CRITICAL ISSUES IN POLICING

Critical Issues in Policing

Critical Issues in Policing

Introduction

There are a number of critical issues when concering policing. This paper will discuss the dangers of policing and how it affects police officers; less-than-lethal weapons and the benefits that it has for officers and our community; past, present, and future technology of policing and some of the benefits that they entail; homeland security and law enforcements relationship, and police corruption.

Dangers of Policing

When you are in a position to protect the people and the community, your job generally will come with a large amount of risks. Every day that an officer steps out into the world to do his/her job; they are risking their lives for the sake of the community. Not only do police risk his/her lives, but also they are put at risk for a number of other dangers that are related to police work. A few of these dangers include: death, stress, physical damage to the body, mental damage to the mind and various health issues. One danger for police officers that which seem to be rising over the years is that police officers are being killed by perpetrators.

According to statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 72 officers were killed by perpetrators in 2011, a 25% increase from the previous year and a 75% increase from 2008. The 2011 deaths were the first time that more officers was killed by suspects than car accidents, according to data compiled by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The number was the highest in nearly two decades, excluding those who died in the September 11 attacks in 2001 and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 (Schmidt & Goldstein, 2012, para. 5&6). Officers have come to realize that when they go out to do their job, there is not a guarantee that they are coming back.

Less-than-lethal weapons

Less-than-lethal weapons was designed to restrain criminals without using deadly force. There are a number of cases when a police officer decided to use deadly force and it became a controversy. Cases such as the Rodney King case are what have compelled officers to push for less lethal, but incapacitating weapons. Some of the weapons that considered include: thermal guns that raise body temperature so fast they incapacitate the suspect, shotguns that fire nets, temporarily blinding strobe lights, darts tipped with drugs, bean bags filled with metal shot and fired from a converted grenade launcher, and pepper spray. (Johns, 2012, para. 3) Not all of these weapons were acceptable, and one of the only weapons listed that were adopted and is still used today is pepper spray. There are a few less-than-lethal weapons being designed for police officers to use in the future. These weapons include the Personal Halting and Stimulation Response rifle (PHASR), which is designed to temporarily blind the suspect so that they can be arrested; the Active Denial System (ADS) that is designed to fire an electromagnetic radiation at the suspect and cause a painful burning sensation; the Laser Induced ...