Force: The Use Of Force

By the late 1800s, police officers were issued firearms to counteract the better equipped criminal. In recent years, there have been resurgences in the importance of non-lethal and less-than-lethal weapons for law enforcement use. However, the devices in use today are worlds away from in terms of technology compared to what their police forefathers used. Generally, the use of force by law enforcement officers is permitted and often necessary under certain circumstances, such as in self-defense or in the defense of another individual or group.

In our research study we hope to show that the goal to Tasers it to provide law enforcement with alternatives to deadly force in order to minimize harm to both community members and police. We also want to show that no use of devices or techniques may be safe to everyone, but that we can't look just

Sometimes, it really depends on the officer’s mood and mentality toward his or her job. Some officers may never have to use deadly force, while others use it daily.

Technology used in policing enhances law enforcement organizations’ ability to function because it has improved police databases, reports, tracking, and forensics (DOJ, 2004). In addition, a less-lethal weapon is designed to disable, capture, or immobilize a suspect without killing them. However, occasionally deaths do happen as a result of less-lethal weapons which include kinetic energy, electrical, acoustic, and chemical weapons. Furthermore, violence, disease, and infected evidence are dangers that law enforcement officers face today.

There are two types of force in police work. One is non deadly force and the other is deadly force. Non deadly force is force that, when used, is not likely to result in serious bodily injury or death. Now just because it is not deadly does not mean you can run around and be using non deadly force because you feel like it.

The point of view in the story “The Use of Force” is in first person narrative. This conveys inner the inner thoughts of the narrator as the doctor. The doctor is a reliable narrator and an observer. I feel that his personality is brought out in the doctor. So the doctors thoughts and behaviors are a reflection of the authors.

Training of deadly force is an important aspect of law enforcement, not only to train officers/agents properly on when to use deadly force, but to avoid lawsuits against officers and agencies. The

There is a life preservation policy that has been ignored more and more lately. Officers are told to do everything possible to refrain from taking life. Unfortunately, however, some decide to take the easy way out. What many people do not know is that other officers are supposed to stop the use of excessive force. In these instances, the officer who is using too much force needs to be turned in to the supervisor to prevent this from being a constant occurrence. Officers are not allowed to choke or strangle, however, videos show some officers doing far worse than that. Things could be handled in a number of different ways such as talking calmly to the civilian, keeping distance, and trying to refrain from being viewed as a threat ("Police Use of Force Project").

The use of deadly force in extreme situations goes back several hundred years when it was first admitted as a right during the early nineteenth century as sheriffs realized that they needed to kill certain threatening individuals in order to protect others. Thousands of police officers were killed during the recent decades and this raises an alarm regarding the authority to use deadly force. Individuals criticizing this right have to acknowledge that police officers fight with the purpose of preserving a peaceful world and are constantly exposed to criminals who are unhesitant about

It is safer for the officer to use a taser against a combative suspect rather than using hand to hand combat. Using hand to hand combat puts the officer and suspect at greater risk for potential injury. Researchers conducted an analysis of 12 of the largest agencies on the east coast. The analysis confirms that in those 12 agencies using a taser was safer than using hand to hand combat (Bulman,2010). Tasers are safe when used on a healthy person. Although they are safe to use on health person the officer has to follow the guidelines of the manufacture to ensure the safety of the people. If the person is on stimulant drug while being tased it increases their chance of injury. Those stimulant drugs include methamphetamine, crack, cocaine, ecstasy, and caffeine. Not all officers are trained to tell what kind of drug a suspect is on just by the way they act. Officers are careful when dealing with suspects who are on drugs but only are able to do so much before they have to use force to ensure their

They are trained to shoot the criminal at a certain place so that the criminal is incapacitated and subdued. Once a criminal is incapacitated and subdued, they will then be of no threat to the officer and the public, which is why the officer would need to use lethal force in the first place. “Police are trained to shoot center mass, meaning the center of their target, said Klinger. Combative individuals can still pose a threat to police and the public when shot and wounded, or while running away. "Even if you could shoot them in the arm or leg, it can still be a threat of harm. They can still shoot back," Klinger said. "The idea that a person running away doesn't present a threat to the officer is ludicrous."” (Nelson). Police officers are trained to shoot at the centre mass because it is bigger and therefore easier to hit. If you miss the person charging at you, the criminal, could get to you and cause you harm. If someone is armed and a threat, the officer should use deadly force because if the criminal is just injured and managed to incapacitate you because you did not follow your training, they can still harm and kill innocent people. Police officers are taught and trained to use deadly force as quickly as possible once they have determined that it is needed. The officer’s primary goal is not to wound a suspect or criminal, or even to kill them, but to stop them from fleeing and causing more harm. To recap, because police officers are allowed by law to use lethal force and are trained to use it, police officers using lethal force is

This use of force matrix utilizes a graded approach whereas an officer will use only the force necessary to exercise and arrest. Law enforcement officers may use that amount of force necessary to effect the lawful purpose intended, provided that no reasonably effective alternative to the use of force appears to exist at the time the force is used. The privilege to use force is not limited to the amount of force necessary to protect themselves or others, but extends to that amount reasonably necessary to enable officers to effect the arrest or otherwise neutralize the resistance of a subject. If a suspect refuses to be arrested the officer will have to utilize a higher level of force dependent upon the suspects actions. For example, if a suspect is resisting arrest, the officer may use a taser or other force methods to arrest the individual. An officer cannot simple resort to higher levels of force without proper justification. Officers must utilize only the force which is necessary and justified. There are times when an armed suspect may prompt an officer to use the highest level of force, deadly force, if he feels him or another person’s life is in jeopardy. The result of not going utilizing his weapon on this use of force scenario could mean death to the officer or the public.

Use of fire arms as the choice weapon by police officers have been around since the late 1800s. Police departments started issuing firearms to police officers in a response to better-armed criminal populations, (Bulman, 2010). Recent studies have shown that less lethal weapons decrease the rate of police officers and suspect injuries. Because evidence supports less lethal weapons for police officer, many law enforcement agencies have agencies are stressing the use of less-lethal weapons. In the early 19th century, the less than lethal weapon of choice was the wooden club, (Bulman, 2010). Less than lethal weapons have evolved to technology such as conductive energy devices (CEDs), commonly known as the Taser.

This journal article discusses data on various types of less then lethal use of force weapon systems and the effect they have on the suspect and the officer who was forced to use it. It examines the future of police action and new advances in suspect restraint systems (Albert, 1999).

This proves that taser is an effective non-lethal weapon that can be used to subdue the criminals. Here are some possible advantages of taser guns, first, taser is a non-lethal weapon. As we may have already know, tasers are meant to take down the suspects without injuring or killing them. Also, it is safer to use in a situations where there are many bystanders in the scene, since tasers do not harm people around the intended suspects. This also leads to the second point of avoiding the usage of lethal weapons. So far, 1689 people have been killed by the police in a crime related actions (May, T. 2014). By promoting the usage of tasers, police officers around the world can lower the number of suspects being killed in the scene. Using the lethal weapon also dangers the suspects, police, and the bystanders, because firearms are a lethal weapon that can take away lives easily. Tasers also requires minimal training to use the functions, which also makes the officers and other security related people to easily use tasers in action. On the other hand, typical fire arms requires more training time to properly use them in order to avoid any accidents with it. Fourthly, by using taser, the injury rates dropped significantly. Taser have been used within law enforcement agencies from 1998, and from that time, according to the Taser International, taser helped lower injuries among officers and