Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice
Student’s Name
(Institution)
Criminal Justice
I agree that rookie officers will in most cases tend to emulate the behaviors of their field training officers. Just like kids, these officers will have a close relationship with their seniors. Therefore, they will tend to copy whatever action they observe from their trainers. When in training, training officers are supposed to guide or rather prepare the rookie officers on how to behave when in a real job (Getty, Morris & Worrall, 2016). As such, the various actions, behaviors, and decisions made by seniors are likely to have tremendous and everlasting effects on the junior officers. For example, when in training, if trainers openly take bribes from the members of the public, there is a likelihood that the trainees will view this act as a norm and therefore, the possibility of them being corrupt is high.
One of the fundamental skills leaders possess is the ability to influence others. Through their actions or decisions, they can quickly impact the decisions and actions of their followers. In this sense, when in training, rookie officers are likely to emulate actions of their seniors (Caro, 2011). Even if the move is wrong, rookie officers are expected to imitate since, in their minds, they may think that they are just following what to them might seem to be the rules of the game. If a senior officer takes a bribe and then lets a criminal go scot-free, they may deem the act of taking a bribe to be one of the rules of the game.

To stay in the game, therefore, they are likely to take bribes when in their real jobs. This is how such leaders influence the actions of their juniors. Everybody has somebody he or she looks up to and therefore to be like them, they will strive to behave like them.
References
Caro, C. A. (2011). Predicting state police officer performance in the field training officer program: What can we learn from the cadet’s performance in the training academy? American Journal of Criminal Justice, 36(4), p. 357-370. doi: 10.1007/s12103-011-9122-6.
Getty, R. M., Morris, R. G., & Worrall, J. L. (2016). How far from the tree does the apple fall? Field training officers, their trainees, and allegations of misconduct. Crime & Delinquency, 62(6), p. 821-839. doi: 10.1177/0011128714545829.