The Seven Levels Of Use Of Force In Policing

Use of force is the effort used by a police officer to force compliance of a suspect who is not willing to submit. The basic presumption is that police officers should not use force that is more than necessary to make an arrest or protect themselves and the public from danger. There a several factor to take into consideration in determining if the use of force is necessary. Some of these factors are the location of the encounter and the mental capabilities of the subject. Although there is an established guidelines for officers to determine whether it is necessary to use force and the amount that is appropriate, there are situations

In certain situations, the police may have to act quickly on their instincts. Sometimes, a situation is unpredictable and a decision needs to be made in a split second. The quick decision may to be to take a person down physically with the officer’s own hands, or to use deadly force, unfortunately. Anything can happen and the officer needs to be ready for every scenario. The different levels of force can be anywhere from just a police officer being present, to having to kill someone to prevent him or her from hurting anyone else. It’s a harsh reality, but sometimes the officer needs to make the decision to die or to protect him and do what he needs to do.

Officers have specific training regarding use of force, for this purpose officer’s continuums were developed in the year 1960s. These continuums are based upon the resistance faced by the police officer and the amount of force that can be justified at that particular time. It can be said that he use of force should behave in a linear manner that means the rise should occur from the negligible resistance to increased aggression (Hess, 2009). Law enforcement agencies almost, at all places give policies according to which a police officer can utilize force by

When a law enforcement officer uses force on a subject it will be classified into one of three main categories which are, justifiable, excessive, and deadly force. The authority for law enforcement officers to use force comes from the United States Constitution (case law), state statutes, and department policy. Law enforcement use of force is very important because it involves the patrolman on the street, the corrections officer in jails and prisons, and the courts where excessive use of force cases are held.

While racing down the freeway on March 3, 1991, driver Rodney King and friends were leading the Los Angeles Police Department on a high speed chase making it up to 115 miles per hour. When King was eventually caught, officers pulled him from his car and began to beat King with their batons hitting and kicking him more than 50 times and shocking him with stun guns in a period of two minutes as he struggled helplessly on the ground outside of his car. King suffered 11 skull fractures, kidney damage, and brain damage. This was one of America’s first viral video of what excessive force is, and it changed the way police interacted with communities forever. The use of police force is an obligation, but unfortunately some officers may misuse, or abuse

Policing has definably evolved over the last thousand years. Not only to progress crime fighting methods, but also show our community and greater service. The old way of policing which was primarily based on random patrol, hoping for the chance to accidently walk up on a crime in progress, police agency started focusing on social problem, and even more effective, statistics. Community policing has been enhanced through a management accountably process called (CompStat).

An integral training of today’s police officers duties is the physical skill of the application of use of force. This is needed skill requirement to detain and arrest a person who has committed a crime and resisting. Police officers must be trained to use force properly when the skill is required on a subject who is resisting police officers efforts to place them under arrest. This skill has the potential for the officer to exceed the needed amount of force to place them under arrest that can lead to civil suits alleging the officer use of excessive force. Police use of force is a controversial topic with not only the community as well as leadership in the department. Concerns about excessive and unnecessary uses of force continue to require the researcher to locate what indicators police officers react to when the application of using force or threaten to use force.

Police Officers use of force has been an big issue for many decades, But has now made its way to mainstream. From news to social media there 's always a recent relevant story/ case on police officers use of force. In 2016 Baton Rouge man, Alton Sterling was killed do to Police officers use of excessive force. This sparked an outrage in the nation after Mr. Sterlings murder went viral through social media. The shooting led to protests in Baton Rouge and a request for a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.

This paper will describe police power and police authority. I will also talk about police discretion as for as whom gets locked up and who is allowed to go free. This paper will discuss the different use of police force. In this paper I will also talk about police attitude, police misconduct, and physical abuse among police officers.

Police work is dangerous. Sometimes police put in situations that excessive force is needed, but, because some officers use these extreme measures in situations when it is not required to use excessive force. The use of excessive force it should be looked into by the system in the misuse of power among officers. Most police officers throughout the ranks of the U.S. police departments are just seeking more authority/recognition among the population or the district his/he is working. The U.S. law enforcement that misuse their authority would get away with it in the past it would only be he or she said. Since the invention of cameras more of the excessive force used by police officers use gets caught in a circle around due to the social network. Law enforcement agents need to wear cameras with their uniforms and a penalty for any tampering with cameras view or shutting down the cameras with a 20 year sentence.

Police have many roles to take on an everyday basis. The main goal for an officer is to keep criminals off the streets and to try and maintain a safe environment for people to live. Many people disagree with some of the decisions officers make to enforce these rules and causes a lot of controversy. Today many people don't respect our police officers because of actions made by others. A major issue today is police use of force, stop and frisk.

The impression of public in the U.S of the police using excessive forces, such as brutality, in today's modern policing continues to be a sensitive issue across the country. Many police agencies around the nation are under the pressure for alleged abuse of force from the view of the media perspective. Justified or not, the image of the police use of force continues to strike a nerve with the American public. However, an attempt to use force is often misunderstood by the community because of the media frenzy using false declarations and propaganda techniques. These techniques weaken the power of the police and reduce the trust that the community has in the police force.

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.

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.

The use of force, with regards to law enforcements use of it, is a complex topic that should be looked at in all perspectives. There is tension between the police and the community they work for, on whether this is a power that the officers should have or not. There are ambiguous laws that do not give law enforcement offices much guidelines on what is exactly permissible when it comes to force, and all the different situations it could occur. The line that the use of force leis on is often a fine one. It is teetering between excessive force and never being able to enforce the laws. The use of forces is a conversation that is worth having with all the pros and cons that it brings to the discussion board.