(855) 4-ESSAYS

Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

The Public Opinion of Police and Their Activities

            The primary duties of police officers and law enforcement agents are to serve and protect the citizens of the United States. And for the most part law enforcement agencies do this effectively. However, many people come to view the police forces as the enemy. An enemy that has the sole purpose of oppressing and harming the very people they are tasked to protect. The people need to be better informed about the police and why an officer will take certain actions in a given situation.
             The majority of the populace has many misconceptions pertaining to the conduct of law enforcement agencies. One prevailing misconception is that Law enforcement authorities are all too willing to use emotion and instincts in a situation rather than clear thinking to direct their actions. In a variety of ways this is true, but only with a very strict set of parameters are they trained to do so. One such scenario includes when the officer deems that his life or the life of bystanders are in risk of losing their lives. In this scenario the officer is trained to rely on his training and respond to the situation at hand with the utmost speed. For example a member of the San Jose Police Department is under investigation for shooting a suspect that " Brandished an eight inch cooking knife and waved it at the police officer in a threatening manner."(Gathright1). The officer in question than shot the suspect the left thigh because the officer felt that his life had been threatened and that he had to defend himself. However, standard police operating procedure is that an assailant armed with a bladed weapon is a hazard if they are within eight feet of the officer. The assailant in this case was within six feet when the officer .
             took action. However the news media made this situation out the to be a case of a police officer overreacting. This fact brings up the second problem of how the public views police, heresy.


Essays Related to The Public Opinion of Police and Their Activities

1. Conflict Management and Organizational Behavior

... focuses on the public, been professional, and executed services. Officers have to communicate between each other, society, and his or her supervisors. During police research there is four types of behavior in the police department: service, detection, the use of force, use of arrest, and citations (Sherman, 1980). A detection activity includes traffic stops, investigative techniques, and field interrogation. Service activities is assisting citizens, mediating disputes, community policing activities, and engaging in problem solving. The action of police arrest and citation ... role in po...

  • Word Count: 691
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. Community Policing and Terrorism in Vietnam

... reappraise their preparation and reconsider the part of police in counteracting terrorism and restricting its results (Bayley and Weisburd, 2009). Public opinion towards the police, and especially impression of police authenticity, are viewed as one of the critical results of policing. Police authenticity is essential for instrumental reasons connected with open participation and police viability (Tyler 2004). Public attitudes towards the police and assessments of its authenticity could be influenced by police inclusion in counter-terrorism, which has essentially expanded as of late. Pol...

  • Word Count: 1434
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. History of Irish and French Terrorism

... spite of the acts of violence that it commits, has sympathy within public opinion and moreover has a recognized political wing, as to a range of highly active associations which have both national and international support and do not always openly state their claims. However, there are common characteristics to all anti-terrorist legislation: fast-track procedures, extension of police powers, restriction of individual liberties, and the setting up of specialized courts to try the perpetrators of these acts of violence ... are often perceived as a manifestation of the arbitrary action of...

  • Word Count: 10522
  • Approx Pages: 42
  • Grade Level: Graduate

4. Media and crime

... the public, the media significantly influence both policy development and support. This appears to occur due to the desire of public officials to reflect what they believe to be public opinion in regards to criminal crimes. If they perceive the public to be frightened of crime, and wanting offenders locked up (a social policy developed in response to the perception of criminality). This will be the social policy the public officials will develop and support. Crime, and Justice in the Media Most of the ... and not offensive to audiences, advertisers, or owners. For instance, the media re...

  • Word Count: 855
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. Mercenaries and Private Military Companies

... Afghanistan and Iraq their employees, contracted as civilians but armed as military personnel, operate in "grey zones" as unlawful combatants without oversight or accountability, under murky legal restraints2 and often with immunity. The outsourcing of a number of basic functions which traditionally were carried out by national armies or police forces, known as the top-down privatization, has blurred the borderlines between the public services of the State and the private commercial sector. The activities of humanitarian ... and aid to armed opposition (the Contra) of the sovereign gove...

  • Word Count: 9871
  • Approx Pages: 39
  • Grade Level: Graduate

6. Police Malpractice

... " and some of these outbreaks of violence were extremely severe (Lersch and Feagin). If violent law enforcement activities end with the death of civilians the results can be negative, not only to the affected communities, but also with the state. For this reason, crime geographers and other social scientists need to follow attentively these events: Although police killings of civilians are relatively rare given the number of dangerous encounters to which police officers are daily exposed, the public ... group. According to Cruz, young African Americans and Latino males are seen by cops a...

  • Word Count: 5510
  • Approx Pages: 22
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Supreme Court and Pornography

... a United Nations police action, this battle between the communist North Koreans, supported by the Sino-Soviet Bloc, and the capitalist South Koreans, backed by the US and its allies, revealed the extent to which the Cold War would affect US foreign policy, as well as, domestic issues. After fighting to a stalemate along the original border of the 38th parallel, the American public grew weary of the war, resulting in the defeat of the Democratic Party in the election of 1952. This ... , led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, under the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). "McCarthyism",...

  • Word Count: 3509
  • Approx Pages: 14
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Judges and Professional Discretion

... applied when the judges use their laws impartially, irrespective with their personal view on the results. Summarizing the judge's obligations in accordance with the canon of judicial ethics it is very important to highlight that judges conduct has to be above criticism. He have to be careful, comprehensive, polite, patient, on time, impartial, fearless of the public demands, and indifferent to political or partisan influences. He should not allow other activities of his ... why he chose that sentence for the offender and he explain that for mitigating factors he use the defendant youth,...

  • Word Count: 2655
  • Approx Pages: 11
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

9. Racing In The Streets

... let alone on a public street, where unexpected traffic, uneven roads and inexperienced drivers, some as young as 16, form a deadly combination." (Rendon) Obviously it is dangerous, but then why, knowing the very real dangers, would anyone choose to race? "Racers love their sport enough to risk accident or death." (Rebels with Cause) These illegal and dangerous activities are not even always ... Laws against racing "don't prompt the practice. But they may not dissuade it much, either." (Ford and Levinson) Police have tried a different approach to the problem; "for deterrence, cops try t...

  • Word Count: 1677
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

Got a writing question? Ask our professional writer!
Submit My Question