In my post regarding problems with policing, I discussed the lack of speedy trial, police abuse of power, and police funding. It is difficult to find a solution for all these matters because there never seems to be a solution that appeals to everyone. However, I thought of few possible solutions that can be the impetus for solving these issues.
In the first problem of speedy trial, I believe that we could enforce a law that limits the time a person could be held in jail before trial. There is a rule in the New York’s Criminal Procedure Law Section 30.30 that trial should be ready in “six months of the commencement of a criminal action wherein a defendant is accused of one or more offenses, at least one of which is a felony.” However, this does not mean a trial should be taken place within six months, but that the prosecutor has six months to claim that he/she is ready for trial. Therefore, we are not exactly enforcing the law of speedy trial. There should be more campaign that pushes for speedy trial so that people do not wait years like Kalief Browder for trials that might not even happen. There could also be a campaign that raises awareness of this problem in the community. If people become more aware and speak out against it, there will be a pressure for the government to act upon it.
Another problem I addressed was the police abuse of power. This abuse of power seems to arise due to the lack of education that causes police officers to act upon their instincts. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the average basic recruit training time is 18 weeks, or about 5 months. The minimum educational requirement is high school diploma or GED. I do not believe the training time or the educational requirement is enough to be a police officers. There should be certain classes that people have to take so that they may be more mentally prepared for whatever situation they might be in. Regarding the news I mentioned in the other post, the main issue seems to be the lack of correct judgment from the police officers. If they learned more about human behaviors through psychology, they might be keener to people’s gestures and actions. Rather than relying on their instincts, psychology can help officers to better pinpoint suspicious actions.
Furthermore, funding is a big problem in policing. If we do want to educate police officers more or put a body camera on every single one of them, we would need a lot of funding. The solution cannot be increasing taxes because that would simply anger the people. Therefore, I feel that funding can be increased by lowering the amount of people being incarcerated and reducing the number of prisons being built. There is more money spent on putting people in jail, rather than saving money for other uses. If we focus more on lowering the incarceration rate, there will be funding available to help the police department. As Brendon Beck has mentioned, the SAFE Parole Act and Milk not Jails should be something we should be enforcing. Therefore, I believe it is more important to focus on using the fundings we already have for a different and better use.
http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/id=1202638065307/The-Undoing-of-Speedy-Trial-in-New-York-the-Ready-Rule?slreturn=20150126001537
http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/nycode/CPL/ONE/C/30/30.30
http://discoverpolicing.org/what_does_take/?fa=training_academy_life
http://discoverpolicing.org/what_does_take/?fa=requirements
Hey Yeji, I really like the solutions you suggested to all these issues facing policing. I agree that many prisons are not allowing their convicts a right to a speedy trial. What I find interesting and maybe what your solution should look into is the number of convicts who were not allowed a speedy trial and their racial or economic background. I think the issue of prison conditions and trials that come up in policing vary depending on factors such as if the incarcerated person is a minority or of a lower economic background.
I also think you make a good point about the abuse of power in the policing system. A major factor of police abuse of power comes from their lack of proper training. While I believe it is necessary to train police officers thoroughly I might suggest that instead of usual training, which relies heavily on the use of weapons in a number of situations, police officers can be trained to handle non-emergency situations without the use of a gun. Programs that call for hand-to-hand combat training can be extremely beneficial to officers and with these programs we can maybe avoid many awful acts of police brutality like the act involving Eric Garner in New York City.
I like the solutions you recommend. They seem not only good, but actually implementable. More trials occurring in a shorter amount of time means less time prisoners must spend in jail and thus less money spent on holding them. With respect to training officers on body language, I agree with what you mentioned in class about having to have training be continuous as people forget things and there is always more to learn. I also think that to ensure that the training is take seriously, officers should be evaluated periodically on their retention and use of such training. If an officer is not taking the training seriously, or using it when necessary, the they should face some form of repercussion. I think that one reason police officers become so corrupt is because unlike with other jobs, they can get away with many forms of misconduct without facing many consequences. Showing police officers that, like with any other job, misconduct or lack of use of proper training may result in repercussions or even loss of ones job will lessen the likelihood of officers abusing their power.
I agree entirely that officers are inadequately trained in psychology and human behavior. I looked at the Police Academy’s curriculum while researching solutions to the problem of distrust between the NYPD and civilian communities, and I was surprised to find that new recruits are not required to take any humans skills-related classes prior to graduation (“Police Academy”). The Police Academy tries to fit in a lot of information during five months of training, but many subjects are inadequately taught or overlooked entirely. The NYPD likely lacks the financial resources to extend the training period for new recruits, which has led me to consider the idea that perhaps it should require officers-in-training to pay for their own education. This is the norm with most professions today – if you want to be a lawyer, accountant, etc., you will have to pay for your own training. If new recruits even partially pay for their own education at the Police Academy, the NYPD may be able to raise the funds that it needs to lengthen the training period and provide a more adequate education to members of the force. The extended training time and tuition will likely deter a number of potential recruits from applying to the force, but this may actually be a good thing because it could weed out the people who are not serious about the job and instead view it as easy money. I believe that the perks of the job will still far outweigh this cost. Officers earn over $90,000 after just 5.5 years of experience with the force, far more than what many white-collar jobs that require an undergraduate degree pay (John). Therefore, requiring future officers to pay for their own training should not be a huge deterrent to applicants.
Works Cited:
John, Ciaran, and Demand Media. “Salary for a Rookie Cop in the NYPD.” Work. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2015. .
“Police Academy.” Police Academy. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2015. .
Yeji, I agree that speedy trials are not as “speedy” as the name implies, but what exactly are you proposing? Raising awareness is not enough to attack this issue. As it stands, I agree, the loopholes in the law are not okay and need to be changed. But that is a long-term solution that will not come without a fight. I think we need some kind of short-term plan to hurry along the many cases that are stuck in the system right now. Perhaps we could offer some kind of incentive to the prosecution to get the trials completed faster. As for your second proposal about police abuse of power, I do not think that higher education is the solution. I think a better solution is more police training. I do agree with your idea about psychology. Perhaps classes such as those you mentioned (i.e. behavior psychology) could be incorporated in a more well-rounded and reformed police training. Your last point, about funding, is a very interesting one. More funding from lower incarceration rates is not really a solution in my opinion. Funding increases are a product of successful solutions that case law enforcement to be more sustainable and efficient.