Essay on Police as Public Servants

There has always been a perception that police officers are more of crime fighters and less of public servants given the nature of work they do. The view held by many people of criminals being the "enemy" who are considerably different from law abiding citizens while considering the police as an "army" mandated to wage war against the "enemy" deepens the perception even further. Police are thus bestowed with the responsibility of using any means necessary to ensure that criminals are apprehended and appropriate legal actions taken against them. Some of the actions taken by the police as crime-fighters may sometimes result in the use of force against the criminals which is contrary to the mandate that they should assume as public servants.

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As public servants, the police are expected to treat criminals just like they would treat any other citizen irrespective of the crime committed. Even thought the criminals engage in unlawful activities, they deserve to be treated with respect since they also have a right to fair treatment. Being public servants, the police are thus expected to serve everyone, including the criminals. Use of force by the police in such situations becomes unacceptable.

In the New York Daily News newspaper, the case of how the police handled the matter involving armed criminals gave a clear insight of the role of the police as public servants. They swiftly responded to the call of duty and on arriving at the scene, found weapons which they later confiscated. As public servants, the safety and security of the citizens was top on the list of their responsibilities which they assumed with efficiency. The police managed to seize weapons and drugs from the suspects. They cleaned the streets of the drugs and ensured the citizen's safety and security by taking the guns and other ammo (New York Daily News, 2017).

With armed criminals in the streets, the security of the citizens is always in jeopardy as most of them stand high chances of becoming probable victims in case of an event orchestrated by the criminals ensues. Drugs in the streets are known to be the primary drivers of people engaging in unlawful activities either due to the side effects or addiction, which means that the addicts go to extreme lengths to ensure that their "thirst" for drugs is quenched. This, in most cases, threatens the safety of the citizens. The cops from the New York Police Department thus showed a great deal of commitment and service to the general public by putting their lives on the line just to ensure that the streets remain clean of any unlawful activities conducted by criminals (New York Daily News, 2017).

Their service to the public was also evident in the way they handled the whole situation. They did not use force to arrest the criminals as they sought for a search warrant first, before proceeding to seize the ammo and drugs. They exhibited true service by according the criminals the respect they deserved as citizens whom they had the ultimate responsibility of serving.

The cops, therefore, acted in service to the interests of the public making them more of public servants as opposed to crime fighters. They treated everyone involved in the case, whether victims or criminals, with equity and fairness while ensuring satisfaction with the services that they offered as public servants.

Works Cited

New York Daily News (2017) http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/2-arrested-cops-find-cache-weapons-drugs-queens-home-article-1.2972234?cid=bitly