Police Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Police Policy - Essay Example How or when to apply force has been a long standing debate for at least a few decades, and there is still a whole lot that needs to be worked out in this regard. There have been many conflicts as to how this should be done because there is a major lack of agreement as to how situations such as these should be handled. As a result of the lack of agreement on how force should be applied, there are still no solid resolutions that are in place to benefit both police officers and civilians. Liberal individuals favor seeing to it that even the criminals have all of their civil rights and liberties, even though these criminals may have committed a brutal crime. These liberal individuals also favor the use of restrictions on when police officers should be allowed to shoot to kill, as well as when to use violent weapons to apply force. Then, there are those who are all for traditional police policies as it pertains to force. Individuals who support tradition in this regard favor tactics that may almost border police brutality. These individuals feel that police officers must do whatever they need to in order to maintain control, even if it may violate the right of an individual who does not deserve such treatment. Then, there are those individuals who are in the middle with these issues, and thee individuals are neither liberal nor traditional. They feel that the police should use whatever method of force that is necessary to control criminals, but a level of respect should be given to those who deserve it. These individuals feel that such a thing should be a balancing act and that policies should be made to enforce this. Some things have been discussed in regards to finding a happy medium for all, and some policies have even been implemented in some areas with a great deal of success; however, there is still a lack of uniformity in that these policies are not applied all over. There are five major issues that are in relation to police force policies that really need to be addressed for the safety of both police officers and civilians. One very major issue that is in relation to police force policies is that sometimes, police make severe errors in judgment in situations where one's life is taken for the sake of self defense. In some cases, a criminal may become so unmanageable that it is necessary for the police officers to shoot to kill to keep from getting severely injured themselves. Sometimes, however, wrong judgments are made, and officers become quick to use their guns, and lives are taken unnecessarily. This especially happens if officers are abusing their power or may make a judgment based on a bias of race or gender, which happens all too often. Concerning the errors of judgment on the part of police officers when it comes to situations where a life must be taken for the sake of self defense, an article titled "Personality and Cognitive Processes in Life and Death Decision Making: An Exploration into the Source of Judgment Errors by Police Special Squads" states that errors in judgment can be made as a res ult of personality traits, as they can sometimes get in the way and influence decisions. In addition to this, more may be expected of officers than the experience they may actually have. For instance, an officer may be asked to perform a