Law Essay questions
Name
Institutional Affiliation
The Quasi-Military Style of Policing: Advantages and Disadvantages
This approach entails the police officers wearing uniforms, tote guns, carrying ranks, and operating under an authoritarian common. The orders follow a top-down structure, with the armed officers having the authority to use force. This policing has been borrowed from the military. Still, it will serve the citizen population in the community, providing services designed to help their citizens, constrained by regulations to protect their people, and will routinely incorporate police discretion (Yurcak, 2016).
This approach’s advantages include the fact that it has been formed and developed around the predetermined rules and regulations that will follow an appropriately defined chain of command (Cliff, 2020). This ensures that officers will know what is expected of them and act by it. This leads to higher professionalism levels with a compelling style in policing being followed, considering there is no confusion on who is the authority and determines the trajectory of things. The police officers can undergo more tactical training since the officers are being trained to achieve particular defined levels; the regulations also reduce and eliminate police corruption while strengthening internal discipline.
The disadvantage of this approach is it can be constraining in terms of intellect and creativity, considering the decisions are only made by authorities, and employees will have no input is taken (Yurcak, 2016). The approach has also put constraints on the officers in terms of exercising their problem-solving skills and discretion. This approach could lead to excessive force if not followed keenly, causing a lot of issues related to police brutality.
Enhancement of Police Professionalism in the Last 20 years
For the last twenty years, the police profession has undergone a tremendous change that veterans do not recognize anymore. One of the reasons for the tremendous change is the increased technological equipment they use to make it more efficient. Devices such as in-car computers and other mobile devices have allowed them to access critical real-time information Surveillance videos (Johnson, 2019). Social media platforms, license plate readers, and electronic transaction records, among others, have provided detectives with access to myriad sources of information that allows them to find answers to numerous crimes (Johnson, 2019). Apart from efficiency, technology has increased the interest of the community towards police activities. Currently, most police activities are under intense scrutiny by the public. Therefore, the officers must be accountable for their actions as they will be called out for not doing the right things as per the predetermined rules and regulations.
The present police profession is characterized by accountability, legitimacy, innovation, and national coherence, which are beneficial to both the communities and the police officers (Stone & Travis, 2011). This kind of professionalism has led to the community policing approach where the police officers are more concerned with meeting community needs, which have been communicated by the police members (Stone & Travis, 2011). The previous kind of policing focused on what they believed to be the community’s challenges. However, the present nature requires the two stakeholders to integrate and discuss public safety issues respective to the communities they are serving.
Federal Law Enforcement Agency
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been granted its authority by the United States Constitution to conduct investigations on federal crime that has not been assigned exclusively to be handled by another different federal agency to this effect; its officers are allowed to make seizures under search warrants as per the requirements of the Fourth amendment (FBI, 2016). It also has a particular special investigation jurisdiction to investigate any state law violations but in limited circumstances. The FBI also has the authority to investigate the threats to national security as per the presidential executive orders, authorities under the Attorney General, and the different statutory sources.
Notably, my interest in the FBI is prompted by the desire to learn about the combination of authorities awarded to the FBI, which makes the entity distinctive in addressing national security and criminal threats (FBI, 2016). Typically, these threats overlap each other, which leads to the shift between the utilization of different intelligence tools. The FBI is also different from other domestic intelligence agencies across the universe since it seamlessly shifts between intelligence activities and action. The FBI will then get the ability to go on with the intelligence-gathering activities of a particular subject hence learning more on the latter’s social and financial network. This could then be followed by arresting the subject, especially when they can be considered a danger to other innocent individuals. The threat of prosecution will encourage the subjects to continue cooperating to gather further intelligence (FBI, 2016). Notably, the FBI officers require extensive knowledge and skills to handle the different duties required of them.
The Police Culture/Subculture and Its Causes
Police agencies have a strong subculture within them that permeates many of them regardless of the environment. This subculture has both positive and negative attributes. For a long time, researchers have demonstrated how the police culture is negative and has been entrenched in cynicism, masochism, loyalty, and the “us versus them” mentality (Ethics In Law Enforcement, 2015). The extensive concentration in these aspects has led to an overlooking of their positive attributes. Notably, the negative attributes have arisen from the work stress that the police have to deal with continually. For instance, a police officer has to deal with a different kind of stigma which labels anthem as socially unacceptable members of the community (Chapter 8: The Police Culture and Work Stress, 2017). The community does now willingly work with the police hence creating and developing the adversarial mentality. A lot of police actions have raised concern on what justification they have. For instance, racial profiling has been demonstrated to be part of law enforcement. Therefore, the public is continually doubting whether their actions are indeed for the benefit of the community or the police themselves.
One of them is that the officers have developed and shared values that enable them to survive the challenging and emotionally taxing job. These values include support, teamwork, perseverance, empathy, and care towards each other to deal with post traumatic stress (Ethics In Law Enforcement, 2015). The job has the officers facing dangerous situations always. Still, with the support from their comrades, among other values, they can develop the bravery, courage, and sacrifice required when dealing with the harm. Another factor for these positive attributes is that the police believe that they are the only ones who understand the nature of their jobs hence will be loyal to themselves and colleagues, citizens have been very unsupportive and will make unreasonable demands (Chapter 8: The Police Culture and Work Stress, 2017). Therefore, these positive values ensure they develop a togetherness that cannot be broken.
Qualities of Good Police Officer
One of the qualities includes having honesty, integrity, and ethics, which are the particular principles that should guide all their activities (Florida Tech, 2017). These values will ensure that the officers do not succumb to incorporating immoral behaviors such as corruption when facing difficult situations. These values will ensure that officers make decisions that uphold the public trust accorded to them rather than the decisions favoring their agency’s relationship. The second quality is effective communication skills, such that one can communicate directly to different kinds of people, including witnesses, suspects, prosecutors, medical officers (Florida Tech, 2017). Written and verbal communication skills are fundamental in policing. It allows them to give clear instructions, get property answers, and information about the different situations they deal with.
The third quality is empathy and kindness, where the officers need to be able to listen empathetically and communicate with kindness, tolerance, consideration, and understanding (Florida Tech, 2017). The approach is also needed to foster community relations that will benefit the police officers in their operations. The fourth quality is being open-minded and diverse, whether the entire force represents a diversity of life experiences. An officer needs to serve many different individuals, equally and fairly (Florida Tech, 2017). Finally, the fifth quality is being able to make effective decisions and collaborate with various stakeholders in their operations (Florida Tech, 2017). Police officers are in a job that continually requires fast decisions, confidently, and remains level-headed regardless of the situation’s intensity. To this effect, they need to develop their decision-making skills and learn to collaborate with others, which will help their operations.
References
Chapter 8: The police culture and work stress. (2017) CSage Publications. Retrieved from https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/77481_cox_ch_8.pdf
Cliff. (2020). Police organization. Retrieved from https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/criminal-justice/police-function/police-organization
Discover Policing. (2018). Types of law enforcement agencies. Retrieved from https://www.discoverpolicing.org/explore-the-field/types-of-law-enforcement-agencies/
Ethics in Law Enforcment. (2015, April 17). 8.1 police subculture – Ethics in law enforcement. Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/ethicsinlawenforcement/chapter/8-1-police-culture/
FBI. (2016, June 13). Where is the FBI’s authority written down? Retrieved from https://www.fbi.gov/about/faqs/where-is-the-fbis-authority-written-down#:
Florida Tech. (2017, June 12). Key qualities for law enforcement professionals. Retrieved from https://www.floridatechonline.com/blog/criminal-justice/key-qualities-for-law-enforcement-professionals/
Johnson, J. (2019, September 24). Policing through 25 years of accelerating change. Retrieved from https://www.police1.com/chiefs-sheriffs/articles/policing-through-25-years-of-accelerating-change-023Y5wPNnlWKpUbc/
Stone, C., & Travis, J. (2011). Towards a New Professionalism in Policing.
Yurcak, J. (2016). Police Organizations. Retrieved from http://faculty.uml.edu/jyurcak/44.141/documents/4-PoliceOrganizations.pdf
