Abuse of discretionary powers of law enforcement officials Essay

The United Kingdom has been targeted by terrorism several times over the past years and the result has been devastating for both family members and government alike. In the hopes of history not repeating itself, law enforcement in the United Kingdom has adopted several new techniques and strategies to establish a sense of security for the nation and its' citizens. Law enforcement officials have been endowed with more powers than before and many uphold their oath of protecting the citizens and the nation's governing laws but there are occurrences where certain behavior becomes ambiguous and wrongful. This issue has become increasingly noticeable in recent years with unlawful shootings, chokings and beatings of innocent civilians (Penny, 2011).
Law enforcement plays the critical role of maintaining control and providing security in our everyday lives. Of course not all law enforcement officials have the same mindset or mentality. Some officials abuse the powers granted to them and make irrational decisions based on different social, economic and racial factors that may be present in certain circumstances or scenarios. Some social factors include the lifestyle, religion, sexual orientation and even relation to other family members that an individual may maintain. Some economic factors include the wealth accumulation within a household and the yearly income of an individual. Some racial factors include a person's origin, race and ethnicity. Any of those different aspects could be the reason why law enforcement officials could treat certain individuals in a very destructive or demeaning manner (Seneviratne, 2004).
A vast majority of the public in the United Kingdom has adopted this methodology of policing as a norm in society. As time has progressed and the norm of law enforcement officials
Law Enforcement in the United Kingdom 4
abusing their power prevails and continues to rise the public has become doubtful and even scared to call them in dire emergencies. However, there are those who state and believe that the new policing methods are ethical in providing security for its' citizens and nation. Thus, the public opinion is formed and can only be represented by the beliefs and opinions of the individuals being questioned about the plausible issue. Some fully comply with the new policing methods while others are firmly against it.
The main purpose of this research proposal is to evaluate if law enforcement in the United Kingdom abuse their discretionary powers based on certain social, economic or racial factors as mentioned previously. The reason being is because in recent years, there has been an increase in situations where law enforcement officials have killed innocent civilians without any due justification. These innocent civilians have been shot, choked or beaten to death at the hands of an official. The only way to address the issue is to extract it, piece by piece, from its roots in the hope of preventing this problem not only in the United Kingdom but also around the world whether it be in the form of policy reform and revision or punishment of the law enforcement individuals involved.