Police and other law enforcers, as well as a defense force, are found everywhere in the United States where handguns are in play (Falk, 2013). The Police Code of Conduct shows that all law enforcement officers must be fully aware of the ethical responsibilities of their position and must strive constantly to live up to the highest possible standards of professional and transparent policing. However, police transparency raises public concerns when the police department delays the release of certain documents related to unjustified police shootings. Delaying or hiding these documents renders the public to question police transparency and such circumstances instigate community protests, which could destabilize the nation. The paper will also analyze
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“Daily, across the land, we are deluged with shocking stories of the murder and maiming of our citizens by the police,” (Spence, 2015). There is no aspect of police work that creates more tension between the police and the community than the police use of deadly force (Brown, 2012). Pollock (2011) concurred that there is nothing more divisive in a minority community than a police shooting that appears to be unjustified. Police shootings that take a citizen’s life frequently result in serious consequences such as community protests, civil lawsuits, termination of officers and even criminal prosecution (Brown, 2012). Most damaging is the distrust they generate between the police and the public. If there is a climate of trust between the community and the police, there is less likelihood of community unrest when an unfortunate shooting incident occurs (Brown, 2012). Gaines and Kappeler (2014) agreed that the shooting of civilians by police officers leads to several problems for officers, departments, and communities. The costs of this abuse, in life cost, violations of human rights, strained community-police relations, and civil-suit settlements (over $1billion in just ten cities) in the past five years are truly staggering (Stamper,
“Daily, across the land, we are deluged with shocking stories of the murder and maiming of our citizens by the police,” (Spence, 2015). There is no aspect of police work that creates more tension between the police and the community than the police use of deadly force (Brown, 2012). Pollock (2011) concurred that there is nothing more divisive in a minority community than a police shooting that appears to be unjustified. Police shootings that take a citizen’s life frequently result in serious consequences such as community protests, civil lawsuits, termination of officers and even criminal prosecution (Brown, 2012). Most damaging is the distrust they generate between the police and the public. If there is a climate of trust between the community and the police, there is less likelihood of community unrest when an unfortunate shooting incident occurs (Brown, 2012). Gaines and Kappeler (2014) agreed that the shooting of civilians by police officers leads to several problems for officers, departments, and communities. The costs of this abuse, in life cost, violations of human rights, strained community-police relations, and civil-suit settlements (over $1billion in just ten cities) in the past five years are truly staggering (Stamper,