Police Misconduct Checkpoint

Title: Police Misconduct Checkpoint Submitted by Travis Hance Course: CJS210 Instructor: Jason Garner

Police Misconduct Checkpoint

How would you define police brutality?

I would define police brutality as the deliberate misuse of force during a service call or incident with citizens. This can occur either because of a lack of emotional control on the part of the officer, or as a result of peer pressure. What is the relationship between police brutality, police corruption, and other police misconduct? The deliberate violation of professional standards in even the most minor way, often evidenced by small infractions of use of force or abuse of position is a long and slippery slope. Once the officer has crossed the moral threshold and allowed their professional standards to be compromised, it often leads to greater and greater transgressions. What recommendations would you make to decrease police corruption, brutality, and misconduct? Professionalism is the key to negating corruption, brutality, and misconduct. Such professional standards can be achieved by continued training. Especially important are the newer Crisis Intervention Training programs that are gaining popularity. These deliberately introduce stressors into common situations, forcing officers to think on their feet, speak in give commands in a professional way, and especially to keep control of their tempers. I had the privilege of partaking in a course with an instructor who was especially gifted at antagonizing students. At the end of the course we felt much more prepared to deal with the high stress situations encountered during patrol. So I believe that course such as these help provide training for officers which gives real world skills. Instead of reacting according to emotion or instinct, a professional officer relies on training.