Criminal Justice

🛡 Physical & Ethical Dangers of Police Work

Physical Dangers

  • ~105 officers killed per year in the line of duty

  • ~50 deaths from suspect encounters, ~50 from car incidents

  • ~53,000 assaults on officers annually (FBI)

  • Safety rules: avoid unnecessary risks, prosecute attackers relentlessly, harsh punishments for harming officers

Mental & Emotional Strains

  • Stress = the greatest danger

  • Top stressors: fear of violent crime, exposure to victims, strict compliance with law, lack of support, negative media

  • Other stressors: low pay, paperwork, shift changes, lack of sleep

Use of Force

  • Force used <2% of encounters

  • Post‑Rodney King: only minimum force against credible threats

  • Agencies use “Use of Force Matrix.”

Categories of Force

  1. Trained Technique – academy standard

  2. Dynamic Trained Technique – trained + improvised

  3. Untrained but Justified – unconventional but necessary

  4. Pushing legality – unreasonable, disciplinary risk

Techniques

  • Soft: pepper spray, taser, tear gas

  • Hard: baton, flashlight, physical force

  • Deadly: firearm, lethal force

Tactics & Hazards

  • 21 ft. minimum distance vs knife

  • Don’t shoot at moving cars

  • Squad car placement matters

  • Polite criminals can be lethal

Landmark Case

  • Tennessee v. Garner (1985): deadly force is unjustified if the suspect poses no immediate threat

Profiling & Ethics

  • Profiling = controversial, must be tied to suspicion of illegal activity suspicion

  • Ethical dilemmas: force, bias, off‑duty conduct, corruption, decision making

  • “Hemingway Test”: immoral if you feel bad after

Corruption & Accountability

  • Types: property crimes, bribes, gratuities, denial of rights, violent crimes

  • Accountability: Internal Affairs Units, civil liability

đźš” Police Strategies

Response Times

  • The public sees them as a performance measure, but they don’t strongly affect catching criminals

Crime Mapping

  • “Hot spots” patrols

  • 3‑1‑1 non‑emergency line

  • General patrol: random in high crime areas

  • Directed patrol: focus on specific crimes

Arrests

  • Reactive: respond to crime/call

  • Proactive: target crime patterns

  • Broken Window Theory: disorder → more crime

Stops

  1. Mere encounter – casual, non‑coercive

  2. Investigative detention – Terry stop, search for contraband/threats

  3. Custodial detention – arrest + Miranda rights

Interviews vs Interrogations

  • Interview: witnesses/victims, gather info

  • Interrogation: suspects, extract confession

Interrogation Techniques

  • Isolation, rapport building, waiver of rights

  • Open questions, accusations, false evidence ploy, themes, and confession support

Community & Youth Programs

  • At‑risk youth programs (e.g., Norristown Boxing)

  • Neighborhood watch = proactive policing

  • Problem‑oriented policing = focus on patterns, prevention of crime through community collaboration and strategic problem-solving initiatives.