The Use Of Police Force

The force used at the scene of the crime is ultimately left in the hands of the officer; however, when it is misused or overused it usually leads to a divide between community and law enforcement. Given the high stake at hand, a formal rule has been placed known as the force continuum which provides both law enforcement officers and civilians how much force is to be used in a given situation. Not only does this teach officers how much force to use, but it also teaches officers how to avoid the use of force in general. They are taught mediation tactics so that if force is not needed, it is not used at all. This affords the community to not fear police and also stops legal actions and stigmas from being drawn on all police officers. The riots that take place haven’t occurred because a police did not choke, beat or shoot a civilian they occur because they

Often times while attempting to make an arrest, a law enforcement officer will have to use the appropriate use of force to make the arrest. In some instances the appropriate use of force for some officers will be as simple as the

There are several different types of force. These types of force include verbal commands or persuasion, physical force (unarmed), force using weapons that are non lethal, force that involves using weapons such as the bean bag gun or taser, and lastly, deadly force. All officers have to give way to each force option before last resorting to the use of deadly force, unless of course if the officer is in a life or death situation. This may be the only way to use deadly force in the first and last resort. They have a couple of weapons that they carry in case the need to use them arises. They carry a baton, tasers, handcuffs, guns and they also have police dogs. Some police do follow the guidelines for using force. Others may abuse their authority and not use force properly. It is really only up to the officers to do the right thing. Some cops are great and live to protect our communities while others abuse their authority.

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.

However excessive force is the use of aggressive capability above expectation if it is deemed unreasonable or unwarranted. Excessive force can come in the form of physical, chemical, firearms, or electronic. Physical force is subduing someone through physical contact. This includes choke holds, or your knee in someone back holding them down until you cuff them. Chemical force is the use of chemicals such as tear gas, pepper spray, or mustard gas in order to subdue large crowds of individuals. Firearm force is using guns to gain access to someone. This could involve shootouts or the police raiding a house and electronic force is using things such as the web, or cellphones, or social media sites to catch a suspect or predator. Though these tools were given to the police departments to be more helpful, they may have the opposite effect.

Have you ever asked yourself what it would be like to become a police officer. Becoming a police officer isn’t an easy take because they have to risk their life everyday to protect and serve the community. They have to go through the dangers of arresting criminals when there is a chance that they could die. However, in today’s society only a small amount of police officers actually serve their community and protect citizens from danger. Right now, most police officers abuse their power to the point where they don’t seem to care for the safety of the community. They would usually arrest innocent people, make accusations, and even use their power as a source to show their dominance. If you think about, whenever you are stuck in traffic some

Police officers are often viewed as oppressors and unjust by the community, when in reality they are just doing their jobs. The job of a police officer is to apprehend criminals and detect crime, and the maintenance of public order and to the extend and complication of this duty police officers often need to make split second decision that is not often view by the public as what we call “self-defense” which is a right we all have as human beings and stated in the Universal Declaration of

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.

This isn't always the case with police use of force. On January 1, 2009 Oscar Grant was shot in the back while on the and killed by a police officer. The day of the instant Grant and a few of his friends got into a fight on the train and police were called, he and his friend were detained by law enforcement. As Grant was laying on the floor he was reportedly being uncooperative in an attempt to control Grant, Police officer Johannes Mehserle pulled out his gun believing it was his taser and shot Grant in the back, which resulted in his death.

From the perspective of law, excessive physical force most clearly constitutes police brutality, a term often applied loosely to various forms of police misconduct (Holmes, 2000). Over the years, police brutality continues to be an issue of concern all across the world and the need for reducing law enforcement from engaging in this unethical behavior is imperative. Although, police organizations throughout the United States have responded by tightening their "physical force", policies and reminding their officers to use

What is the use of force in law enforcement? By dictionary definition, the use of force is the amount of effort required by police to compel compliance by an unwilling subject. This subject throughout the last year or two has become more and more controversial, leading to the formation of yet another organization of those who feel they were and are affected the most. Then there 's the media that fuels these organizations, whether it 's factual information or not, but does anybody ask themselves what they think they might do in a possible life or death situation? In the everyday work of a police officer, there is the obvious possibility of coming head on with a life or death situation, to combat this fear and situation they must accurately

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 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.

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

Historically police were not limited to laws which prohibited bad behavior and/or corruption such as, curbside justice which entailed police beating citizens with nightsticks especially targeting racial minorities. With a lack of organizational control, inefficiencies and disorganization the courts, legislatures and U.S. Constitution stepped in creating retrains on the power of government agencies with what is referred to as “the rule of law”.