Police Training and Police Misconduct in Chicago Police Force, Research Proposal Example

Introduction

Modern society mandates that those who serve and protect be properly trained in the use of force so that they have the ability to use this force when necessary to stop violent offenders from harming others. Alternately, those same protectors should be trained effectively in order to have the restraint necessary to avoid harming innocent citizens who have not committed crimes. The problem with the police force in the Chicago area lies in the two statements above. While the police force is indeed trained to use the force necessary to stop violent offenders from harming others, many times they have taken this too far and law abiding citizens have suffered the consequences for crimes they did not commit. This proposal seeks to understand the relationship between the training of the Chicago police and their subsequent misconduct while taking the oath to serve and protect the city of Chicago during their time on the Chicago Police Force.

Literature Review

One standard that remains as in the past is this: national law enforcement agencies continually face numerous challenges of monitoring, preventing, and addressing the incidents of police misconduct on almost a weekly basis (Internal regulation of police departments). A perusal of national media headlines will alert any citizen to incidents where an innocent person was ordered to the side of the highway and forced to leave a vehicle for no apparent reason. The police officer in the matter obviously had a valid reason in his mind, but many times this is not made clear to the driver of the vehicle and a rampant miscommunication ensues, thus escalating into a full blown case of police misconduct and sometimes brutal force (Police Misconduct).

One such headline speaks of a citizen being forced into an empty stairwell around 3:25 p.m. and shot without probable cause. The citizen claims the officers had no reason to harm him and he was not carrying weapons or causing a disturbance. The violence caused by police left the man without a finger due to his attempting to defend himself from the attack (Doyle, 2012). Unfortunately, there are several cases through the years such as this and they have gone many times unreported to the general public. The cases that have been reported have often not been handled properly to the satisfaction of Chicago citizens.

There are, however, methods used to ensure order inside the police departments including the Chicago Police Department. Such methods are reducing the incidents of unnecessary lethal force, directly identifying complaints of police misconduct voiced by citizens, routine monitoring of encounters between the police offers and public, internal audits, and disciplinary measures for those officers who have been found to have committed misconduct (Internal regulation of police departments).

Also, in the city of Chicago, part of the current police training program includes a firearm simulator so there is a more realistic evaluation of trainees’ responses to real time life or death situations. This is somewhat like an interactive video game and has helped with the improvement of eye and hand coordination as well as general judgment before an officer trainee pulls the trigger (Internal regulation of police departments). There are also strict guidelines in the use of excessive force and, because of this, Chicago implemented a hollow bullet policy for their officers in order to decrease the chances of innocent bystanders becoming victims by default.

It is also important that the police departments keep open communication with its officers and the public to ensure the values and standards it sets are being met and adhered to. The standards must be maintained and this is essential if order and professionalism is to be kept amongst all police officers in the department. These values must also encompass what the public has come to expect from police officers in regards to their actions and reactions to certain circumstances and their attitudes regarding certain situations (U.S. Department of Justice, 2003).

Purpose of Research

The purpose of this research proposal is to look further in depth at the crimes allegedly committed by the Chicago Police Department and examine any misconduct that has potentially occurred. There will be a review of trends over the course of several years to determine if misconduct increases or decreases dependent upon the personnel in charge of the department and the policies that were put into place during that particular time period. It is the hope that this examination of research literature will uncover information to be helpful in possibly creating a set of objectives or goals to be used in the future training of new police officers who enroll in the police training program through the city of Chicago. Also, it is the hope that these ideas could possibly be used to implement in-services for seasoned police officers in how to better respond to citizens who are not being offenders. If new and current police officers are better prepared for the present day situations of what is taking place on the streets of Chicago, perhaps there could be a compromise made in the decrease of misconduct by police officers and both citizens and city officials would be more apt to find satisfaction with the overall job of the Chicago Police Department.

References

Doyle, B. (2012, August 24). Man sues city, saying cops shot him ‘without cause’. Retrieved from Chicago Tribune News: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-08-24/news/ct-met-police-officers-lawsuit-0824-20120824_1_south-austin-neighborhood-cops-shot-police-officers-shot

Internal regulation of police departments. (n.d.). Retrieved from Revisiting Who is Guarding the Guardians?: http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/guard/ch3.htm

Police Misconduct. (n.d.). Retrieved from Chicago Tribune: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/keyword/police-misconduct

U.S. Department of Justice. (2003). Principles of good policing: Avoiding violence between police and citizens. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.