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Police Operations

Essay by   •  July 30, 2012  •  Essay  •  2,168 Words (9 Pages)  •  1,409 Views

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Police Operations

Police Operations

There are many types of Police operations. Policing in general has a wide range of different kinds of strategies and areas. To begin with one of the most important, in my opinion in police operations is the dangers of policing. The main principle that contributes to policing in general is the danger that comes with this sort of job. As police officers they are putting their lives at risk each and every single day. They are never certain of what will happen. The minute they start their duty they can encounter all sorts of problems with all sorts of people. They deal with some of the most violent people and not to mention dangerous people as well. There have been numerous occasions in when officers have lost their lives after responding to a crime call. It happens very often, these officers are never guaranteed that they will be safe when the respond to a crime call. The dangerous of policing can start as simply as pulling someone over for running a stop sign or simply for a light they have off, or a suspended license registration. Over all, the reason for an individual getting pulled over in unbearable. Bottom line is that if an individual gets pulled over for any of the above mentioned reasons does not mean that the person is not capable of having a criminal background, a warrant, or violent past. When officers pullover an individual they really have no clue what kind of person they are about to encounter. As officers it is very important that they are cautious and alert at all times. There have been stories when officers respond to calls and the individual retaliates on the officer, this issue has cost officers life in the past. It is a very unfortunate situation but that is the job as a police officer. The dangers that cause over half of all police deaths are traffic incidents. In 2009, 56 officers died in the line of duty by traffic incidents. According to data from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reported traffic remains the largest cause of death for 12 years running. In 2009, 47 officers died by intentional gunfire up 24% from the previous year and gunfire claimed the lives of 38 officers. These are the two major cause of death in policing and an increasing concern for different tactics which require more effective means, such as body armor for example. (Keating, M.2012). Police operations are extremely demanding activities that challenge policemen by strict load, working memory, and fast rational thinking. Such activities should never be underestimated as human life is in jeopardy every time police operations take place. Police operations task demands are to great extent dependable on task complexity due to the fact that the performance becomes better when the task is less complicated and may get worse during difficult tasks Although the latter challenges human factor in terms of intellectual intensity, time pressure, and enormous responsibility, it does develop profound professional skills if only thorough training aimed at self-discipline and self-organization is carried out

Dangers of policing

Each day an officer awakes to go to work his or her life is in danger. The dangers can range from getting into a car wreck on the way to work, while responding to a call, poor nutrition, assaulted on the scene of a call, and from handling of apprehend suspects. Driving is part on an officer's daily duty; however, that does not make him or her immune to a car crash. Physical harm is one of the greatest dangers to any and all police officers. An officer could be assaulted or attacked by an armed criminal at any time or place. A lack of adequate back up is another prime example of a dangerous situation for a police officer. Although a police officer should not pursue any situation in which he or she is widely outnumbered, and without back up, this is always a possibility. (Copblock.org 2010). Police officers never know when a person will attack, so transporting a person to a jail or prison can be a very dangerous position to be in. Not only do police officers have to pay attention to what they are doing but also must be aware of the other hundreds of vehicles to who they are sharing the roadway. When an officer gets into a police chase, the likelihood of a wreck increases significantly. Therefore, an officer must have a valid reason to initiate a car chase. Another danger to an officer is the issue of his or her health. Police officers normally work rotating shifts and eat large amounts of fast food. The rotating shift alone can make someone's health fail, let alone adding the fast food to it. Shift work can have terrible effects on one's circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms, also known as the body's internal clock, are a 24-hour cycle. The rise of the sun and nightfall affects the rhythms (Copblock.org 2010). When the rhythm is interrupted by rotating shifts, this can cause sleep disorders and very unhealthy eating patterns. Another danger would be that both police workers and officers experience various tasks, interpersonal and physical demands during police operations that the majority of ordinary people never come across at their work or in their families. These requirements and stressors negatively influence a physical and psychological condition that may lead to more serious physical or mental damage or interruption. Role and physical demands for policemen can develop a condition of constant overload called hyper stress. Typically, the number of queries concerns and emergency calls exceeds the time assigned to a particular police worker. Therefore, not only is the quality of the time given to each separate case and that's why each case at risk, the mental and physical condition of the police worker is in constant jeopardy. Regarding investigators, they experience heavy caseloads for which they are expected to follow prescribed case management criteria. Also, they find themselves within very limited time framework set by prosecutors who may keep them under the pressure to finish the process as fast as they possibly can, so that the case can reach the trial. Insomnia or permanent tiredness is often caused by hyper stress, as well as weight loss /gain and different degrees of impairment of mental processes. On the contrary, hypo stress may emerge from input under loads for police workers who work a 3rd shift and accept few or calls during night hours. One of the most influential task demands is resistance to stress and ability to cope with sudden interruptions. Experts say that highly indicated factors may have negative effect on police

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