Law Enforcement Today

Law Enforcement Today

Bobbie Abernathy

CJS200

April 4, 2014

Juan Munoz

Law Enforcement Today

Law enforcement in today’s society faces many problems and issues such as racial accusations, excessive use of force, on the job hazards, increase in criminal activities, and even corruption from within each agency. We’ve all seen the movies where a terrorist or criminal is always one step ahead of the officer no matter what the officer does. At the end of the movie it’s revealed that there is a corrupt officer within the agency that is supplying the suspect with all the necessary information. My grandpa was a deputy sheriff and often spoke of the dangers he faced every morning that he wore his badge. He served for several different counties as well as several different levels of agencies and he always talked about those who were out to hurt him just because of the position he held. He also spoke of an occasion that is still talked about throughout the halls of Randolph County Missouri Sheriff’s office halls. In Moberly, MO there was once a race riot that broke out in a city park. Johnny Hughes (my grandpa), a deputy sheriff was first on the scene. Upon asking a black man what was going on, the man drew a gun on him. The man had a problem with authority and felt as though a white officer was too racist to respond appropriately to the event. The deputy was doing his job, but was accused of having ulterior motives. You also hear in many rap songs the messages telling our youth that the police are bad and should be put in their place. This makes the job of every officer harder than it should be. In many cases, an officer who has an outstanding career and has put many hard criminals behind bars, having a target on their back because of their dedication. Officers have enough to deal with out of hard core, heartless criminals, and terrorists. Local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies have to work together with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to ensure...