Essay on Rodney King

The incidence indicated a perfect example of unethical decision making. It was a blatant violation of the employment laws and a proper illustration of the conduct of the police against public policy and interest. Vision and Mission of the LAPD The vision of the LAPD is to lead, support and give guidance to the department while partnering with members of the public of the community. The LAPD has the primary mission is to perform the fullest in potential in attempting to make the city of Los Angeles the safest city in the nation. In making the city the safest, the LAPD strives to make sure that there is established a proper foundation upon which a professional and a just society is built (Kappeler, 1998).

The financial settlement awarded to Rodney King was instrumental in making it possible for victims of police brutality and unethical decision making in the police can be punished while the victims compensated for their loss. This makes it easy for victims to claim compensation beyond the remedy of criminal sanctions against the police suspects and violators of civil rights of the people of Los Angeles. The law of tort and the decision of the court in the case of Rodney King were instrumental in making it possible for the LAPD to reconsider the text or letter of its vision and mission. In the current situation involving King, the police officers upheld the vision of reducing crime and fear of crime by pursuing offenders (Kappeler, 1998).

At the same time, the police upheld the mission and vision by pursuing an offender in the interest of protection of the people and property. According to the provisions of the statures hereinabove aforementioned, there should be equal pay during police employment, there should never be discrimination or harassment or any manner during the process of hiring, training, deployment. At the time of Kings case, 1991, the constitution of the US was affirmative of the rights of individuals such as King. The available employment laws in place were also protective of the rights of employees for fair remuneration and equal pay for equal work done (Herbert, 1997). Unfortunately, the legal framework at the time was not protective enough of the obligations of the police and accountability for their actions and omissions.

This is why King could only be protected properly through the use of the law of tort since the criminal allegations against him failed. The law of tort works to hold officers liable under civil claims based on tort such as assault or battery. Impact of Financial Settlement The impact of financial settlement is that the police officers violating rights of the people would be condemned to suffer financial loss by compensating the victims. To this extent, I would suggest that the mission and vision of the organization should consider the element of police brutality and expressly prohibit the use of unreasonable force. This can be enforced by making it certain that individuals in the police service who use too much force shall be held personally accountable.