constitutional and a bad scar in the police department. The media has played and is playing it due role in identifying atrocities at the hands of irresponsible police officer thus minimizing such cases (Walker, 2005). A famous book entitled “New World of Police Accountability” is in fact is a very well authored book by known writer Samuel Walker, which provides an insight and detailed analysis of some of the most important features of the policing that relates to its development over a period of decade. He identifies the major development towards police accountability, which represent a new era in the history of policing. The suggested reforms in the police department will open up a new chapter, which reflects fair play and impartiality and just system. This will disclose achievements and limitations of police as far as the accountability is concerned and realign the conventional wisdom on the subject matter. The book identified numerous issues from federal lawsuits against the police to early intervention systems. It further provides key features and up-to-date information of recent police controversies. The book discussed important issues of accountability against comprehensive use of force, complaint procedures and early intervention systems. The mentioned book is supplementary textbook for graduates and undergraduates of the policing departments such as criminal justice and criminology. In the cited book scholars, police officials and community activists will definitely find substantial material of their interest (Walker, 2005). Areas of Improvement Impact In today’s world, three specific influences are dominating and retaining vital impacts on modern policing. Yes, effective organization is in the position to pay priority attention to the current issues that have plagued the efficiency of the police department. The reorganization of the department is necessary to efficiently run the organization. The restructuring shall ensure the efficient management, which will have a clear direction. The use of latest technology shall play a key role in maintaining and managing the affairs of police department. Finally yet importantly, the environmental factors of workplace culture, politics, funding and resources, the printed and electronic media and unofficial leakage of information largely affect the performance of an organization. Work place culture The importance of workplace cannot be ignored in terms of environment, practices and its processes, which sometimes need amendments / alterations to meet the present day requirement for better progress. In every organization like police department, there is top-level management who passes the workload to the subordinate offices / department to carry out the duties as directed. Effective management is an effective tool to yield the desired results. As per the modern theory, the police department is some kind of Para military force who has to deliver the goods in accordance with the desire of top level management and in the interest of public at large. The anti drug unit of the USA maintain a close look on the drug traffickers and the drug trafficking around the globe. Organizational management should frequently change the status quo of the organization that enables the subordinate department to perform up to the desired level. Structural Control No organization can run its function smoothly where no element of structure control exists. T mentioned unit / department / division as the case may be is the necessity to carry out its day to day operational work. The US police department is divided into two segments a) field operations and b) support operations. To control the functions of mentioned segments, there has to be a deputy in each section with a layer of line management to carry out day to day affairs of the organization. The first layer of line managers/officers who directs the below ranking officers to accomplish the task assigned to them in an effective manner. The centralization of few departments means you have to surrender authority of each department to the manager of centralized operations. However, decentralized operations have to show flexibility in terms of authority and need. From the above contents, it has been proved that effective police organizations are in the use of structural controls as a last resort in defining moment of history. If cultural processes are utilized in a befitting manner, many subordinate police units will automatically become a team without having much structural controls. References Bureau of Labor Statistics. (March 29, 2012). Occupational Outlook Handbook: Police and Detectives. Retrieved on 27 May 2012 from http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Protective-Service/Police-and-detectives.htm#tab-3 Dempsey, John S. & Frost, Linda S. (2010). Police. Stratford: Cengage Learning. Gaines, Larry K. & Miller, Roger LeRoy. (2010). Criminal Justice in Action. Stratford: Cengage Learning. Harmon, Rachel. (2011). The Problem of Policing. Michigan Law Review 110-8. Lawinfo. (5, 2009). Police Misconduct Leading to Wrongful Convictions. Retrieved on 28 May 2012 from http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/articles/criminal-law/federal/police-misconduct-leading-to-wrongful-convict.html Lutzenberger, Tom. (2012). Effectiveness of Organization in Police Department. Retrieved on 28 May 2012 from http://www.ehow.com/about_6789847_effectiveness-organization-police-department.html Med-Tox. (2011). Vision Requirements for Law Enforcement Officers. Retrieved on 28 May 2012 from http://www.med-tox.com/poll.html Rothlein, Steve. (2012). Early Intervention Systems for Law Enforcement. Police Agency Training Council. Retrieved on 27 May 2012 from http://policelink.monster.com/training/articles/1896-early-intervention-systems-for-law-enforcement- Walker, Samuel. (2005). The New World of Police Accountability. New York: Sage Publishers. Read More