Police Misconduct

Police Misconduct

Winston-Salem State University

Law enforcement officers are alleged to have engaged in 2,854 cases of misconduct in April through September of 2009. (National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project [NPMSRP], 2009) This would mean that there were over 5,000 cases of police misconduct in that year alone. Police misconduct can be defined as improper actions taken by police officers in relation with their official duties. (USLegal, 2001) There are many elements of police misconduct which are as followed: racial profiling, false imprisonment, false arrest, and creation and use of falsified evidence which could include false testimony. (USLegal, 2001) Another form of police misconduct that is starting to appear more in law enforcement is police drug use.

Racial profiling is the use of race, ethnicity, religion, or natural origin by law enforcement agents as a factor in deciding who to investigate, arrest, or detain, except where these characteristics are part of a specific suspect description. (OneAmerica, 2010) Racial profiling violates a person's civil rights.

Driving while black (DWB) is a prime example of racial profiling. This is a slang term that is used to describe how black people are treated by police officers. This term was made because people believed that black were the ones that did a lot of crime. They believe that black drivers will get pulled over more often than white drivers. They also believe that if they are to get pulled over then they can search them and their car without probable cause. There is also another term, driving while brown, which refers to all people who are brown not just black people.

Racial profiling has been a significant problem in America for hundreds of years. Racial profiling is stemmed from slavery and segregation. Since these times, blacks are interpreted as being the criminal in crimes that they sometimes have nothing to do with. Blacks of all hierarchies have reported to police that they have been accused of crimes only based on their skin color. Racial profiling is also a major concern for Arab and Muslim Americans based off of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Because the criminals in the attack were of that race, they are being put under tighter security especially in airports. They are being searched differently than people of other descents.

Another element of police misconduct is false imprisonment. False imprisonment can be defined as confining a person to a certain location without having legal authority to do so. False imprisonment can be in a number of locations that could include a room, car or even a closet.

There are a number of examples that could be cases of false imprisonment. A person who holds onto another person and doesn't let them leave is an instance of false imprisonment. A guard or patrolman who restrains you for an extreme amount of time based on your appearance or the way you dress is illegal. A person who traps someone in a room and refuses to let them leave is also illegal. Also an owner who apprehends a person that they suspect committed a crime in their business for a very long period of time can be charged with false imprisonment.

A case of false imprisonment was reported by a woman from Chicago by the name of Rachelle Jackson. There was a car accident in her neighbor where a car crashed into a police car and she came to the rescue. She rescued one officer from the car and soon after police arrived on the scene. Soon after they arrived, they came up to her and said that a firearm was missing from one of the officers. They then asked her to go down to the station for questioning at which she thought was because she seen the accident. But instead, she was arraigned for stealing. She was in custody for just two days and was hardly fed or given water. She was also intimidated with violence if she didn't sign a report about the incident that they had made up. Then she was arraigned and spent almost a year in jail. He case was finally thrown out and she sued the city, the officer she helped and the officers who interrogated her in 2003. She won the settlement and received $7.7 million. (Mullins, 2008)

Another type of police misconduct is false arrest. This can be defined as being put into custody wrongfully. False arrest is a civil crime which if convicted can give you a misdemeanor charge. This kind of arrest is made without proper authority. If you are arrested without probable cause, then you might have a case of false arrest. A lot of cases of false