Along with courts and corrections, law enforcement is one of the three main elements of the criminal justice system in the United States. Governmental police forces are the primary means of enforcing the law. The police department has always had to deal with internal and external challenges. Police officer misconduct and unethical practices such as corruption are a big issue. There are a number of approaches that can be used to minimize police officer misconduct, one of which is to improve new recruit screening processes. Background checks, drug screenings, and interviews are some of the screening methods that can be used to weed out unsuitable candidates from the pool of candidates. The Multiphasic Personality Inventory (Savage, 2007), which was designed to assess personality traits and behavioral patterns unique to fitness for law enforcement, is the most widely used screening tool. This tool is important because it can reliably classify people who have failed in law enforcement and help them avoid being employed as police officers.
Improved training and efficient monitoring, as well as assured disciplinary measures, can be enforced after police officers have been recruited, resulting in a decline in officer misconduct. Training is a critical component of enhancing police ethics. Officers with further education are less likely to be terminated from the NYPD (Kane & White, 2012). Police forces are required to have ethics training in the academy and in-service courses. This training provides job-specific ethics for the recruits, in-service officers, management, and other police units.
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According to Gutman (2019), recruiting a college graduate over candidate without a degree would improve police ethics. This is because education enables officers to connect with the community more effectively. Higher education has been shown to improve police officers' professional training in the academy or on the job. Critical thinking, moral reasoning, and openness to diversity are all enhanced by effective teaching. All of these skills, when combined, help mitigate officer misconduct and are essential for an effective police force.
References
Gutman, A. (2019). Legal issues related to hiring and promotion of police officers. Handbook of Police Psychology , 72-93. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429264108-3
Kane, R. J., & White, M. D. (2012). Predicting police misconduct. Jammed Up , 87-106. https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814748411.003.0005
Savage, S. (2007). Police reform: Forces for change (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
