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PAPER#1 JOHN
One of the biggest concepts law enforcement deals with is mental illness. It is not just dealing with the mentally ill while on calls, but it is dealing with their own mental illness. “A mental illness is a disorder of the brain characterized by disturbances in thoughts, feelings, or social adjustment.” (Police Officers and Mental Illness, 2017). The average officer will respond to over 800 critical incidents over the course of their careers. The average person will only witness between three and five critical incidents over the course of their life. Suicide amongst police officers, firefighters, and paramedics is a real concern that does not get talked about. Especially in the political climate and the dislike of officers. There are more officers each year that commit suicide than officers that die in the line of duty.
There is a lot of talk in regard to mental illness and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder amongst officers. Despite all the talk, there is still very little being done to treat officers. Employee’s Assistance Program is offered, but only a very few agencies have debriefed and mandatory counseling sessions after critical incidents. “Behavioral Health Training (BHT) for police officers is a preventive strategy that can 1) increase awareness of specific problems that characterize a subset of law enforcement professionals, 2) provide psychoeducation concerning both risk of and protective factors for possible difficulties, and 3) facilitate efforts to identify problems as early as possible and intervene with personnel before they become resistant to change.” (Hasselt et al., 2020, P. 3)
References
Police Officers and Severe Mental Illness. (2017, April). Officer.com. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A489784178/ITBC?u=tel_a_bethelc&sid=ebsco&xid=50b62f5c
Van Hasselt, V. B., Klimley Margres, K. E., Geller, S., & Rodriguez, S. (2020). Behavioral Health Training for Police Officers: A Prevention Program. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 1–8.
PAPER#2 JACOB
Today in Law Enforcement officers face many more challenges than they ever have. As a Sheriff Deputy in my town I can explain the challenges we face in my area. The most challenging thing we face is short staffing. Another challenge is the attitude some of the citizens have towards law enforcement, which makes our jobs a lot harder. Also police corruption is another issue we face.
Many departments across the country are facing short staffing issues. Being short staffed puts us officers at a disadvantage, because our job becomes more dangerous. Also with short staffing calls tend to build up which make it harder on the officer as well and the public. With the amount of calls officers receive today, it’s hard to keep up. Many officers are retiring due to the hate they receive from the public and others are moving to other departments that pay more.
Another big challenge officers face is the look citizens have on Law Enforcement right now. I see it mostly coming from the big cities, but smaller counties have a few as well. I can proudly say my hometown is a big supporter of law enforcement. With a town that does not support law enforcement, that in itself would be a big challenge. As Craven states, “For the first time ever, a majority of Americans do not express confidence in the police, with only 48% of people maintaining faith in the institution” (2020). Without trust from our community it is hard to successfully do our job.
Another challenge is police corruption. As stated in the book, “Almost nothing is more distasteful to the public than a police officer or whole department gone bad” (2020 pg. 291). This is another challenge for police officers because it puts a bad image on the good officers. I am glad to say I work for a small enough department that we do not have that issue.
References:
Bohm, R. M. (2020). Introduction to Criminal Justice (10th Edition). McGraw-Hill Higher Education (US).
Cato.org. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2021, from https://www.cato.org/blog/our-police-embrace-deceit-it-any-wonder-we-dont-trust-them.
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PAPER#3 CHARLES
Cities across the country are still debating police discretion because it implicates fundamental questions about the role of police in American society, the disproportionate use of violence by the police against young black men, and racial discrimination in the criminal system (Gerstein & Prescott, 2015). Much of the debate over the proper scope of police discretion centers on reforming the criminal code to eliminate minor crimes or decriminalize. Minor crimes are a big problem, usually imposed without counsel, with a little process, and often regardless of factual guilt or innocence (Gerstein & Prescott, 2015). Within a time span of 10 years, Americans were charged with and detained on misdemeanor offenses approximately a million times. These cases have serious long-term consequences for defendants, our criminal justice institutions, and their families. They create criminal convictions and criminal records crowding our jails (Gerstein & Prescott, 2015).
According to Transparency International, among governmental institutions, the police are commonly identified as one of the most corrupt institutions. “Corruption has been recognized as one of the major obstacles for economic growth and development” (Gutierrez-Garcia & Rodríguez, 2016), Undermining the credibility of the entire criminal justice system, police corruption may even foster a perception of impunity for crimes. Therefore, in some cases, discretion can be intertwined with police corruption because of human rights abuses, the discretionary use of force, and the perpetration of a culture of impunity (Gutierrez-Garcia & Rodríguez, 2016).
Gerstein, C., & Prescott, J. J. (2015). Process Costs and Police Discretion. Harvard Law Review, 128(6), 268–288.
Gutierrez-Garcia, J. O., & Rodríguez, L.-F. (2016). Social determinants of police corruption: toward public policies for the prevention of police corruption. Policy Studies, 37(3), 216–235. https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2016.1144735
PAPER#4 TYLER
A certain level of discretion is required in certain duties that law enforcement must carry out. When law enforcement is interacting with the public there is a certain level of discretion that must be used. There are several decisions that require law enforcement that require the law enforcement officer to use discretion simultaneously. With anything there are advantages and disadvantages just as law enforcement discretion has both. Some examples of advantages are discretion allowing law enforcement officers to make decision when there is not a clear solution. It is important principle that discretion allows each law enforcement officer to have the flexibility to handle situations in the manner they feel best meet the need of the situation. It is also an advantage for law enforcement to use discretion when using force to keep the community safe. Discretion allows for the law enforcement officer to assess the situation and determine the proper level of use of force to use. Another advantage is the principle of discretion allows law enforcement officers to pick and choose their enforcement opportunities. Discretion allows for resource allocation is another advantage. Some disadvantages of law enforcement discretion and that can cause discretion to intertwine are that statutory laws do not cover every potential situation. Discretion be an invitation for cronyism. Discretion can lead to violation orders and lead to the use of excessive force. Discretion can lead to soft law enforcement mechanisms. Some officers may use discretion as a form of unlimited authority. People with wealth tend to receive the most benefits of law enforcement discretion. It is a principle that gives the law enforcement officer the benefit of the of the doubt (Miller, 2020).
Miller, B. (2020). 16 advantages and disadvantages of police discretion. Green Garage. Retrieved from https://greengarageblog.org/16-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-police-discretion#:~:text=The%20principle%20of%20police%20discretion%20allows%20a%20law,needs%20of%20the%20individual%20and%20their%20overall%20community.
PAPER#5 JADE
In chapter three of our text book you can find one of my favorite short stories that I have read so far in this class. “Senior Picture Day” by Michele Serros is a story of a young girl who is bullied because of her looks. In this story, the main character overhears a friend describing things about her to a boy and is astonished at how her supposed friend calls her nose “Indian”. She never thought there was anything “wrong” with her nose until then. Her anxieties about this description lead her to squeeze her nose daily to try to change the shape of it, and decides she wants to have the best school picture in her senior yearbook. “...squeezing my nose just a little bit more. I do it because today is Senior Picture Day and because I do notice the difference. I might be too skinny. My chest might be too flat. But God forbid I look too Indian” (Serros, 2000, paragragh 66).
This symbol of the school picture is what I find I can relate most to in this story, because I have had similar things happen to me in high school. I believe most young girls experience some sort of bullying in school, or on social media, that makes them second guess the way that they look. “Among the 1,034 tweens who responded to our survey, 816 (nearly 80%) had some exposure to bullying in any of its forms: as a target, aggressor, or witness” (Patchin & Hinduja, 2020, p. 16). Most people can say that they have had doubts, at some point, about their looks. This is why the picture is a big symbol to the meaning of this story. This symbol is easily found in the title of the story, and is brought up multiple times to emphasize that the main character is very worried about the way others see her, and that this picture will be in the yearbook for everyone to see. The backstory of why she is so worried about her looks also emphasizes why the school picture is so important to her. This story is one of my favorites because I believe most people can relate to it. This story also brings to light how people can feel just fine in their own skin until someone says something is “wrong” about it, and to what extent they will go to change the way they are perceived.
Serros, M. (2000). Senior Picture Day. Unit Three Read. Retrieved 2021, from
https://www.betheluniversityonline.net/cps360/default.aspx?SectionID=3628&tabid=155 #/unit/3/Read
Patchin, J. W., & Hinduja, S. (2020). TWEEN CYBERBULLYING IN 2020. STOP TWEENCYBERBULLYING. Retrieved 2021, from
https://i.cartoonnetwork.com/stop-bullying/pdfs/CN_Stop_Bullying_Cyber_Bullying_Re port_9.30.20.pd
PAPER#6 MAGGIE
Despite being asked to choose a story that has been my favorite so far, I am instead choosing the story that stuck out to me the most, as I did not really have a “favorite”. The short story that stuck out to me the most so far is “No One’s a Mystery” by Elizabeth Tallent. The reason this story stands out to me is that this story is about infidelity, specifically the kind of infidelity that happens between adults over the age of 21 and people just at or under the age of 18. This is an issue that happens a lot more than people care to acknowledge, which is part of what draws my attention.
While many things in this story about the theme, characters, and the other elements of fiction are fairly clear and obvious, I do think this story contains a few symbols that could easily be skipped over by most readers. One of the first symbols I notice is held within the title of this story. While “No One’s a Mystery” is supposed to be an obvious connection to the Rosanne Cash song that is said to be playing in Jack’s truck, I believe it is symbolic in saying that people are predictable, ergo, not mysterious. I see this symbol because the relationship described in this story is a cliché. The older, already married man is in a secret relationship with a girl who just turned 18, and it is said that the girl has known Jack for two years (Tallent, 1985, as cited in Barnet et al., 2016). From this line, we can deduce that she was about age 16 when she began seeing Jack. Although Jack’s age is never out-right determined, I deduce that he is at least 21 years old or older. I base this on a couple of things: he is already married, and it is said that he had a bottle of tequila in his lap (Tallent, 1985, as cited in Barnet et al., 2016). The tequila is the most telling evidence of his approximate age, as the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was signed for legislation on July 17, 1984, and “No One’s a Mystery” was written and published in 1985 (National Minimum Drinking Age Act, 2020). Another part of the cliché here is that the narrator, the girl, is convinced that Jack will divorce his wife within the next 1-3 years in order to be with her. Regardless of if this notion was a delusion she created or if it was a promise Jack made to her, men rarely end up leaving their original spouses in these situations because they are typically at risk of losing more by ending the marriage. For example, in most divorces, the women are typically granted continued possession of property and children, which leaves the men to have to find residence somewhere else and having broken relationships with the children, if there are any.
This analysis brings me to the next symbol. In this story, Jack forces the narrator to get down and hide in the floorboard of his truck as they pass his wife driving in the other direction (Tallent, 1985, as cited in Barnet et al., 2016). This is symbolic of the relationship between Jack and the narrator and the cliché I described because if Jack was at the point of being ready to divorce his wife and committing fully to the narrator, he would not have made a big deal out of hiding the narrator. Another symbol that indicates that Jack has no intentions of making his relationship with the narrator anything more than a secret affair is the diary he gives her, as well as the things he suggests she will write in it. The diary is bound with a lock and key, which symbolizes the secrecy of their affair. Jack also predicts that she will write things like, “…I wonder why I spent so many days just riding around in his pickup. It’s true he taught me something about sex…” (Tallent, 1985, as cited in Barnet et al., 2016). The mere fact that Jack would say this is an indicator that he knows, or at least suspects, that his relationship with the narrator is not meant to last for any long period of time and that their affair is based on nothing more than sexual needs for him, despite the fact that the narrator may truly love Jack. All of these other symbols and indicators of the main cliché depicted in this story tie into the first symbol I mentioned regarding the title, “No One’s a Mystery". It all very clearly demonstrates the meaning behind the chosen title.
References
Barnet S., Burto W., Cain W., & Nixon C. (2016). Literature for Composition: 11th Edition. (p. 97). https://betheluniversityonline.net/cps360/
The National Minimum Drinking Age Act. (2020). National Youth Rights Association. https://www.youthrights.org/issues/drinking-age/legislative-analysis/
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