Let me start out that I'm a big time supporter of police and believe that we should support police 100% and civil rights 110% (The proper balance). While there are likely millions of people who agree with me on that concept there are some who oppose improving the institution so that it catches more bad guys/gals to keep our communities safe and at the same time removes bad apples to encourage good officers to excel.
Hypothetical Example:
This is a hypothetical example for learning purposes only. A number of officers associated with a hate network engaged in serious civil rights abuses and violated a number of state and federal laws. Good officers were afraid to come forward and any citizen who complained was quickly retaliated. While this network was a menace to society and acted in un American ways (i.e. not respect freedom of speech or religion in the example) they were provided with immunities that appear to be derived from partisan perceptions and disdain for the diversity of life (party neutral statement).
To counter such a situation one might consider three possible solutions.
1.) Promote Good Officers and Remove Criminal Officers: Because the vast majority of officers are good people they should not have their reputations or departments damaged by poor officers so improving the ability to report and remove those who are systematically violating laws and/or engaged in extremist type behaviors is important.
2.) Ensure Diverse Recruitment to Minimize Poor Cultures and Group Think: It is helpful to recruit from a diverse pool of candidates to help minimize group think that leads to cultures of corruption and lack of check and balances on that corruption. Different people come with different perspectives and when that is hedged it can improve the whole.
3.) Pay Officers More For Additional Training: When officers attend training classes on ground or online as it relates to diversity, culture, Bill of Rights, Constitution, jurisprudence (philosophy of law), ethics, tactics, methods, etc. they should receive additional compensation as public servants. The more knowledge they gain, the more they are going to understand and uphold the spirit of the laws in an effective way that helps communities.
Supporting our offices is vital and important so that recruitment can rise and good officers can be retained. Let's support our officers to ensure they are in environments in which they can strive and thrive! They need the best and brightest to join their ranks. Any problem can be solved in a way that is supported by the vast majority of society's stakeholders if we have an earnest desire to focus on the bigger picture.
A Program at Bowling Green State University:
Interestingly, Bowling Green University has a program called Police Integrity Research Group that maintains The Henry A. Wallace Police Crime Database of officers that were arrested. There are a number of variables they look at in their research projects. What roles around is my head is that some of these crimes are likely related to mental health and the difficult nature of the work while dealing with some of the most challenging members of society. We can have empathy over those who suffer from the disease of hate and aggression but we should ensure we protect the public first. I thought about being a police officer once and still like to help reach out a helping hand when I can and when it appears most beneficial to society.
Police Integrity Research Group
No comments:
Post a Comment