Issues Surrounding Deviant Behavior of Police Officers

Different connects of law culture atomic number 18 developed and preserve in the course of selecting, training and accepting law of nature removeicers into the different ranks where they fit. By passing with the rigorous recruitment and training process, the pr modus operandiice of law atomic number 18 subjected to a group or organization in which they ar anticipate to acquaint a sense of admirable assimilation of culture (Stoddard, 1968 bow-wow, 1978 Williams, 1984 Atkinson & vitamin A Housley, 2003). However, this is not unremarkably the case. tally to Barker (1978), a considerable tot up of question findings shows that that there has been a chronicled increase in cases of guard officers becoming spaced and therefore adopting unnatural demeanour. This form of isolation has been perceived to be meant to foster the natural law in their assignments, more or less of which take dangerous undertakings such(prenominal) as relations in doses cases, protecting v ictims of harassment and so forth (Stoddard, 1968 Barker, 1978 Atkinson &type A Garcia, 2005).The element of danger in activities that the constabulary partake in develops a tendency of the legal philosophy to be suspicious. The suspicion is raised by the situation that the legal philosophy officers become wary of possible shame instances and develop widely distributed suspicion towards every nonp beil (Atkinson & deoxyadenosine monophosphate Housley, 2003). This behavior leads the law troops officers to alienate themselves from friends, the community, the legal constitution an all the same from their spo practice sessions and families (Garcia, 2005). hardly the continued isolation results in the police officers having the likely to engage in degenerate behavior (Stoddard, 1968 Barker, 1978).According to Williams (1984), deflection is not an attribute of the act committed by a person rather, it is the consequence of the rules and sanctions apply to some other(a)s b y an offender (Stoddard, 1968 Garcia, 2005). Thus a deviant person is one to whom the label of divagation has successfully been applied. When various definitions of deviance apply to specialized firms of illegal laws, it easy for sociologists to neglect the aspect of behavior (Atkinson & vitamin A Housley, 2003). Therefore, acts of deviance by the police officers in some a(prenominal) aspects of their delivery of service may be ignored (Atkinson & Housley, 2003).Along the line legal affairs, courts, the legislature and the citizens withal affect the behavior of police officers. Police officers are liable for teasing from the legislature, the courts and the citizenry in the process of discourse various types of crimes and administering laws (Garcia, 2005). There know been wide concerns that the manner in which police officers nettle over different cases affects the vector sum of various proceedings a coarse deal (Paoline, 2001 Atkinson & Housley, 2003).Of great co ncern is that if police officers portray any from of bias in handling legal issues, this results in a wide variance in the office in which laws are administered (Paoline, 2001 Atkinson & Housley, 2003). Since the 1970s, various authors such as Barker (1978) and Stoddard (1968) feature highlighted the fact that there is a proliferation of police cynicism. A look backward of other literature works done by other authors such as Paoline (2001) and Atkinson and Garcia (2005) shows that there is a correlation between deviant behavior among a majority of police officers and the contours of the anomie theory.Thus, it is not strike that police may represent deviance in handling cases involving inebriant and cosmopolitan drug abuse they may be manifold in familiar misconduct as well portraying acts of laxity in responding to cases that take away sexual violence- be fare for one, they may be the culprits in the cases (Paoline, 2001 Atkinson & Housley, 2003 Barker, 1978 Stoddar d, 1968). Police deviance and ethics There are numerous issues surrounding the work of police officers. The tasks that the officers engage in during in their day-to-day operations are of a slippery nature.This is highlighted by the fact that there is a potential for state-of-the-art deterioration of social and moral inhibitions and the perceived sense of acceptability of lovable in deviant conduct (Paoline, 2001 Atkinson & Housley, 2003). Police officers are involved in a variety of undercover activities that may involve pose up with false identities as well as inducing crime. (Paoline, 2001 Atkinson & Housley, 2003). In this context, it is possible for police officers to be involve in criminal activities since they may use their hidden identity to mastermind criminal acts.This is wherefore Paoline (2001) suggests that there down been more instances where the police have been involved in inducing crime rather than reducing it. There are many other issues surrounding the work that police officers do. Paoline (2001) also notes that police are allowed to sterilize false promises in order to bust criminal activities. tho this freedom pay offs subjects civilians to instances that may be dehumanizing because of the way in which the police portray deviance.Police officers also find themselves handling sensitive court cases in which they are able to manipulate evidence and earn a lot of currency from those involved (Atkinson & Housley, 2003). Paoline (2001) has noted that there are many cases where police officers strain truth that could be use as evidence in a suit in order to protect their friends and or relatives. In pursuit of truth in cases involving alcohol and drugs, Atkinson and Housley (2003) have noted that police do invade the strategic drug locations but may cause more losses than the amount that would be recovered by colluding with the drug dealers.Along this line, what is more perturbing is the way in which some police officers handle the offenders in drugs cases (Atkinson & Housley, 2003). For instance, the police department is a system that condemns dealing min drugs, but it is vulgar to find police officers involved in drug trafficking because of the perverted institutional framework (Atkinson & Housley, 2003). It is also common for place officer to condemn civilians who deal in drugs and contraband, but is astounding how the same department condones officers who deal in drugs. Issues surrounding deviance and the come to of deviant behaviorAlthough deviance by police officers is inculcated due to their isolation from many members of the society, it is vice that also relates to other vices such as corruption, misconduct and favoritism. each these terms are characterized by friction between vices and virtues (Paline, 2001 Atkinson & Housley, 2003). departure per se is a kind of behavior that is incompatible with norms, ethics and set (Ben-Yehuda, 1990). On the other hand corruption is a forbidden act that involves inappropriate use of office for gain (Ben-Yehuda, 1990). deflection and corruption are both(prenominal) epitomes of misconduct since misconduct is any kind of violation of laid step to the fore procedures in various departments (Ben-Yehuda, 1990). Yet, closely related to deviance is favoritism, which is characterized by unsporting breaks from of procedures in order to please friends and relatives or to accommodate their interests (Ben-Yehuda, 1990). It is not surprising therefore, that flush favoritism is one of the characteristics of deviance as exhibited by police officers. Drinking and use of drugs while on province or off dutyIt is commonplace for police officers to be engaged in drinking of alcohol or use of other drugs while on duty and even when they off duty (Ben-Yehuda, 1990). This is augmented by the fact that most duties at the stations involve interviews with victims, which give the police a chance to knock for drugs or alcohol (Ben-Yehuda, 1990) . Disposal of contraband drugs is one of the major sources of the drugs use by police officers in that instead of disposing the drugs, some of the police officers forbear the drugs for their own use (Ben-Yehuda, 1990).The drugs are taken as a elbow room to reduce stress, to get high, or develop an alienation from the job (Barker, 1978). But obviously, this has far-reaching consequences such as low productivity and consequently, proliferation of crime (Barker, 1978). Away from the duty station, some officers engage in drinking and use of drugs as a form of recreation but this in most cases emanates from corrupt deals (Stoddard, 1968 Barker, 1978). This is because the officers father the drugs from rip-offs from victims and perpetrators of crime (Stoddard, 1968 Barker, 1978).This in effect sets a bad example to the reality domain in regard to the behavior of the police. The effect of alcohol use among police officers is evident in the slow process in which cases are handled, poor p rocessing of documents, and so forth because it affects mental judgment (Stoddard, 1968). According to Barker (1978) and Stoddard (1968), police officers have a tendency to mix drugs and extracurricular drugs because of the wide sub cultural second for alcohol and alcoholism, hence the drug abusers cover up the drug deal with alcoholism.According to Atkinson (2003), the problem of police officers savory in use of drugs becomes more intriguing when police partake in the drug syndicate as dealers or sellers. It is common to hear of stories of police officers supplying drugs in rock concerts (Atkinson, 2003). The situation is undoubtedly caused by the police officers greed for monetary gain (Atkinson, 2003). Nevertheless, some police officers have been on record suggesting that they supply drugs in the concerts as an undercover operation to find the drugs users (Atkinson, 2003).In spite of such an excuse, it is obvious that the officers use gatherings to make quick money from drugs (Atkinson, 2003). The trend of police involvement in drug syndicates has been widespread in many states of the United States. But the police come along to be comfortable with the status quo. Police Officer Associations in many regions save for a few places like Hawaii have inappropriate suggestions to carry out random drug testing (Atkinson, 2003).In particular, the associations oppose suggestions to put to death drug tests on police officers who are involved in dig incidents, as doing so immediately consequently the shooting event tends to injury the image of the police officer (Atkinson, 2003). The irony is that the same groups of police officers support stiff punishment for any persons involved in dealings that involve illicit drugs. This partisan stance by police depicts a request that they are not ready discard totally get liberate of deviant acts. Cases of sexual misconduct and violenceAccording to many police sources, the police usually come in contacts with many ca ses that are sexually- arousing (Atkinson, 2003). Thus it commonplace for police to be in touch with promiscuous women (Atkinson, 2003). This causes the police to develop ties after some time. In addition, a significant number of women who get attracted to police uniform because they guaranteed of credential when they are with the police (Atkinson, 2003). These women commonly wave at the police, and wait for them at stopovers where they hold meetings and even have sex with them.The police do this in spite of them being aware that such acts amount to deviance (Stoddard, 1968). There are situations such as that in which police officers take advantage of the vulnerability of women and use it to extend their deviance (Kraska & Kappeler, 1995). One is at traffic stops in which the officers get enveloping(prenominal) looks at the women and note further information about them (Stoddard, 1968). The impact of this is that such women become vulnerable and easily give in to the officers d emands when they meet subsequent times.Secondly, police officers do fox hunting in which they target college girls and make sexual demands, threatening the girls with arrest if they are not wiling to give in (Kraska & Kappeler, 1995). Thirdly, the police also practice voyeurism in which they peep through windows to see naked women under they pretext that they are on security patrols (Stoddard, 1968). Other instances of sexual misconduct involve police officers making impellent victim recontacts in which they always ensure that they remain with the contacts of the female victims of crime who require psychological help (Kraska & Kappeler, 1995).Using the excuse of consoling the victims, many police officers usually end up harassing the women. Some police officers go further to touch the inmates of the opposite sex during routine searches or even worse, have sex with them. (Stoddard, 1968). In other cases, male police officers have been noted to let prostitutes go free if they h ave sex with them. The deviant behavior of police officers is further portrayed by the point that some officers get involved in rape (Kraska & Kappeler, 1995).Many rogue officers have been known to coerce women into having sex or raping victims who come to report other crimes. Some officers even perform second rapes to victims of rape. The case in San Francisco in 1985 where a police recruit was handcuffed on a chair and a prostitute brought to perform oral sex on him is a thoroughgoing(a) indicator that some police officers are hostile towards each other (Kraska & Kappeler, 1995). The effects of sexual harassment have been grave, including mental torment and psychological trauma. Police brutalityIn spite of the fact that police officers usually drive training to gain skills of handling the public, they seem to forget them once they are deployed, perhaps due the effect of too much isolation. Hence, they commonly exhibit use of excessive force while handling perpetrators of crime, and are worshipful of name-calling, ridicule, sarcasm and disrespect. Some of the instances in which brutality is exhibited by the police allow in use of obscene language, random and forceful searches, us of physical force approaching offenders with pistols.Conclusion In spite of the training that police officers usually undergo, it is patent that isolation from other people inculcates in them some behavior that is unbecoming. The deviant behavior is shown when he police engage in drug abuse, get involved in sexual violence and other forms of unpleasant behavior. Deviance is characterized by behavior that is incompatible with norms, ethics and values and leads to the publics loss of confidence in the police. Worse still, victims of police torture suffer a lot of trauma.ReferencesAtkinson, P & Housley, W. (2003). Interactionism An Essay in sociological AmnesiaLondon SAGEBarker, T. (1978). An Empirical Study of Police Deviance Other Than Corruption. journal of Police Sci ence and Administration 6(3) 258-72Ben-Yehuda, N. (1990). The government and righteousity of Deviance Moral Panics, Drug Abuse, Deviant Science, and Reversed Stigmatization. New York SUNY PressGarcia V. (2005). Constructing the other within police culture an analysis of a deviant unit within the police organization. Police Practice and Research An International Journal, 6 (1) 78 80Kraska P. B. & Kappeler V. E.(1995). To serve and pursue exploring police sexual violence against women. arbitrator Quarterly, 12(1) 85 111Paoline, E A. (2001). Rethinking Police Culture Officers Occupational Attitudes. New York LFB critical PublishingStoddard, E. (1968). The Informal Code of Police Deviancy A Group uprise to Blue-Coat Crime. Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science 59 210-13.Williams, G.H. (1984). The Law and Politics of Police Discretion. Westport, CT Greenwood Press