Today’s law enforcement officers are faced with difficult challenging issues. Being trained efficiently is most important so they know how to respond to the many different issues. According to Schmalleger (2011), corruption, on duty dangers, deadly force, and racial profiling are just some issues today’s law enforcement has to deal with. Multicultural society is one of the main challenges that police officers face on a day to day bases.
To “protect and serve” is the number one duty of law enforcement. According to Schmalleger (2011), it is important as a police officer to understand and respect the different habits, customs, beliefs, patterns of thought and traditions of the people. Law enforcement officers need to be able to have an understanding on the differences of a multicultural society and a lot of the issues that occur can be resolved. Another problem that has been an issue is corruption. There are a lot officers that perform their job according to the law but there are those few that do not. Schmalleger (2011) stated, “Police corruption is the abuse of police authority for personal or organizational gain” (p.269). Unfortunately, police corruption affects not only the police officers but also their community, the police department, and other police departments worldwide. Police corruption comes in the form of violent crimes, bribes, property bribes, and denial of civil rights.
On duty dangers are just a given to becoming a police officer. Being a police officer is one of the most dangers jobs to have. On the job dangers can range from stress to car accidents, to getting shot. The fear of a violent crime on a police officer and their family by a criminal as result of retaliation is always there. When it comes to use of force police officers are allowed to use reasonable and necessary force if needed. However, when using