1.4: Authority of Office

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Police authority is an awesome power that provides opportunities by police to intrude into the privacy and liberty of individual members of society. Inclusive in this list, but not exhaustive, is the right to enter dwellings, limit freedom to total restraint of freedom, search vehicles and dwellings, and most extreme is the justifiable taking of life. All of which is legally permissive, if performed in accordance with legal obligations. Police officers are provided discretion to legitimately proscribe unlawful conduct and behaviors contrary to a peaceful environment. Equally, this profession is often called upon to perform pubic service to the citizens served. This entails controlling public behaviors, traffic control, persons in need of assistance, and service providers when no other agency is open or available. In fact police record many instances annually that they are first responders for services that ultimately may be transferred to other service agencies. More often than not the service may be provided to elements of society that are powerless and disenfranchised. Regardless of whom a service may be provided, it is essential that the authority is not purposely misused or abused.

Because the authority is provided to the gatekeepers of the CJ system through laws, rules, and regulations provided within the guidelines of the Social Contract discussed briefly. Most citizens of a free society will want the police to have this authority but not carte blanche. Interestingly society will want the civil and military authorities to perform their duty without hesitation to interrupt criminal or terrorist acts. However, this is not without increasingly higher levels of oversight and supervision (Pollock, 2010). Police officers through over 18,000 police agencies nationally, conduct millions of police/public contacts daily and most are without fracas or fanfare. The media and the courts generally do not find interest in routine police/public contacts. The smaller percentage of close calls gain the attention of media and the courts.

The public as a whole generally will pay little attention to the grand and glorious document penned into flaming gold by James Madison and his cohorts, The United States Constitution. That is not until the document favors them in some fashion. The U.S. Constitution is omnipresent with the thousands of cadre of the CJ system. First and foremost the Constitution provides guidance, ethics, moral conduct expected and an Oath of Office for those that serve to uphold and protect the contents within the four corners of the document. I say with little hesitation that the majority of America’s protectors, both civil and military, take the Oath of Office with obligation, strength of purpose and intent to perform their tasks with enthusiasm and will rarely find themselves on the wrong side of the issue. Guardians of our guardians are required to appropriately supervise and take punitive action for the small percentage that do not get it right. Ethical leadership will be discussed further on in the material.