Cja 444 - Criminal Justice Observation Paper

Criminal Justice Observation Paper

CJA/444

December 2, 2013

William Barnes

Criminal Justice Observation Paper

Criminal justice system workplace environments are upheld to the same standards as most workplace environments not part of the criminal justice system. The management, culture, systems, laws, and influential stakeholders all play crucial role in the criminal justice agencies. This paper will explain the environments in basic police departments including the culture, leadership, and also positive or negative influences of each factor and give examples of what management should do to improve the original environments in police departments.

Leadership

In a basic police departments there are different levels of leadership. The Chief of Police overseas the entire department including the non-operational elements. The department works with a rank structure which includes: patrol officer, sergeant, lieutenant, captain. The non-operational elements in a department include the services, staff services, and auxiliary services. The Chief would be classified as upper management, the sergeants and captain are considered the middle management, and the officers and patrol officers are considered lower management. Leadership holds the example of how officers should act, there has been many cases involving corrupt officers. If leadership holds their organization with high integrity and high values, communities can show the respect to officers they deserve.

Culture

As mentioned previously regarding police leadership, integrity is a crucial element in the criminal justice system that involves culture. Developing and maintaining a culture of integrity must take into account components outside the police organization. A diverse police department is an important factor as well to have. Everyone encounters a language barrier all the time, it is important the police departments across the United States hire a diverse amount of officers. There should always be officers that can speak the language of that particular area it would be great, so they feel the connection and security of their law enforcement. Creating a diverse police department also displays that individuals regardless if he or she is a victim or a witness, may feel more omfortable to offer information to a police officer. Culture should be maintained through a department