Police Misconduct

Police Misconduct

CJS210

July 6, 2012

Martin Gutierrez

Police Misconduct

Police brutality, like police corruption and other police misconduct are serious offenses, which may not reach the level of what is considered illegal, but none the less compromise the ability of the public to put faith and trust into those who serve as law enforcement. Not only can this lack of trust impair law enforcement’s ability to do their duty, it impairs others also by way of reluctant witnesses or compromised evidence. Each case of police misconduct, corruption or police brutality is often not the first occurrence of such an act, but rather it is the one that was discovered, while many others remains yet to be (Grant & Terry, 2008).

While the perception of brutality may bring to mind a violent situation involving beatings or physical harm to an individual, there are many different levels. Police brutality is any action by law enforcement against another that is unreasonable and unnecessary to maintain or gain control of a situation or to protect themselves and others. Many times an officer can extend the use of force beyond what a situation calls for, and this can be considered brutality. There are several available levels of force an officer can utilize, known as the Force Continuum, which when applied correctly can limit the amount of force needed to maintain control without undo harm or violence occurring (Grant & Terry, 2008).

By continuing to provide training in areas of conduct and use of force, and reinforcing these policies through refresher courses over the career of an officer, situations involving brutality, corruption and misconduct can be limited. Other methods that might be employed are oversight of agencies, mandated reporting of situations and enforcing recommendations for each situation. Implementing therapy or counseling for the officer who is accused of excessive use of force, mandating prosecution of the officer whose actions were...