POLICE BRUTALITY

Police brutality

Police brutality

Some weaknesses in the system make the young policemen suffer. First, the recruitment is not rigorous enough. It only requires age limitation, high school graduation, and no criminal record. Then, candidates have a chance to get into the screening process. There are the usual examinations and questionnaires, then, they can go into the interview. Although there is a representative of civil service and a psychiatrist present, the interviewers only ask the predictable questions and what candidates need to do is to give them the predictable answers. The interview usually takes five or ten minutes, and the recruitment process is done. This paper discusses Police brutality.

It is not easy to determinate the moral character of the candidates, but the moral factor is more relevant if they are willing (or likely) to take advantage of the policemen's power, or if they feel comfortable associating with "bad cops" In fact, some "bad guys"(Harper & Row, 2007) really pass these processes and become policemen.

The second systemic weakness is that the training time at the Police Academy is too short. The rookies learn so many things before they go into six-month "probation", such as: the criminal laws they have sworn to enforce, the assimilation of the rules of evidence, the methods of arbitration, the use of firearms, mob and riot control, first aid, public relations, and so on. Each of these items needs time to be absorbed and to be practiced, but rookies only have six weeks to absorb these professional skills before they get into the real world. Besides, this concentrated training does not give them enough confidence in their decision making when they are on duty, especially when they often need to make decisions which are related to their lives.

Job dissatisfaction also leads to policemen going "sour". It can be divided into two parts: life with tensions and no social life(Palgrave, 2001). Because of the characteristics of policemen's job, policemen's lives are full of tensions. Part of these tensions come from the routine task. The excitement that most people think of as the constant occupation of policemen is infrequent. Besides, the majority of the people the policemen come in contact with during their working hours are thieves, con men, narcotics addicts, and out-and-out nuts.

Other tensions come from the manifold fears. Policemen have to constantly worry about physical harm. Because their family's safety may be threatened, they not only worry about themselves, but also worry about their family. Besides, they may face life-and-death decision. In this situation, it is difficult for a expert to make right decisions calmly and quickly, much less these policemen who only received six weeks of training. The biggest fear is that policemen do not want to show their fears to their colleagues. Because of this fear, they have to force themselves to do something, for example, rush in on a cornered burglar, which they wouldn't do alone, but will do when they are with their partners.

The second reason that makes policemen dissatisfied with their jobs is ...