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Laws and International Laws

Public Safety Issues in a Criminal Justice Agency

The criminal justice system is an essential department in the U.S. as it helps in maintenance of law and order. It ensures that the citizens follow laws of the country. The criminal justice system is structured into three distinct units that coordinate to ensure that justice is served. These units are the law enforcement, courts, and correlational facilities. Each plays a role in the criminal justice system to apprehend, judge and correct the behaviors of those found guilty. The police is an agency in the law enforcement that ensures that there is law and order. The police play a role in ensuring that laws are followed, and any citizen that breaks the law is arrested and judged within the criminal justice system. The police officers coordinate with other law enforcement agencies to ensure that appropriate evidence is available for prosecution. Police officers are therefore a critical agency in the criminal justice system whose work is vital in the administration of justice.

Organizational Issues

The police service is faced with numerous issues that are both internal and external. The service is usually scrutinized by the public and other oversight organizations to ensure that they perform their duties within the law. Police risk their lives while in the line of duty, but the public does not care about their challenges. They are expected to arrest criminals who might even be dangerous to their safety. The internal issues of recruitment and retention is the other challenge that affects the manner in which they adjudge their services. The number of police officers might not be adequate to perform their duties fully. Their retention provides another challenge that affects their morale and motivation in performing their duties. The various oversight authorities have additionally demotivated the police. They live in fear of being blamed from the powerful watch of the public. The emergence of social media has furthermore worsened the manner in which they perform their duties. Social media users often subject the police to the courts of public opinion, which generates negative perception. The nature of crimes such as public shooting has been made possible by laws that give the citizens the freedom to own guns and other deadly weapons. These issues when compounded sums up the challenges faced by the officers while in the line of duty (Mazerolle et al., 2013).

Working Rationale

The police service is mandated to ensure that there is law and order. The manner in which they perform their duties should be within the acceptable standards of police service. The police service is regulated just like any other law enforcement agency. Some regulations within the police service create challenges within the service. For example, police are encouraged to arrest law offenders and not administer justice themselves. Sometimes the police use excessive force in arresting suspects. The use of excessive force is debatable since there are laws that protect the citizens from harassment and forceful arrest. These issues compound the challenges the police encounter in performing their duties. Social media is now being used to reprimand the police for their actions. The citizens take videos of how the police perform their duties and upload them to social sites where the public can be able to reprimand the actions of the police. Some of these videos are taken out of context, but when it gets to the public, it generates different views. The fear of being dismissed is typical for any public servant, and a police officer would choose to engage in activities that limit their chances of being fired from the service. These challenges occur because the police service image has been tainted with numerous accusations. Few organizations work to protect the police since man officers are now being arraigned in court for either using excessive force or failing to follow the laid down procedures (Schmalleger et al., 2014).

Correlation f Goals, Mission, and Vision with Challenges

The goal of the police service is to maintain law and order. Its vision is to create professionalism and excellence in law enforcement while the mission is to protect and serve the community. The goals and vision are correlated with the challenges in which the police face in their duty. The police face these challenges in pursuit of achieving the mission and vision of the service. They sometimes find themselves using excessive force in apprehending criminals that threaten the peace of the community. They at times act unprofessionally to meet their goals and ensure that communities live in harmony. These goals put the lives in police in danger and the struggle to achieve the goals creates numerous challenges for the police (Schmalleger et al., 2014).

Goals of Addressing the Challenges

The challenges faced by police need to be addressed to create a motivated police force that will ensure that laws are followed in the society. First, the terms of service of the police officers should be improved. Police officers must not live in fear of losing their jobs. The process of terming police officers from the service should be reviewed to eliminate processes that usually have police dismissed on flimsy grounds. Oversight authorities should fulfill their mandate with impartiality. The authorities need to do away with the already established perception they have towards the police service. Rogue police officers should be held responsible for their actions but not generalized to the entire police force. The actions of the police in protecting the lives of citizens from danger should be lauded and given the limelight it deserves. Appreciating the police for the sacrifices they make in marinating order should be encouraged to improve the image of the service to the public. It will go a long way to improve the relationship between the citizens and the police officers, which will result in enhanced community policing. Regulation on public scrutiny of the police and the use of social media to castigate the police should be investigated. The public should be encouraged not to use the social media for the wrong reasons but first understand the circumstances that forced the police to use excessive force (Gillet et al., 2013).

Data and Resources

Past information of incidences in which police officers have been accused of going overboard is required to address these challenges. Information on some of the occurrences that led to the dismissal of the police from the service is equally important in addressing the problems. The data can be analyzed and used to develop strategies that will be implemented to protect the police from engaging in such activities. Training resources are required to address these challenges. Training police on best practices can help to instill skills that can be of help in decision-making. The officers need to improve their critical thinking skills that enhance their decision-making. Some the challenges affecting the police can be linked to poor decision-making and equip them with decision-making skills can eliminate some of the challenges (Mazerolle et al., 2013).

References

Gillet, N., Huart, I., Colombat, P., & Fouquereau, E. (2013). Perceived organizational support, motivation, and engagement among police officers. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice44(1), 46.

Mazerolle, L., Antrobus, E., Bennett, S., & Tyler, T. R. (2013). Shaping citizen perceptions of police legitimacy: A randomized field trial of procedural justice. Criminology51(1), 33-63.

Schmalleger, F., Donaldson, S., Kashiwahara, K., Koppal, T., Chase, S., Brown, A., & Marash, D. (2014). Criminal justice today. Prentice Hall.

 

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