Addressing Police Brutality

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:Criminology

Document 1

It was deemed that for an officer to effectively respond to a situation, a force had to be applied. Over the years, civilians formulated various means to react to the force applied by the police while effecting arrests. Many police officers become casualties as a result of such confrontations. This forced the police to develop other mechanisms of dealing with violent scenarios. The use of excessive force by the police was born at this point. Maintaining law and order mean that the society thrives in peace and secure environment. Psychologists argue that it is almost impossible to have a crime free society. There will always be some rogue elements in the society who will threaten the normal peace. The United States’ police departments started to hire psychologists in the 1980s to help in studying humans’ minds (Tyler, Goff & MacCoun, R2015).

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Today, psychologists occupy all the police departments not only in the United States but all across the world. Therefore, the need to regulate the use of deadly force by the police departments is not only an ethical consideration but also a legal issue. Legal Policies and Constitutional Mandates Responsibilities to investigate police misconduct are vested upon the state and local authorities. There are special instances when the federal government can step to investigate police misconduct especially when the subordinate agencies have failed to come up with a conclusive report (Worden, 2015). The laws that are used to govern the police use of excessive force are the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1871, and the Federal Tort Claims Act.

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The Civil Rights Act is regarded as the most comprehensive and effective legislation that deals with addressing the abuse of police authority. Obtaining evidence through coercion and intimidation also known as a fruit of poisonous tree is also forbidden under the Fourth Amendment Clause. Coercing a suspect to give out self-incriminating evidence can also amount to police violence. According to the Supreme Court ruling in Graham v. Connor, the Fourth Amendment Clause should be prioritized in examining cases relating to the excessive use of police force. Fourteenth Amendment The Fourteenth Amendment clause to the United States guarantees the protection of the citizens’ rights and assurance of fair treatment to everyone. In this case, police harassment was equated to excessive force thereby declared unconstitutional.

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The Miranda Rights are still observed today as a basic guidance of handling the accused person. The provisions of the Civil Rights Act can be used to institute a framework that can be used to address issues relating to police use of excessive force. Federal Tort Claim Act The Federal Tort Claim Act provides for mechanism that a private person or an entity whose rights have been infringed by a federal or state agency to receive compensation as a mitigative factor. Under this legislation, a person who been injured by police or suffers loses as a result of police actions can sue the government for compensation. Tennessee v. Garner The Supreme Court applied the jurisprudence of Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

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The court ruled that the Fourth Amendment outlaws the police from using deadly force on fleeing suspects. However, the court acknowledged that the police can apply excessive force if there is reasonable grounds to ascertain that the suspect is a danger to other people. This case gave rise to the practice of probable belief of danger. The Value of Ethical Considerations in the Strategic Plan Integrating ethical considerations in a strategic plan is very critical to ensure that the project is implemented seamlessly (Wall, 2018). The objectives of the organization need to conform with the ethical values. An organization needs to have strategy, vision, and values. Building strong values helps in strengthening the vision, strategy, and values of the institution. The ethical values need to bind employees, management, and stakeholders.

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Therefore, there needs to an established ethical standard to harmonize the operations of all stakeholders. The police service needs to formulate ethical policies that would guide the operations of all the police departments. For instance, police officers should be reminded that they have ethical responsibility to maintain reasonableness when discharging their duties. Members of the public should also be educated on the proper ways to engage police departments. Some civilians can provoke police officers thus occasioning violence. They should be taught on how their actions can lead to massive destruction of property or even lives. According to security experts, the only way to address police brutality is to change the police training curriculum. The training training should focus on safety of the officer and the safety of civilians as well as of the suspect.

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Since police undergo months long training before they are formally employed, the trainers need to ensure that every recruit complies with the safety concerns. A legal policy proposing the employment of psychologists into the police departments has been proposed. Such conflict of interests in the law enforcement can only increase incidences of police brutality. Therefore, a law should be enacted to discourage conflict of interests at all organs of police departments. The Vision, Mission, Risk Management, and Torts Every organization has vision, mission, and risk management plan. Vision and mission help the organization to achieve its objectives risk management plans cushions the entity from hurting its own interests or those of other stakeholders. There are laws that have been enacted to compel organizations to compensate the victims in case of intentional injuries.

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Risk Management Plan in Reducing Police Brutality All organizations should have established risk management parameters to address the likelihood of disasters. Risk management guidelines help in containing volatile incidences. During the Rodney King incident, it seems LAPD lacked effective risk management mechanisms to arrest the situation. After the incident, members of the public reacted by staging violent protest that resulted into massive destructions of properties. It is therefore critical for the law enforcement organs to integrate sound risk management policy. The Congress and the Senate can also enact risk management principles to guide all the law enforcement entities nationwide. Integrating a sound risk management plan requires maximum cooperation from all the stakeholders. Constitutional and Legal Framework The constitution provides for a secure and safe environment.

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The government establishes various organs to implement this constitutional requirement. However, these constitutional organs like the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) are mandated to observe The Fourth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, The Fifth Amendment, and the Due Process Clauses of the Constitution. Those people with questionable moral and ethical characteristics should be disqualified from serving in the police departments. For instance, drug addicts, violent people, people with unsound mind, and unfit individuals should not be employed in the law enforcement departments. An officer with high tempers should also not be deployed in the field. Psychologists should be tasked with examining the minds of the applicants. Training of new recruits should focus on the safety of the officer and the civilians. R.

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