Choosing the Ideal Police Officer - Essay Example

NAME: INSTITUTION: UNIT: LECTURER: DATE OF SUBMISSION: All over the world, Police as an institution is highly regarded as an important pillar of society. They are the principal law enforcement agencies. They have mottos such as ‘to serve and protect’, “service to all” and other statements that point to servant hood in service delivery. Among their primary mandates they are entrusted with include; protection of life and property, support of civilian administration and participation in disaster management. They help solve local minor conflict before they escalate. There are other secondary roles that seemingly have attached themselves to police organizations including response to distress of whatever kind and pedestrian counseling to the youth and the vulnerable as the police are mainly the people of authority first contacted. The advent of newer challenges to common good in people and society has demanded that police officers get involved in people’s lives more closely and intimately. Police either gather intelligence against terrorism, detain people for interrogation, or deprive people liberty and arrest them for crimes they may have committed. This therefore demands a very high level of integrity on the policemen part so that they do not misuse the power given to them by the statutes or by regard of the community. The perception by the community, that police are high handed need to change by being addressed through proper measures. This can only be accomplished if the police services recruit and train only the people who are up to the stipulated standards. But the question of how to do this need to be answered and so it has been subject of research for many years and by many scholars. There are some key areas that anyone entrusted to recruit trainee police officers should focus on. These areas are outlined here below with main reference to the profiled cases in the question paper a) Tertiary education: Studies that have shown that police work is perceived as work for those who are averse to risks involved in business, the competitive world of free job market and for those who are contented with the assurance of guaranteed earnings at the month end .These are pointers to either a group of uncompetitive people or people with low education background. While the sophistication of the society requires advanced levels of study to counter the emerging threats, the attitude toward policing has not changed to reflect this new reality. Our profiled officers are analyzed next. Police work at times requires unscheduled shifts of duty and some dull moments at times. These shifts disrupt normal working, eating, sleeping cycles and are not in synch with the other family members’ schedules. The entrant with higher education faces these challenges and the reason why they join must be interrogated against the knowledge whether they know the challenges they are getting themselves into. What other choices they had and the value they attach to their qualifications need also to be determined. Profile 1 candidate seems to have an established white collar career and thus is joining the service out of free will. She is well versed with the content and scope of police work accrued from formal training and possibly attachments .The same cannot be said of the profile 2 candidate. There are changes in staff development and reward schemes required to accommodate their needs which are unique and require investments. The availability of these incentives are not always guaranteed or they may take long to come. By the virtue of higher qualification, the graduate entrant have an over the average probability to have job mob mobility. It’s not in the interest of any police organization to recruit and train a workforce it cannot retain or be deemed to be an employer of last resort. It’s true that police jurisdictions do not regard highly the prior training in law enforcement since recruits will be trained anyway. However, the ease in training of an informed officer is certainly higher in those with relevant entry behavior. Focusing on our profile cases, the officer in profile 2 cannot be regarded as a non -tertiary entrant just because he studied a course that is not in line with the law enforcement sector of society. The focus rather is on the higher qualification of profile1 in relevant field of policing and law enforcement. A government being an equal opportunity employer should thus give precedence to the candidate who has an added value (Maurice, 2007). b) Selection (personality) interviews: The selection interviews are designed in a way to bring out the personality traits in an individual (Behrens, 1985). The profile 1 officer has scored positively in the personality traits needed as indicators of future performance as police officers. These traits are openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. The profile2 officer was trailing behind in this section. Lower score on the positive attributes indicates possible enhanced capacity for negative behavior. These feared attributes that are dangerous in police set up include lack of impulse control, substance abuse, psychosis and paranoia. Medical background tests as well as substance abuse history is sought at this level. The recruits regard for formal office work is manifested during interrogation as well as the motivation to join. Officer in profile 1 had more regard for official work than profile 2 Officer since she worked in an office set up. This is if we rule out the aspect of luck, probability and chance in the job market and assume they held the jobs out of free will. The interviewee further demonstrates of the capacity to handle nervousness and accurate intelligent thinking under stressful conditions (Behrens, 1985). Profile 1 officer had been previously exposed to such challenges in her administrative duties as she served many clients with diverse needs possibly in the absence of a manual. The basic presentation of an individual and his/her temperamental traits are also examined. The knowledge that the officer will in the course of duty meet with people who are out right disrespectful, snobbish, rude is investigated. Other relevant background probing questions are asked. Police always see the bad face of society as their part of duty. They will deal either with victims or perpetrators of unspeakable atrocities who are provocative. Their capacity to handle provocation and ability to focus beyond the self is paramount. An officer will receive firm orders by his trainers and superiors while armed and thus the aspect of emotional and impulse controls paramount. Any trace of psychotic tendencies should be noted and acted upon early enough. So should anyone with a variant threshold of feelings and accommodation. C) The background check of a candidate This is mainly done to determine whether the officer have ever been involved in crime, is of antisocial behavior or association, subscribes to unacceptable creed and philosophy, his loyalty and patriotism to the state (Beverly J. 1984). Loyalty to the rule of law is among many other issues that can only be unearthed through a background check. The exposure of profile 1 officer has no indication of a predisposing environment to bitterness and radicalization or anti-establishment inclinations. This is supported by the cultural deviance theory of crime (Nicole, 2009. The strain factors could have forced the profile 2 officer to be predisposed to crime or condone it. This makes profile 1 officer a front runner candidate in the recruitment process. D) Physical fitness Physical fitness is tested as an important aspect before joining the police college or the service. The focus is on absence of disability, the current physical strength as well as the potential to be developed in training. Physical fitness especially the aspect of routine exercise is an indicator to personal discipline and willingness to go the extra mile (Beverly J. 1984). In spite of the benefits of better health as an visible immediate benefit of exercise, majority in the population still find it difficult to maintain a training routine. Those who do so are good time managers and people who demonstrate individual discipline (Michael G. 1994). Our profiles do not indicate the scores on this important aspect. E) Polygraph test This is a purely honesty testing procedure to establish whether the information given is credible, (Behrens, 1985). It also helps to establish whether the answers given during the interview are the truth and the conviction or plain lies of a seasoned liar and dishonest person. F) Prior Life and work Experience It’s understood that the best indicator to future behavior and tendencies is the past. The experience that the recruits come with to the college and job market are sure determinants to the attitudes that they have, their perception and input that they will give. It will determine the expectation of the new entrants from the police organization, standards’ of accommodation to petty crime, lifestyle and cultural crimes. The agreeableness in profile 2 is of concern if you factor the entry behavior and past experience acquired more than not on entirely lowly job experience that required one to endear to the master or the demanding customers. It points to an early tendency to compromise and let go of issues that may require firmness. Past experience develops unique approaches to problem solving. Formal experience focuses more on judicial procedures’ while informal past experiences tend to favor ‘on the street’ solutions to basic problems (Beverly, 1984). Both approaches are important and valid in in their own ways. In the prospective officer in profile 1, she has a lot of experience in the formal world of work and the organized home experience. This is symmetrically different from the experience in profile two gained in the relatively informal scape of bar attendance. The preparation of a recommendation report by the interviewing and recruitment panel should be done at the end of the above process. This is a report that is aimed for a higher authority so that they may base the decision they make from informed choices.it captures the recruitment procedures points in consideration, the legitimacy of the actions and viable opinions by the officers involved. It however does not bid the receiving authority to go by it. I would have recommended the profile 1 officer as the right candidate for the job. She has demonstrated competencies in the key areas of policing mainly thoroughness and positive attitude. Her interest is evident since she had taken trouble to study criminology at higher levels of learning and she is willing to leave her job as an administrator. She will be an officer by choice. REFERENCES Behrens, G. (1985).Current Psychological Screening Trends in the Selection of Law Enforcement and corrections Personnel in the United States. Illinois: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing publishers. Beverly J. (1984). Oxford. Psychological Screening of Police Recruit Applicants. United Kingdom: Routledge publishers. Maurice P (2007). Cops with Honours University Education and Police Culture. New York: emerald group publishing limited. Michael, G. (1994). The Use of Physical Agility and Fitness Testing for Law Enforcement Occupations. New York: Madison publishers. Nicole H. (2009). The origins of criminology. London: Taylor & Francis publishers Read More