Criminology

Police misconduct and use of force can be broken into three categories, unarmed, deadly force and nonlethal force. Each category has its own advantages, disadvantages and ideal situation for use. Nonlethal force technology is a still evolving technology promising enhanced control methods with minimal impact to recipients.The concept of the police force as an organization that is responsible for protecting people developed from the idea that the military is like a Praetorian Guard of ancient Rome. The Romans got a high level of law enforcement which carried on until the decline of the empire as well as the Middle Ages (History of Police Forces).
    Regardless of style of policing, uniformed patrol officers are the backbone of the police department, usually accounting for about two-thirds of a departments personnel. Patrol officers are the most highly visible components of the entire criminal justice system. They are charged with supervising specific areas of their jurisdiction, called beats, whether on foot, in a patrol car, or by motorcycle, horse, helicopter or even boat. Each beat or patrol area is covered 24 hours a day by different shifts. The major purpose of patrol is to
Deter crime by maintaining a visible police presence.
Maintain public order (peacekeeping) within the patrol area
Enable the police department to respond quickly to law violations or other emergencies
Identify and apprehend law violators
Aid individuals and care for those who cannot help themselves.
Facilitate the movement of traffic and people
Create a feeling of security in the community.

There have been several instances of police misconduct and racial profiling as well as dehumanization.  They can harass individuals and this can lead to abuse (Baseless Arrest Demonstrates Need for PoliceAccountability). Police responsibilities are immense they may suddenly be faced with an angry mob, an armed felon, or a suicidal teenager and be forced to make split-second decisions on what action to take. At the same time, they must be sensitive to the needs of citizens who are often of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. The first national private police agency in the United States was begun by Allan Pinkerton in the early 1950s. Since the public urban police was concentrated on public order and a host of other duties, it became the job then of the private police to enter into the picture of protecting property and detection of crime (Morn, 1975118).
It was revealed that not only do police deny access to pertinent materials that are even public in nature but the way they deny them to people seem abrasive and arrogant. Police officers think that if they provide access to this information, this would interfere with the ongoing investigations on the case. They also think that the act would violate the privacy of the people involved. While there is some truth to this, this is no reason to deny outrightly the access to such data that may be needed by researchers. There is a kind of paramilitary mentality that the police know what is best and that they are in control of everything. It is also possible that the police fear, as too many public officials in other settings do, that releasing records might somehow embarrass or incriminate them. (Conclusions and Recommendations).
When looking at the concept of organizational culture among police, one will see several paradoxes. There are accounts of police deviance caused by cultural traits. For example, solidarity can create unsatisfaction between the rank and file. At the same time, this kind of solidarity unites the members of the workforce. Some may extol the virtues of teamwork while others will view it as some kind of arrogant clique. Many police leaders have been thwarted in their attempts to engender change in the organization due to existing cultural barriers inside their own departments. Much of the research regarding police culture appears in the literature relating to police deviant behavior, ethics, and misuse of force and discretion (Brown, 1981 Cohen  Feldberg, 1991 Goldsmith, 1990 Reuss-Ianni, 1983).
It is important, though, to remember at this point is that when we talk about police culture, we are actually referring to the police sub-culture where each member of the police is a mix of the various attributes from the broader American culture. . While White male officers continue to form the majority population, the hiring patterns over the past 15 years have brought many women, Blacks, Hispanics and Orientals onto American police forces. Each of these groups brings with them a variety of cultural traits that weave into the fabric that becomes the police sub-culture (Conclusions and Recommendations). Police culture is sustained through the way new members are selected, trained, and accepted into the police ranks. Most police agencies require applicants to go through a rigorous series of steps prior to being hired. These steps are designed to insure that various criteria that have been deemed important to the organization are met. The outcome of the process is intended to ensure that only the fit will ultimately be hired. It is left to other studies to debate the job relatedness and the necessity for each of the entry level requirements.
              One of the main problems in the police system is the lack of sufficient recruitment management, training and development, and management development in police departments. Recruitment and training lack foundations on ethics is needed in conducting operations. At the core, there is insufficient provision on discourses relating to the specific authorities of the police as it is positioned with regards to the rights of the people. This lack of training leads to police departments lacking clear process structures that would define their authorities in law enforcement in the country (Public accountability and transparency). This leads us to the second argument. Police brutality that arises from lack of standards would create massive public terror and fear of law enforcement, which would undermine the sense of security that police departments should provide.
Police use of brutality undermines the efforts of the country to fight violation of human rights. This is important in the context of United States leadership in human rights issues, especially in the Middle East. This comes from the lack of management capabilities in the police department, which results in problems of implementing sanctions and punishments for not following procedures. The process of reporting arrests and incidents lack robustness. This means that the system of reporting is not embedded in human rights protection. The system also lacks sufficient capabilities for monitoring, oversight, and accountability systems that would help the police department to effectively curtail the incidents of abuse (Shielded from justice Police brutality). The system of reporting allows for cover up and protection of police officers that have committed abuse of authority and power. The inaction of police departments results in problems of persistent abuse of human rights in the United States and an increase in public distrust of the police department.
Trends in police abuses are not reported because they are usually not monitored. As a result, police departments are unable to respond efficiently on the problems of police brutality. Certain plans to curtail abuse also lack basis because of insufficient information. This results in lack of deterring effect on abuse incidents. High profile abuses are the only ones acted upon albeit minimally just to quell public exposures on police brutalities.
    At the core, police brutality is a violation of human rights. The occurrence of police brutality is an irony considering the law enforcement or the police are symbols of the capacity of the country to protect the rights of their people. The continuous occurrence of police brutality is instilling a different image of our law enforcers. While not all of them are using their force to inflict abuses on arrested or imprisoned people, the over all respectability of the institution is at stake. Police are a very important source of security in any country. The inability of the police department to provide protection to its citizens, criminal or not, undermines the safety and security that the police department would like to deliver. It is, therefore, very important that the police department revitalize their processes and ensure that accountability and responsibility of law enforcers are preserved in all of the steps in the operations.    
For many years, preventive police patrol has been considered one of the greatest deterrents to criminal behavior. The visible presence of patrol cars on the street and the rapid deployment of police officers to the scene of a crime were viewed as particularly effective law enforcement techniques. However, research efforts have questioned the basic assumptions of patrol. The most widely heralded attempt at measuring patrol effectiveness was undertaken during the early 1970s in Kansas City, Missouri, under sponsorship of the Police Foundation, a private institute that studies police behavior (Kelling et al.).
    In sum, police authorities and forces need to improve the kind of information that they give out to the public according to the needs of the local communities. Police authorities need to improve public engagement and use more unique methods that are appropriate to the local communities.