POLS 3600 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Police Corruption, Third Enforcement Act
Document Summary
Excessive use of force: applications of force against individuals by police officers that violate either departmental policies or constitutional rights by exceeding the level of force permissible and necessary in a given situation. Police brutality: use of profane to physical force. Police corruption: police officers" violations of law and departmental policy for personal gain and to help their family and friends. Much of the progressive movement"s efforts to reform the police were aimed at combating such corrupt arrangements. Meat eaters: actively use their power for personal gain. New police officers need to be instilled with a sense of ethics and professionalism in both their formal and informal training. This is necessary because of the significant discretion enjoyed by the police and their independence in undertaking daily tasks. The main challenge to improving police accountability is to use enough citizen input to force police to follow the law and departmental guidelines without restricting their ability to carry out their primary functions.