Modern Policing

Throughout time the police have had one major function and that is to serve and protect the public. Policing is different in every country in the world; therefore, we cannot generalize that the police perform their job without issues in every country; however, in Canada and United States the police have done an excellent job in reducing the rates of crime, but they have done a horrible job at maintaining their public image and have not resolved multiple other major pressing issues. Thus, some government research funding ought to be directed towards analyzing the causes and effects of these pressing issues of modern policing. The first and most important modern policing issue is that some police officers have had trouble respecting the fundamental
Secondly, civilian oversight boards such as the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), as discussed by Curtis during his lecture, do not have a lot of power and can only make suggestions to the police force. There has been a lot of resistance from police against oversight boards as well who do not want an outsider or civilian looking into their matters. Finally, internal disciplinary procedures are not effective because offending officers usually receive a slap on the wrist by their superiors and the ordeal is kept under wraps so that the force is not scrutinized by the public or the media. Thus, currently there are almost no limits on the police’s legal powers and use of force (or on the powers and use of force by private police) and they are not constrained by other laws. Therefore, we need to do more to hold police accountable and prevent officers from using more force than necessary. It is true that public police engage in racial profiling, but this is not an effective means of reducing crime rates. Wortley and Owusu-Bempah stated in their article that their findings suggested that race mattered. Indeed, black racial background appeared to be a master status that attracted police attention and significantly contributed to police decisions when they conducted street interrogations. To the police, young black males represented the usual suspects
According to one of the student presentations, there has been an increased militarization of police. The reason behind the militarization of police is that it increases the officers' safety and enables them to protect unarmed people, especially in Canada where the public are not as armed as the public in the United States. For instance, it was mentioned in the presentation given by a group of students that the RCMP are carrying MP5’s in Ottawa to guard Parliament Hill, and municipal police are buying armoured military vehicles. These vehicles and sub-machine guns can be used to protect citizens; however, the issue is that they can also be used to harm citizens in a more efficient way by rogue police