Many police officers decide that it is best to use force. Even when it is not required. An innocent man asked a police officer to move his vehicle out of his driveway and the officer forced him out of his house. The officer had a “...history of brutality, attacked him, tasered him in the back, kidnapped him and threw him in a cage for weeks — causing him to lose his job, his house, and his dignity” (Algorist). This cop chose to harm an innocent man and risk his job over a simple question that could have been resolved in a much safer manner. The cop used force towards the man and the man was not a criminal.
A group of police officers pulled over a woman for a small offence and ordered her out of her car. She would only get out if they promised
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Even if the case involves people getting seriously injured and even killed by the officer. An officer had a man and a woman come out into a hallway to search for someone pointing a rifle out a window “Brailsford later told investigators that Shaver became uncooperative, made a "furtive movement" toward the waistband of his shorts, and that he feared Shaver was attempting to retrieve a gun. Brailsford shot Shaver five times” (Washington Post). The cop told the investigators his explanation of the events. “But Shaver was unarmed when shot, and the woman told a story that was different from the officer's. She said that seconds before being shot, Shaver was crawling toward officers, crying and saying, "Please don't shoot me.” Prosecutors said video from Shaver's body camera supported the woman's version of events. "Shaver was audibly sobbing as he crawled" toward officers, a police report said, adding that Shaver said, "No, please don't shoot me” (Washington Post). The woman had told a different story than what the officer had told and there was evidence to show whose statement was correct. The officer told a false statement and shot a unarmed
There has been two shooting of deadly force as I know of in our local department. I live in the city of Humboldt tn.There has been two incident after 2008. A person would not think it would have happen in such a small town, but it has been (Police officers charged in fatal shootings while on duty, 2016).
The application of force is often considered ethically neutral it can, under a variety of circumstances, constitute an abuse of authority. The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) defines the use of force as “that amount of effort required by police to compel compliance from an unwilling subject” (Police Use of Force in America 2001, n.d, p. 1). The IACP defines the use of excessive force as “the application of an amount and/or frequency of force greater than that required to compel compliance from a willing or unwilling subject” (Police Use of Force in America 2001, n.d, p. 1).
Police encounter different situations in their daily activities. The diverse nature of the circumstances implies that the members of the police also have to adopt different strategies of handling them. In some circumstances, the police have to use force as a way of addressing the situations. Unfortunately, when the police apply their own discretion in the use of force, the outcomes of this approach may end in fatalities or serious injuries. In recent times, diverse opinions have emerged in relation to the use of discretionary force. In some quarters, the use of discretionary force has been hailed as beneficial while in other case such as the 2008 Shooting of Tyler Cassidy, concerns have been applied concerning the appropriateness of the strategy. Against this backdrop, this essay examines whether the police use of force is a necessary component of the job and describes the benefits and limitations connected to the discretionary use of force by the police.
Police brutality is one of multiple forms of racial discrimination which involves unjustifiable violence by police officers. This term was first referred to in the works of the American press as early as 1872 in a report of a policeman beating of a civilian. These targeted civilian groups by police officers typically are those from powerless groups like minorities (Latinos and African-Americans), the youth, as well as the poor. There has been a notable lack of commitment in the criminal justice system or towards holding police accountable for their wrongdoings. Police brutality is an ongoing problematic issue in the U.S. today with police officers using excessive force that needs to be addressed immediately before more lives are lost and
Police Officer shoots unarmed teen to death. Police Officer shoots unarmed teen to death who is violently attacking an officer. Which one is a catchier headline? The first one may attract ratings or sell newspapers but it is not only unfair to the police, it is also unfair to the public being fed this type of information. For years, news outlets have been bad mouthing police and their tactics because it makes for good stories. This type of coverage is dangerous because it may cause police to not act as quickly as they should, and it gives the public the wrong understanding about police use of force. The Police use of force continuum can be easily understood by the public but, that will require knowledge of the subject matter to include reasons as to why police stop certain individuals and proper ways to treat police during an encounter.
Officers are trained to use certain measures to prevent an incident from escalating to brutal or deadly force and due to the environment of most minority communities, officers frequently have to resort to use-of-force. In a study by the Center for Policing Equity, which took three years to conduct, reviewed 19,000 cases of use-of-force by officers representing 11 cities between 2010 and 2015. They found that officers only employ use-of-force in 2 percent of all the police-citizen interactions, however African Americans were subjected to use-of-force 3 times the number of Caucasians, showing a disproportionality high difference (Williams, 2016). When interviewing police officer James, I asked, “When you have to pull your gun on a subject, what race is the individual, most
Most of the time, explanations about police use of force during law enforcement have relied on the racial threat viewpoint. Numerous studies have examined the relationship that exists between race and policing in urban cities. A variety of scholars have argued in the past that use of force is entrenched in the racial and structural composition of urban cities and the organizational climate of local politics and police departments. Structural conditions related to racial threat and social disorganization to some extent contribute to the breakdown in informal social control, resulting in increased rates of police use of force (Holmes & Smith 2008). Additionally, organizational climate of police departments is vulnerable to influence by ecological features of urban cities, creating a connection between residents and the political systems which in turn result in higher rates of police use of force. Studies have linked racial threats to police use of force during law enforcement, death penalty, interracial killings, and other forms of social control over particular races outside the criminal justice system in the US. Poverty and racial discrimination are playing a significant role in disorganization of the social environment in most urban cities. Putting all these factors into consideration, it becomes evident that cities with higher levels of social disorganization are less capable of regulating the behavior and actions of their residents. This to some extent calls for use of
(R. at 15). The driver “patently refused and started yelling” at Officer Dennehey, screaming things such as, “I don’t have to blow into that. You can’t make me take any test!” and “Fine! We’ll see who’s drunk.” (R. at 9 and 15). Officer Dennehey arrested the driver. (R. at 15). As she explained, “[r]efusing to take a breathalyzer is immediate grounds for arrest.” (R. at 15). Officer Dennehey told the driver that he was arrested for driving while intoxicated and continued following “standard procedure,” including frisking the arrestee “to make sure that [the person does] not have weapons hidden on their person. (R. at
Questionable behavior and complaints against officers can be filed by even the most violent of criminals. Often, the officer may restrain a potentially dangerous citizen, and be accused of excessive force. Overall, this results in not only a mark against the institution of law enforcement and the officer
Police officers legally can pursue force in a number of situations and scenarios. Officers are justified to exude force when they are intending to defend and protect themselves, the public, arrest a suspect, overcome defiance, or control a potentially harmful situation. The terminology “police use of force” has a unfavorable, pessimistic outlook that is tied to words such as harsh, severe and barbarous treatment. Due to the fact that law enforcement are equipped with exclusive authorizations to apply a variety of forces to make civilians comply with specific requests or wants. These negative connotations only destroy the relationships and trust between the police and the
only that degree of force that is reasonable and necessary under the totality of the circumstances to safely accomplish a legitimate law enforcement function.”(Phillips, 2017). To ride along with the misconduct of police there are also undoubtedly issues with violence from the public.
The idea of police brutality being a major problem in the United States has many people wondering if the police are there on the streets to protect the citizens, or to abuse them. Police brutality in the United States is not the problem. “Brutality Isn’t the Problem, It’s People Who “Disrespect Our Authority” (Grigg). Many individuals in the United States have the idea that it is all right to override a police officer’s authority that’s given to them to use to enforce the laws in a justified way properly. An important rule that the people fail to recognize is the fact that when a cop tells you to do something, then better do it to avoid
It is a part of the job for the police to use force. Once the an arrest ensues, then it is the job of the police to use the force necessary to carry out the arrest. One thing that the public often say in criticism of the polices use of force is “well, he only stole some [something worth a small amount of money]” or “[the arrested individuals] didn't do anything that bad to deserve that much force”. However, it does not matter what the crime is; the only thing that matters is that the officer makes the arrest. We in East Valley would urge their citizens to always comply with our officers, if our citizens always comply with our officers then there will be no more use of force complaints. This is because the officer will only use the force necessary
After performing this research about police use of force I hope to shed some light on this issue. The use of force has been come a big problem in our country today there are many things that we can do to help the people understand the use of force. I hope that this research has help many of you understand what police can and cannot do. Also shed some light on the differences of justified use of force and police brutality. As a officer, I hope that we can all come together and help stop the violent acts towards each other.
In most cases the police officers are legally allowed to partially use force. The public at large should expect this due to the nature of the police duties that require them to do so when appropriate. In order to deal with the disorderly elements of the society those who work in law enforcement agencies sometimes gradually develop a stricter side, or the sense of commanding authority over society, this is evident in the traditional reaction-based policing models; in most cases the police hold the belief that they are supposed to be above the law. (Merle, 2004)