Role of Politics in Policing

Role of Politics in Policing

Introduction

Conservative view holds that the role of the police is to maintain the power of the state and to enforce its laws throughout the country. This approach, which is under a very pessimistic view of human nature, emphasizes the importance of the police as an institution of the power company. The police in this case, police is considered as a mechanism of political control. The police is based on a broad social consensus and has a high degree of legitimacy, because citizens are convinced that it contributes to social stability and ensure personal safety, protecting them from each other.

The role of the police is to maintain internal order in it. In addition, the police force is much closer than the army which is connected with society. The first American police force was created in Boston in 1838: a uniformed police force was established to ensure the safety of city streets. By 1860 most American cities had their own police forces. Local politics often controlled the early urban police departments, determining hiring and promotion decisions. Corruption and brutality were everyday occurrences (Reiner, 2000). There was little formal training and minimal supervision of patrol officers. One critical issue in policing that has always interested me is police corruption. Police corruption is when a police officer abuses their authority for his/her own personal gain, for example; an officer allowing drug trafficking as long as they receive a portion of the proceeds is considered police corruption. Police corruption has been a part of our society since policing began and probably will be in the future of policing as well. I believe the issue with police corruption is greed. It appears that officers cannot resist the temptation to increase their pay.

Discussion and Analysis

Public expectations lead to substantial role conflict for modern officers. Many citizens acknowledge the benefits of proactive policing and community education programs. However, because some attempts to prevent crime may lead to community resentment and charges of police harassment, police have become largely reactive, waiting for a crime to occur before responding. A police officer may use such force only to get what he (or she) is authorized to do (Bernard, 2003).

However, while a police officer can handcuff a suspect under arrest, he still could violate the constitutional rights of the arrested if he, for example, pointed a gun at a person handcuffed and unarmed. Typically, claims of abuse of authority usually channeled through the papers involving the use of firearms or unnecessary physical aggression (Ruchelman, 1974). However, most of the claims have no clear profile and revolve around the circumstances of the use of force, taking into account the objectives of the police and whether he was authorized to run these objections. In both state and federal law mandate, the police should not use excessive force on citizens during the execution of their duties. For example, in Mapp vs. Ohio (1966), the police was involved in manipulating the actual crime ...