The Code Of Silence Essays

Driving through Charlestown will take you just three minutes. The kids on street corners will stare at your car, while adults will yell out your name and wave. The friendly atmosphere can make you feel welcome if you are a part of the neighborhood. But it vanishes if you are an outsider or a local victim of a crime.

Lack of training and policing standards are closely linked to the myriad problems bedeviling police work, especially in small departments (Brodeur, 2010). All over the country, police departments report cases of officers being caught in uncompromising and unprofessional situations, resulting in disciplinary actions such as redeployment, suspension or sacking. These cases of unprofessionalism have led to questions being asked about policing, occasioned by recurring series of questionable and controversial encounters with police officers (Brodeur, 2010). The consequence of such encounters is increasing public distrust in law enforcement agencies.

Although, a small percentage of officer keep their common sense and independent decision making skills in their job performance; to avoid becoming an outcast officers adhere to the “code of silence” out of survival. In many cases, retaliation is not an option for officers because this is their lively hood for their

Police officers may or may not actively support noble-cause corruption. Sometimes when officers become aware of corrupt or illegal forms of misconduct, they are inclined to “turn a blind eye or look the other way.” It puts their fellow officers in a very difficult position, most officers tend to think that if they turn away and ignore it and do not acknowledge what is going on that they are not part of the misconduct or illegal activity. Most

It is important that police officers be ethical especially while on the job. An officer’s

In the mid to late 1900’s the code of silence was introduce to the police officers, The police officers live and work under a code of silence called the blue code of silence in the United States. The blue code

“Somebody didn’t sleep through ethics training” (Ayer and Fuqua, 2001). This statement made by an officer in the movie Training Day, best exemplifies a major theme of the movie. Training Day should be shown to rookie officers as an example of how a police subculture can allow officers to abuse power. The movie is an over exaggeration, but provides depth and detail into certain situations officers may find themselves in. This paper will look at the specific concepts of a police subculture that officers may encounter.

Police corruption can also be explained by the lack of protection and security police feel they have. They also feel like they are being disrespected by individuals in society, which is why they rely on the subculture for protection and support (Skolnick, 1966). The police subculture has created a lot of secrecy within the organization, which contributes to police misconduct. Police officers will often ignore another police officer’s corrupt actions in order to maintain a good reputation within the subculture (Tator & Henry, 2006). For example, 84% of police officers have directly witnessed another officer using more force than necessary out on the streets (US Department of Justice, 2017). However, instead of reporting the acts of others, 52%

As a police officer, the major objectives are to maintain order, enforce the law, protect one’s property, and to save lives. In addition, police are divided into two roles based on how they perform their duties. The two roles of a police officer are a public servant and a crime fighter. A police officer whose role as a public servant is to serve all types of people, as well as criminals. Public servants regularly provide advice and make judgments as to the degree of risk they should take with the public. Many decisions involving risk are relatively easy to make, but others are complex and significant consequences (Kernaghan and Langford, 2016). These risks may involve using force and the consequences could be media backlash or a potential termination. Public servants abide by the oath and uphold the integrity and honor of the organization as an officer. Also, public servant officers like to play it safe because they like to be known as ordinary citizens who like to go home to their

Corruption within the New York Police Department is a quickly growing phenomenon; to an extent, this is largely due to the cop culture that encourages silence and draws the line at honesty. The good, honest officers are afraid to speak up against co-workers and in the process become corrupt themselves. When police departments were first established in the mid-nineteenth century, corruption quickly followed suit. It began with minor acts of misconduct and today deals with serious criminal activities. Scholars have noted that there is a strong correlation between the officers taking part in corrupt acts and officers wanting to fit in with the culture. In this paper, I argue that the deeper an officer in the New York police department gets into the police culture, the more likely it is that they become involved in narcotic corruption

Police executives have always had different issues within the police department. Most police executives try to find a quick fix in order to solve the issue of police misconduct. Police misconduct is defined as inappropriate action taken by police officers in relation with their official duties (Police Misconduct Law & Legal Definition, n.d.). In order to solve this issue, one must acknowledge their different challenges, overcome the “code of silence”, and find out the role of organizational culture.

It has been said that power inevitably leads to corruption, and it is yet to be recognized that , while there is no reason to suppose that policemen as individuals are any less fallible than other members of society, people are often shocked and outraged when policemen are exposed to violating the law.

In this country we are seeing an increase in ethical violations in the field of law enforcement. I will go into detail about some of the main ethical issues we are seeing today and what can be done to prevent such acts from happening. When one officer is being unethical it has a huge effect on how the public views law enforcement as a whole. Many officers go undetected for a long time before getting caught, but an officer committing ethical violations will have their day it’s just a matter of time. In order to improve this growing problem we must first understand why there is such a problem in the field of law enforcement.

When an officer is hired on by an agency he/she are believed to have good, strong morals. In some cases there are a minority of officers who “slip through the cracks.”

Dear Mayor Russ Pomrenke this memorandum was written to address a growing issue which has manifested itself within the Justice Police Department. The issue I am referring to is known as the “Code of Silence” and it has the potential to be the demise of the entire Justice Police Department. The “Code of Silence” refers to a phenomenon which occurs not only in our police department, but in all police departments. The “code of silence” is the loyalty between officers which prevents the officers from revealing any misconduct from other officers.