There are numerous types of police misconduct that officers can engage in. Many do not know this, but police officers do not have to be on the job in order to be guilty of misconduct. Here are some common types of police misconducts.
Racial profiling is when a police officer uses someone's race or ethnicity as a justification for suspecting that person of committing a crime. This is often a case of police officers using racial stereotypes and their own inherent biases to uphold the law in their skewed viewpoint. This is a rampant issue across the country and unfortunately happens to minorities everywhere.
A common way for officers to act poorly is to convince individuals to give false confessions. This is when they convince someone who is innocent to plead guilty. Oftentimes, this sort of behavior is to protect the person who is truly guilty of the crime. Or sometimes it is out of prejudice against the individual and wanting them to be found guilty despite not knowing, or caring, about the true outcome.
Witness tampering is one of the more common types of police misconduct, because it is one that is tough to enforce. This sort of behavior concerns an officer who attempts to either change a witness' testimony or wants to prevent a witness from testifying in a criminal or civil proceeding. Thus impacting the outcome of a certain case and impeding justice.
Selective law enforcement pertains to times when a police officer arrests someone simply because they dislike the person for one reason or another. This sort of selective law enforcement also pertains to instances when an officer chooses not to punish someone who should be charged with a crime simply because they like the person or know the person. Here the office is "selecting" which laws he will enforce and which he will not instead of treating everyone fairly under the law.
Some officers will attempt to persuade officials to either pass or keep laws that work to give police more power and excess power, which is dangerous and leads to more police misconduct.
This is a situation where a police officer wrongly engages in bad behavior in order to get what they believe is a positive result. Or, in other words, the police officer believes that the ends justify the means, which is not up to one officer to decide on a case-by-case basis and amounts to an officer essentially acting as a vigilante above the law.
Other common types of police misconduct include:
So if you believe you or someone you know has been the victim of police misconduct, please reach out to our law office today.
The term police misconduct refers to illegal or inappropriate action engaged in by police officers and can include a slew of actions ranging from discrimination to obstruction of justice. Due to the advent of the cell phone, there has been an increase in police misconduct since we are able to see more of their inappropriate actions with photos and recordings. The awareness is higher than it has ever been, but that does not mean it did not exist before and does not mean it is all captured. So, if you believe you are the victim of police misconduct and are seeking legal recourse, reach out to our law office today.
When you reach out, we can provide you with a no-obligation consultation to go over your legal predicament. Located in West Hempstead, New York, our law office handles police misconduct cases from across Long Island.
