10 Jul Q1.  Issues and trends in the recent years that I feel lies with

Q1.  Issues and trends in the recent years that I feel lies within criminal justice pertains to local law enforcement, and federal law enforcement, which is excessive use of force and unnecessary use of deadly force while on the job. The third topic is why officer seem to target or profile these individuals based off age, gender, and race. Law enforcement officers (LEO) and federal law enforcement officers are hired to serve and protect citizens of the United States.  These individuals that work in this occupation are sworn to protect.  These individuals also must possess certain attributes. These attributes must consist of good ethics, life values, and integrity (Malmin, M. 2015).  Issues with this is that some individual may not have these attributes or loose these attributes over time, where they were ethical decisions, and loss of integrity send them in a downward spiral. This could lead some LEO astray where they make the wrong decisions, in a short time where they use excessive use of force (Malmin, M. 2015).  Other reasons why officers utilize excessive use of force is because it is a lack of supervision by the department, or they see other officers conduct business in this manner, or it could just be a lack of training and experience (Malmin, M. 2015). Ounce a LEO begins to go down this path of using excessive force it will only get worse from there if a supervisor or fellow officer does not correct the officer on his or her deficiencies. This could lead to unnecessary use of deadly force. Unnecessary use of deadly force is caused by many different aspects on the behalf of the officer, which ultimately causes issues when dealing with the community, which also ruins any progression when trying to use community base policing (Stafford, M. D. 2019). The number one attribute that leads an officer to use unnecessary deadly force on a possible suspect is fear, but it could also be from police believing they are above the law, and believing they are invincible (Stafford, M. D. 2019).  Another major issue that lies withing law enforcement agencies is profiling or targeting individuals or suspects.  Which could also lead to excessive use of force and ultimately lead to unnecessary use of deadly force over time. The issue with this unauthorized ethical decision it is against the law to profile, any individual by age, race, gender (Edwards, F., Lee, H., Esposito, M., & Edwards, F. 2019).     These issues stated above are a huge issue when it pertains to law enforcement officers across all departments or agencies.  I would argue the fact that use of force, and the use of deadly force is a needed policy if it is used properly within the force continuum provided by the departments. An officer has the right to defend one’s self, or others as well as protect ones life if it came to using deadly force, which should be a last resort. ReferencesMalmin, M. (2015). Police misconduct, racism, and excessive use of force-failure analysis, commentary, and recommendations. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 3(08), 1.Stafford, M. D. (2019). Influence of police officer fear and use-of-force outcomes (Order No. 13902120). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2284221388). Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/docview/2284221388?accountid=8289Edwards, F., Lee, H., Esposito, M., & Edwards, F. (2019). Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race-ethnicity, and sex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(34), 16793–16798. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821204116Q2.Throughout my studies, while fulfilling degree requirements within the Criminal Justice field an array of pertinent topics come to mind.  The area of constitutional violation concerns and officer suicides certainly stimulated my curiosity in exploring further.  From the surface, what one may consider as unconstitutional, especially when dynamic events unfold rapidly, they are also heavily criticized instantly, due largely in part to the readily available use of social media in today’s society.  For these reasons, I have selected to present the following two topics for consideration and approval: constitutional concerns surrounding the use of police canines, as well as suicide amongst law enforcement officers. Perhaps one of the most common constitutional violation claims are Fourth Amendment related in nature.  Furthermore, though citizen’s rights are in fact violated in some instances, issues such as these are also found to be constitutional and upheld by the Court.  To an uneducated citizen, a warrantless canine sniff appears to be unreasonable, but courts, at all levels, have often found warrantless canine searches actually to pose no violation.  Most notably, the case of Florida v. Harris (2013).  The case centered around a request to suppress evidence stemming from a traffic stop and the use of a police canine, who ultimately positively responded on Harris’ vehicle during an open-air sniff (‘Florida v. Harris, 568 U.S. 237 (2013)’, n.d.).  Harris argued that a violation occurred from the warrantless search conducted by the canine team and that the canine’s alert was false, thus failing to establish probable cause.  Ultimately, the Supreme Court reversed lower court decisions, citing that a dog’s reliability in the field is not needed to establish probable cause, therefore finding the warrantless canine search to be constitutional (‘Florida v. Harris, 568 U.S. 237 (2013)’, n.d.).Next, and most importantly, the sensitive issue of suicide amongst law enforcement officers has undoubtedly become a systemic problem.  Officers are perceived by the public as being strong figures that are without weakness.  However, they are all human and these noble expectations are unrealistic.  Like the rest of us, law enforcement officers have risk factors for substance abuse issues, family conflicts, and mental illness (Courts & Mosiniak, 2015).  Law enforcement officers are faced with an enormous amount of stress every day.  Be it required overtime due to understaffing, lack of meal breaks and rest periods, the types of crimes they respond to, and the things they see in the line of duty.  Officers are often found in unexpected situations that include violence that increases the potential for death to themselves and others.  This threat, in particular, leads to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and burnout, which are believed to contribute to suicidal behavior (Courts & Mosiniak, 2015).  Evidence suggests that the level of post-traumatic stress that officers endure is on par with that of the military (Courts & Mosiniak, 2015).   Law enforcement officers have higher rates of suicide than the general public (Courts & Mosiniak, 2015).  In conclusion, though both of these topics have sparked substantial interest, I would like to further analyze the topic of suicides amongst law enforcement officers.   Proposed thesis:Suicide is a systemic problem that plagues law enforcement officers; stress, burnout, and preexisting mental illness being the causative factors.ReferencesCourts, L., & Mosiniak, S. (2015). Police Officers and Suicide: An International Literature Review. Law Enforcement Executive Forum, 15(4), 81–96. https://doi-org.ezproxy1.apus.edu/10.19151/leef.2015.1504g Florida v. Harris, 568 U.S. 237 (2013). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/568/237/#tab-opinion-1970559