Police Brutality : The Use Of Unnecessary Force And The Effective Force

-By definition the term police brutality is “applied in the context of causing physical harm, it may also involve psychological harm through the use of intimidation tactics beyond the scope of officially sanctioned police procedure.” In today’s society we have police known as riot police, who are known throughout the world to use extreme force. Statistics show almost every time the riot police are involved in crowd control, there is at least one fatality and multiple injured. This is why I believe this is one of the most important issues in the World today. Police are there to protect us but from April 2009 to June 2010 in the United States there were 5986 reports of misconduct from police officers. Police brutality has today’s citizens doubting the police department, and how they go about their arrest. Police brutality is an everyday occurrence, especially in cities where there are large communities of Blacks, Latinos and Asians.

Police brutality and office involved shootings have sparked national debate and created a strain between police officers and citizens. Recently, there have been more home videos that display acts of aggression by police officers. These police officers often use excessive forces or a condescending tone towards people of color which is why there needs to be a better way to mend police and civilian relationship. People should be able to trust the police in their communities rather than fear them.

Police work is a dangerous job, and police are more than likely to be put into situations when excessive force is needed. But, sometimes police use excessive force for their own personal reasons, such as, racism. The issue of police officers using excessive force may or may not be of great concern, but it should be looked into by both the police and the public. Because some officers use excessive force in situations when it is not needed, police brutality should be addressed.

Police brutality is seen as a real problem in America today. What people do not seem to realize is that the police carry a massive burden each day. The work that officers do has the potential to be very demanding and sometimes involves dangerous situations. In these situations the officers are in the position where they may be required to use force to gain control. The continuum of force dictates the level that is most appropriate for the situation. Most people do not realize that is not the officers job the meet the force. However, it is their job to overcome the force. Police departments have very strict standard operating procedures about officer use force and how force is applied. With this paper, I will attempt to explain the continuum of force, police discretion, and why the police can do some of the things they do.

Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict defines police brutality as the use of excessive or unnecessary force by police against the public. Excessive force is explained to be any behavior or force beyond what is reasonably necessary in order to control a situation. It is a common misnomer that people believe some police use excessive force more often than not. What’s more concerning is most of the time people believe that this excessive force is usually focused upon the African American men, women, and children. This misnomer is typically found to be found in city settings where the population consists of mostly African Americans. The population make up causes the common belief to seem more true than it may otherwise appear.

As of September 1, 2015, in the United States police officers have killed 776 people and 161 of those people were unarmed at the time of their death (MintPress). There have been too many incidents where police officers have injured or killed someone that could have been prevented. Using maximum force with a suspect has become a routine in many confrontations. Officers have not been given the proper training to deal with individuals and how to handle them without using a weapon. If they were given more training on how to deal with situations resulting in using a weapon to stop an individual during certain scenarios police brutality situations would decrease, lives would be saved, and police would get their good reputation back. However, police departments would have to spend more money on re-training. Some people agree with police brutality and think that a civilian deserved their punishment, which is not right because no one deserves to be beaten or killed. Situations involving police brutality have been increasing throughout the years, which is a problem that must to be solved.

In most cases the police is permitted to use any form of necessary force to suppress a suspected criminal with minimal consequences if they use excessive force (“Police Use Of Force”). According to the current law all law enforcement officers should use only the amount of force necessary to weaken an incident, make an arrest, and protect themselves and others from harm (“Police Use of Force”). Officers receive guidance from their individual agencies, but no universal set of rules that governs when officers should use force and how much (“Police Use Of Force”). Police use of excessive force against the unarmed public should be illegal because it lowers the amount of unnecessary deaths, reduces riots, and would decrease racism.

Have you ever thought about what happens if a person breaks a law? What if this individual breaks a minor law and creates a larger problem? A strong topic is upon our society when it comes to law enforcement and the tough physical and verbal oppression that they have the potential to put on people when it comes to breaking the law. Police officers are supposed to be society 's saviors, guardians, and our friends. However, when things do not go quite right, and when someone breaks the law, there will always be that chance that things could escalate. These officers are supposed to deescalate situations and solve problems. That is what society relies on them at any given moment. Sometimes it takes an escalation of force to deescalate a criminal situation. This is why society sees the men and women in uniform with weapons capable of hindering life to the fullest. However, when this force is used and abused, it creates problems. The public eye becomes weary of the police in many different ways for using excessive force to deescalate a situation. Excessive force and police brutality are often caused by depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, as well as other mental disorders; due to the way they are portrayed by the media, excessive force and police brutality have a direct effect on the American society as well as fellow officers in all branches of law enforcement.

A young man’s brutal death at the hands of the police is found justified in a court of law due to his “suspicious” appearance: a black hoodie and his hands in his pocket. An elderly woman is fatally shot in her home for her relation to a suspected criminal. A married man with two toddlers is choked to death after a minor traffic stop by an officer who later claimed that his unarmed victim was wielding a gun. These people all have a few commonalities: the color of their skin, their presumed guilt at first sight, and their ultimate unjustified death administered by the law force. These are not uncommon occurrences. Due to the staggeringly disproportionate rate of African-Americans killed by the police, and the underlying rampant racial profiling, police brutality towards blacks in America must be called to light.

What is police brutality? Police brutality is an act of misconduct done by a member law enforcement through the use of an extreme amount of force to physically, mentally, or emotionally attack a member of society. Many law enforcement officers, those sworn to protect and serve, have abused their rights and authority to ferociously assault and manipulate citizens, even if they were innocent. Citizens who have been attacked have been left with physical and emotional scars that can never go away; in some cases, it has even caused death. In a report by David Packman, prepared for the Cato Institute in 2011, states that 247 deaths were linked to police misconduct cases.(Packman 2011)

Most people in the United States understand that there are occurrences of police brutality, although the episodes of such brutality is minute in comparison to what is perceived to be the case by the general population. Police brutality is a perception of excessive force, though depending on the situation, that very force may in fact be the use of proper force. When it comes to Americans receiving their knowledge of current event, they usually refer to the media, in which a major topic today is police brutality.

Police violence is still a big part of the nations conversations. In spite of video showing police brutality going viral in recent weeks showing police abusing their force against innocent citizens the use of excessive force by police is not necessary. Not only do police use excessive force on black people, but they also use excessive force on protesters, journalist and, bystanders and,

Police officers operate under very straining and limiting environments. The law limits the police from using force even in situations that appear deadly on face of the police officers.. Some police officers have to make decisions in uncertain or tense situations. A crucial finding is that, some of the split second decisions reached by police in pursuit have got far reaching consequences to their friends, relatives and families. One of the most controversial parts of law governing police officers is the use of force. While this controversial part applies in limited situations, a decision by a police officer to use force may affect the police negatively. Statistics reveal even in deadly situations, police fail apply reasonable amount of force

Out of the many media coverage of Tsang being a victim to the Police brutality, the author Elizabeth from the Time Magazine tends to have the most fairness and bias approach to this event . Even though Elizabeth pointed out in the article that the police brutality and treatment to Tsang is outrageous, however Elizabeth gave an equal treatment for the police force to clarify the issue to the public. At the same time, Elizabeth also gives a sense of explanation for protester to not disrespect the criminal justice system and should not behave in an aggressive manner. For example, “radical protesters involved in the early morning confrontation for behaving in “an aggressive manner,” including kicking officers and attacking them with umbrellas”

I feel that the use of excessive force by police officers is one of most significant problems police is facing in society today due to inadequate police training. It’s always been against racial minorities, police need to do better than that. We need to understand that they are human beings, and are vulnerable to make mistakes. Police officers do get an extensive training of many things such as; how to use firearms, physical training, communication skills, defensive tactics, working as an active shooter, CPR training, warrant service training, report writing, court and testimony training, and DUI training, but in order to be successful they need to get some counseling to help them cope with the stress due to work. A good training in human relations