Introduction.
According to Means, R. (2004), Section 1983 was meant to create a right to sue anybody who took away another person's constitutional rights. The ordinary and universal rights that can attract a lawsuit include first amendment issues like freedom of speech, association, and worship. It is, therefore, important for police to understand the Section 1983 since it has become their suing point. Due to the effects and cost association of section 1983 Liability Lawsuits arising out of violations of these rights, the paper seeks to put more light on training of police as regards: how much training is enough, whether an Attorney is needed for the training, how often the police should be taught and finally the policy I would recommend to the Chief Executive, warden, commissioner, sheriff and or any executive role with which I must deal.
Moving on to the importance of an Attorney in a training of police in fathoming the implications of violating protected human rights, it is practical that different views can be made. Others may argue that hiring an Attorney is damn expensive and only raises the costs of litigation. In this view, the perspective of peer training among the police officers or the police being trained by their seniors is considered cost effective. However, Warren Spenser (2007) holds that such lawsuits are usually expensive when they occur, and hence prevention is better than incurring the costs at a later stage. I fully concur with this idea. Since the cases involving violations of civil rights are usually litigated in the court of law, I find it necessary for police to receive training from such people who are familiar with the issues involving the court, and to this extent, Attorneys are relevant. Apart from the Attorney helping in winning cases brought against the police, they are of great help in ensuring the police fully understand the necessity of compliance with the set standards of behavior. This understanding will reduce the chances of repeated lawsuits against the police.
Having considered the importance of Attorney in the training of police, the number of times or extent to which they should undergo training is an issue of great importance. According to Means, R. (2004), the Supreme Court, in the case of Monroe V. Pape, that only people could be sued under section 1983 depicting a scenario that government entity could not be sued and that potential plaintiffs without deep pockets could be declined to use the statute. The implication of such verdict could be considered by the police as a breakthrough and instead, encourage them to violate human rights. However, frequent training should be organized in such a way that the police do not just view human rights in the line of their career duty but as part of their responsibility to protect both property and humanity in general. The department policy should, therefore, be updated with each new case to develop their ability in analyzing potential anticipated law suits and training the police in such lines. This is important as it would reduce the costs incurred by the department in handling litigations in a court of law.
Finally, understanding what policy is can easily help explain the types applicable to various departments in the human resource as regards the training of police. First, plan members should be kept abreast of criticality involved in training which forms part of defense in civil liability cases. Secondly, for any policy to work effectively, any violations that go against it must be hastily corrected. To this extent, the following policies, in general, can be applicable to the departments charged with training process: forming and maintaining systems to collect information on pursuit driving, system for reviewing and updating search principles, policy to evaluate the need for pursuit-specific training, policy for supporting written principles with education and supervision and policy requiring that officers justify their actions or have a supervisor evaluate a pursuit.
Putting the plans into perspective, the chief executive (police) should be in a position of forming and keeping systems to gather information on law pursuit driving. This would help determine the impact of local principles on police pursuit. Warden, on the other hand, should review and update policies due to the questionable nature of laws already put by the agencies. Besides, the police commissioner should evaluate the need for training police for a specific pursuit so as to enable the officers to understand how the structure of the litigation process is. Such training can also be deemed useful to the police by helping them avoid such misconduct or violation of rights that may have led to the pursuit. Sheriff being part and parcel of the training session process, he needs to observe individual policies as regards the training of the police. To being with, Sheriff should back up all written principles with close supervision. This recommendation is helpful for record keeping purposes on how certain litigations have been handled. This can be used in future in case such cases come up again. Secondly, Sheriff should require that officers justify their actions or have a supervisor evaluate pursuits especially when actions are found inappropriate.
Conclusion.
In conclusion, Section 1983 gives general guidance on the kind of human rights that are protected in law which attract litigation process when violated. The police training is, therefore, necessary to avoid costs and other potential effects of being sued.
References.
Means, R. (2004). Chief's Counsel: The History and Dynamics of Section 1983. POLICE CHIEF, 71, 10-12.
Warren, S (2007). Suggested Topics For Training Police Departments In Section 1983 Liability.
