Training Police Departments in Section 1983 Liability (Essay Sample)

Legal Issues
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Training police departments in section 1983 liability
Section 1983, which is a federal statute, implements a right to sue any individual who deprives one of one’s constitutional rights, acting under color of state law. It is of significance for police officials, especially those in high levels, have knowledge of section 1983 because it has become the recognized tool for suing police. In all police departments, the training of police officers has been considered to be of significance for the reason that the current environment is very litigious. Making sure that police officers get the correct and enough training is the most fundamental task a police department should face. Training raises the chances of police officers to win confrontations and provide them confidence in regards to from lawsuits. Through training, also the level of confidence of community is raised. The provided training should cover all necessary tasks that an officer faces, not only the criminal catching task. It has to be oriented toward what exactly the officers are required to know for the importance of them performing their job accordingly. As analyzed by Vaughn and Coomes (1995), police officers spend most of the time on non-crime calls types. Thus, it is as well of significance for them to receive training in the humanistic or interpersonal areas.
There is necessity of attorney to be included in police training task. The significance of this is that the attorney will provide all necessary types of trainings to the police officers because he knows what police are supposed to do and what not to do. In addition, education is also another critical area to consider as it is becoming the focus of police departments when performing the task of hiring new officers. It is the role of administrators to acknowledge the necessity for their police officers to be educated as well as trained accordingly (Matrix Group International, 2015).
There is a certain number of state mandated training hours as well as courses in which police officers should attend each year. Despite that, it has been analyzed by one study that within 6-18 months of cutting training, law suits will start to be filed under section 1983 for failure to provide training. Almost all suits that are filed against police officers, their departments and municipalities are due to failing to train the officers. Therefore, the simplest and easiest way to avoid these lawsuits is to provide enough training to the officers. The monetary cost for training police officers is high and at the same time it is less expensive when compared to fighting a lawsuit. Currently, plaintiffs are prevailing in about 1/3 of the lawsuits with an average payout of $450,000 (Veic & Cajner Mraovic, 2004). Nevertheless, even in the lawsuits where the municipalities existed, still they were out a significant amount of money that was used for defense costs.
There is necessity of department policy to be updated with each new case. Police officers possess broad powers to carry out their duties. Nevertheless, constitution and other laws place limits on how far a police officer should go in attempting to enforce the law. Section 1983 is the primary civil rights law victims of police misconduct in which they depend upon. The law is intended to curb oppressive conduct by government as well as private individuals participating in vigilante groups. Currently is referred to as Section 1983 for the reason that it where the law has been published, within Title 42, of the United States Code (Alpert & Dunham, 2010). This law makes it unlawful for any individual that acts under the authority of state law to deprive another person of his or her rights under federal law or constitution. The most common claims that are brought against police officers include false arrest or imprisonment, malicious prosecution and excessive use or unreasonable force. In order to avoid these claims, it is of significance for police officers to be provided with quality training.
The significance of police training is to develop the required attitudes skills and knowledge that will enable police officers of all ranks to perform their roles as well as responsibilities. The intention under this action is to contribute to continuous improvements through training in policing services to the community. The equality principles as well as fairness to ...