Law Enforcement Research Paper

Words: 780
Pages: 4

Law enforcement officers in the past decade have been attached with a negative stigma of shooting first and asking questions later. With the current advancement of technology and the ability for media to be shared on major news networks and social media. The image of law enforcement community has faced controversies in the police academy training and the conduct of law enforcement throughout the community. More so, community activist group such as Black Lives Matter has called for the killing and injury of cop’s due to the actions against suspects. More so, major news network has covered the increase of police organizations focusing on the conduct of law enforcement and the actions of Police officers on and off duty. None the less, the actions …show more content…
The training police officers received from the academy is referred to as the paramilitary training model. (Wadding, 2008) The paramilitary training model according to Wadding, “paramilitary policing means police operating ancillary to the military. Less strictly, it has come to mean adopting military characteristics (e.g. uniforms, command structure, weaponry, etc.); more accurately, it means quasi-military.”(Wadding, 2008)This method or model of training has provided a separation of a policing community to that of less variant to the military mentality. In 1967 the development of SWAT program was established in the city of Los Angeles and has been utilized as the means of applying military tactics in subduing dangerous criminals. ("S.W.A.T. - Los Angeles Police Department", 2017) The purpose of S.W.A.T was to combat the growing influx of drugs and weapons into communities. However, the imagery and methodology that is utilized throughout the training and live scenarios reflect that of the …show more content…
Although, viewing of the captured footage shows the perspective of the suspect, the actions of the officer are often not justified until the footage captured on body cameras are fully viewed and the investigation has concluded. However, majority of traffic stops, arrest, and incarcerations may be racially based. According to NACCP, “African Americans are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites. though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately 32% of the US population, they comprised 56% of all incarcerated people in 2015.” ("NAACP | Criminal Justice Fact Sheet", 2017) However, the actions in which law enforcement officers making routine traffic stops based on small infractions can lead to a vehicle search which may lead to discover of a grander crime. While the actions of law enforcement have often been viewed as unconstitutional leading to the violation of the 4th amendment of arrested individuals. (Logan, 2011) The actions of law enforcement officers are often captured through live feed on social media or camera recordings by the suspected individual who has viewed the stop as wrongful and unlawful. More so, the actions of law enforcement officers against minorities or the black community such as incidents with Michael Brown and Eric Garner have led to activist such as Black Lives Matter (BLM) to start riots and have called for the