Rightful Policing: Article Analysis

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Rightful policing
The article is an analysis of what has been termed as the racial profiling and arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., as he tried to get into his house by Sergeant James Crowley (Neyroud, & Meares, 2015). The article tries to reconcile the two different point of view held on this one incident one being that the sergeant conducted himself lawfully and the other being that Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was treated unfairly and was a victim of racial profiling. The authors point out that the definition of what racial profiling is typically focuses on how legal the police actions in issue are which legality is a measure of the restrictions placed on when the police decide to initiate contact with people as opposed to how the contact is made (Neyroud, & Meares, 2015).
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Fidelity to the law and specifically the constitution and the effectiveness of the measures taken to curb crime have for a long time been the yard sticks used to measure the accuracy of actions taken by police officers. The authors point out that police officers do not prevent the commission of crime and term this as one of the best kept modern secrets. The authors further explains what rightful policing is not by explaining that rightful policing is not restricted to policing aimed at curbing crime or just constitutional policing but describes it as trying attain both lawfulness and crime reduction in a way that makes the public trust the police force and one that promotes fairness (Neyroud, & Meares,

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