Low Morale among Police Officers

The second assignment is to analyze the issue, identifying the public safety administration concepts and challenges involved. The analysis should identify if the issue is truly an issue or symptom (see Content for information on how to tell the difference), how the issue developed, how it sustains itself, and how it relates to public safety core concepts, including ethics. The issue at this point needs to be shown in light of a single organization. Present your analysis in a 12- to 14-page paper (no abstract required, but must inclLow Morale among Police Officers

Low Morale among Police Officers

The police department is one of the agencies in the US that caters to the public safety needs of its citizens. Police officers work in collaboration with the fire department and emergency medical teams to deal with various emergencies across the country. However, the police force is marred with diverse administration challenges. Such problems, if left unsolved, can adversely impact the abilities of police officers in effectively doing their jobs and facilitating public safety. This paper discusses an administrative-level challenge that most individuals at the management level are faced with as they lead the officers below them. The discussion aims to sensitize the current police administration officers on how to handle the challenge and enhance police efficiency with respect to public safety.

The management of the police is a difficult task. Currently, there is a legitimacy crisis that the police force in the US is facing, which makes many officers engaging in de-policing. Officers are withdrawing from their duties due to low morale caused by the public’s low confidence in their abilities to carry out their duties as required. (Wolfe & Nix, 2016). Over the years, certain actions by the police force have let a lot to be desired. For instance, actions such as racial profiling and the utilization of force when handling people from minority groups have caused fear among many citizens who no longer trust the police officers. Although only a few rogue officers are responsible for such cases, the whole police force is affected. Consequently, many officers have low morale on the job, which affects their productivity. Without public support, it becomes quite challenging to do one’s job effectively. The administration is faced with the task of dealing with this challenge and ensuring officers are psyched up for the job.

How the Issue Surfaced

The issue can be traced back to the days when slavery was still rife in the nation. The police force originated from a task force that used to deal with slaves and ensure that none of them escaped captivity. Such individuals would even raid the houses of whites in case they suspected them of harboring escaped slaves. Over the years, this mentality that minority groups are inferior has resulted in institutionalized racism being practiced by the police force (Edwards, 2016). At times, even whites are subjected to poor treatment from the officers. While only a few officers are responsible for this, the current public feel that all of them are the same. This has led to institutions such as the Black Lives Matter movement to protest against brutality from the police. Constant harassment from the police has done nothing much to ease the tensions between the public and the officers.

History Connected to the Issue

The issue of poor behavior from rogue police officers can be traced back to the 19th century when slaves and the poor whites complained of discriminatory policing. Many immigrants were unfairly treated by people who were supposed to give them protection. Over the years, this trend has continued and nothing much has changed. Furthermore, the police force has had a history of group solidarity whereby, any challenge to one officer is met with a show of force from the rest of the officers regardless of the type of challenge. This is why over the years, protests against the police are always met with force.

Throughout history, African Americans have been at the forefront of facing brutality from rogue police officers. There have been numerous anti-brutality campaigns in this regard with very little improvement. Consequently, good officers have always faced a challenge on how to balance between the solidarity of their brothers and how to effectively carry out their duties. These good officers lose morale, which affects their productivity since they cannot connect with the community. As a result, many of them resign to avoid the pain of divided loyalties between the rogue officers and the public they are meant to serve.

How the Issue should be analyzed

The first step is to outline the reasons behind low morale among the police force beyond those discussed in this paper. This is likely to shed more insight on the issue at a deeper level. Second, an analysis should be conducted on what the police administration has done over the years to deal with this situation and ensure officers have high morale. This analysis will include reasons why these solutions have not worked out so far. This will aid in pointing out weaknesses in the solutions to create new recommendations that will improve police morale. These recommendations are likely to have several categories since this issue runs deep and will take years to resolve. Nevertheless, good recommendations will ensure that rogue officers are kicked out of the force and the issue of institutionalized racism is eradicated. In turn, this will increase public belief in the police which in turn raises the morale and productivity of police officers.

References:

Edwards, C. (2016). Race and the police. Retrieved from https://www.policefoundation.org/race-and-the-police/

Wolfe, S. & Nix, J. (2016). Managing police departments post-Ferguson. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/09/managing-police-departments-post-fergusonude title and reference pages).

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