Policing And Criminology

By Author: ANTHONY BILLS
Total Articles: 158
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For justice to prevail there must be competent bodies which are charged with the responsibility of making sure justice is seen to be done. The most vital unit is the investigation where by cases are determined by how well investigation has been done. Police are involved in investigation and arrests. Depending on the work of investigation cases are decided so that the real perpetrators are punished to deter criminal behaviors. Policemen have the discretion to determine which suspects are to be arrested and arraigned in court for justice to prevail. It is lesser evil to free one thousand guilty persons rather than punishing one innocent life. The real culprits have to be punished. Like other arms of government the police are there to serve the citizens of any country impartially. Police behaviors are triggered by the culture of police departments in a country. If impunity and corruption are highly rewarded in a country then the culture of corruption is inculcated if integrity is rewarded then culture justice is cultivated. A police may be involved in a criminal case where he made sure he did a commendable investigation to nail ...
... the offender only for a judge to use his discretion to release perpetrator on basis of evidence deficiency. At that point the police feel his efforts are wasted.
I first heard about criminals who were being tracked by police after committing several crimes in the city. It was believed they do their business near Times Square. As it believed, all policemen are from the same mother; they behave the same, walk and even talk the same. I decided to go 42nd street and try to see the happenings there. There was one thing in my mind; policemen doing this task must be in plain cloths, so it was my obligation to monitor movements of people in the area. I noticed a group of 8 men and 2 women walking and was not going far from the area; they seemed interested in any one person in the area. They were looking people strait in the eyes and I was sure I have the group to monitor.
There are always high expectations in any society that whenever a policeman is around the process of justice has begun. A police gathers evidence in the scene of crime from witnesses who volunteer to give evidence. Plain clothes policemen are mostly used to avoid suspicion by perpetrators. In order to have substantive evidence the police rely mostly on physical evidence. There is a high perception in the society that policemen are completely not human, they are unpredictable you cant tell when they are supporting justice and when they are fighting justice. I observed some police could stand with some people on the street and then would join other members after those individuals leave. On thing I convinced myself is that, they were not in the same mission, some were playing hide and seek and were advising criminals on the progress and on every new tactic they plan to apply.
The first suspects in mysterious murders are the people who relates with the victim most. Police were looking for anyone may be they thought could have any information that would lead to arrest of culprits. A man was walking on the street, he seemed staggering, I could not establish whether he was drunk or maybe he was unwell. They all gathered and handcuffed the man, people were saying the man was innocent and had never been caught in any crime or any mischievousness. This is where the police use circumstantial evidence. In that connection the policeman gets information about day to day activities of the victim in the course of trying to establish whether there was any disagreement between the victim and the people who he relates with. If such disagreements are established then those people are called forward by the police to give details of what they know about the mystery. They are interrogated in different intervals to try and relate their statements. Those who are arrested are informed about the right to remain silent to avoid self incrimination out of ignorance of law.
In apprehending criminals police under cover mostly are in plain clothes. This is to make sure that they look similar to civilians. In cases of illegal drugs police must know the suspect who involve in drug trafficking to make sure they are constant vigilante to get evidence which can be used to charge the criminals. Mostly they know the dealers and the only thing there are left with is evidence which can be used to arraign them in court. Tracking devices are used by the police keep an eye on the movement of the suspect. The scene where the crime is suspected to be committed there is heavy police vigilante.
Plain clothes policemen usually keep searching those people who they suspect. They have the powers to search the luggage of suspects at their discretion. They are highly trained on behaviors of criminals. They keep looking for physical evidence. Mostly they get culprits in action by using tracking devices. Getting the criminal is one thing and nailing him is a different thing all the same. Some criminals are very fast to give hefty cash to the police to buy freedom. The notorious criminals hardly get themselves behind bars. The police unit is highly corrupt which impedes criminal justice.
Plain clothes police abuse their discretion by harassing innocent citizens in the streets. It does not matter how busy you are all what matters is what are you busy doing. They are busy either taking bribes or busy searching evidence where they can’t find it. When you ask citizens their perception about police undercover they are very unpopular for lack of etiquette in their work.
Undercover police do not fail in their duties for lack of technocapacity and skills. They are well equipped with tools which are highly effective. They can trace criminals from a very long distance. However culture of corruption has affected the police unit as a key investigation unit. The insincerity of undercover police has led to escalating of criminal behaviors in the society.
Obeying seniors in police units is a show of discipline to the orders. However Niccolo machievelli emphasized on been obedient to the idea and not to the authority most. I witnessed police under cover being taken for a ride by the criminals since they have connections from above. At times drugs are trafficked with their knowledge as they well know of the consequences of arresting those who matters in the society. This makes their efforts futile since evidence they collect is not evidence without support from theorist is paramount that we are royal to the idea of serving the people diligently without flouting rules and regulations.
When arresting the suspects there is usurping of powers whereby excessive force is unnecessarily used. Some people are harassed when they are found with incriminating substances. A person was badly injured for been in possession of sample of cannabis sativa. It is illegal put human right violations must be observed most by the people who are responsible for protecting the rights themselves. This kind of behavior portrays unprofessionalism and because whenever their target fails, an innocent substitute is the way to go. This have given a bad name to police and no many who thinks police do the right thing or does anything that will benefit the community. Though there was no actual instance that could lead the police to actual action, compared to other instances I observed them act, they don’t rhyme with the company. I suppose they could have acted more harshly if they were in uniform as they are aware many people fears uniformed police.
In my evaluation card for police behaviors, for technology they can get honors because they have excellent tracking technology. For professionalism they are Luke worm not because they are not well trained but the culture of obeying the rules is rotten. They are fairly well in responding to an emergency call. Whenever they get information about a crime they have a culture of arriving at the scene of crime very fast. One of experience is when two unlawful groups are involve in dangerous exchange of gun shots police responded in very swift way to rescue innocent citizens from falling victims of fire exchange. They don't hesitate to arrest criminals but releasing them before getting justice is the problem. How can a law enforcer encourage a person who earns a living from dangerous activities like drug trafficking to buy freedom being well informed that he has the money to do so. That is trading with people's life.
Foundation of justice lies with the police. It is the police who arrests and investigate. There are the key to a just society. This means their behaviors are paramount to the relationship between the state and the governed.

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