Victoria Police Force

The media has scrutinized the use of force even more recently. Recordings of officers using force (weather excessive or not) become uploaded to the web and many individuals quickly jump to conclusions. Police use of “force” is up to the discretion of each individual police officer, and with each action a multitude of consequences can occur. The public often gets enraged after a court justifies the use of force, but often individuals do not have the full facts or understand how the justice system works. The outcomes of some use of force cases, many individuals are asking for transparency of agencies. Policy makers are often quick to react to satisfy the public by changing police policy.

This paper will discuss issues related to the use of excessive force by the police. In doing this the paper will look at the concepts such as the need for police officers to use force, the definition of excessive force and causes that contribute to the use of excessive force. The paper identifies inadequate training, adrenalin overload, accidental application and retribution as the major causes of the use of excessive force. In order to reduce the use of excessive force as a result of these circumstances, the paper argues that it is instrumental to provide adequate training as well as regular training to police officers in order to improve their relations with the community and reduces occurrences involving the use of excessive force.

The New South Wale’s police system have failed to meet the needs of its society due to the misuse and misconduct of its given powers. The police have a large amount of discretion

In today’s society the police are harassed for supposedly abusing their power against people who commit crimes and innocent bystanders however the general public usually mix those two categories of people with each other. Officers are blamed for whatever course of action they decide to take in order to prevent a serious threat from arising. Consequently, the public is having a growing fear of the police, their own definitions of excessive force are biased, the police abuse their powers, etc. The change in how a police officer may carry out every situation may be a change that we need to protect the people.

The Columbine High School Shooting allowed for us to see flaws within our police force. Throughout the Columbine shooting, there were many errors made by police. The police didn’t know the killers were dead, so they looked all throughout the school for bombs. They also feared that “the fallen bodies had been booby-trapped with explosives” (CITE), making them move slowly. These missed calculations impacted the lives of many. Dave Sanders, one of the teacher fatally injured, was in the science room bleeding out. The police knew this but didn’t arrive “until nearly 3 pm. When they arrived, they found more than fifty students with Sanders, who was barely clinging to life. A paramedic tried to stop his bleeding, but it was too late. Sanders died

There has been a substantial amount of cases where the excessive use of force by police officers have caused damages to innocent citizens, for example; in 2006 a teen was killed by police, he was shot 8 times. The teen was unarmed, yet the police planted a gun near him to justify the incident, the gun they planted became truly recovered from a housebreaking and whilst the cops concerned had been found they attempted to jot down new reports to make clear that the gun was close to the teen become now not the identical one he were carrying. Many factors can make contributions to this problem the police pressure is having with police officers abuse of power, one of them being the psychological health of cops where they aren’t suit to serve and protect the people they sworn to defend.

State and territory police play a pivotal role in protecting community safety and protection. ‘Policing’ was a combination of national economic interests, domestic and international security, and represented in time by distinctive organizations (Chapman, 1970; Emsley, 1994). They have responsibility for peace preservation, and crime prevention as well as upholding the laws, providing assistance in personal emergencies, and coordinating and managing emergency incidents. Since the police can employ the discretionary powers, which is a flexible way to dispose of social problems, in a manner that either directs offenders to or diverts them away from, further penetration into the justice system, they are seen as the ‘gatekeepers’ of the criminal justice system, model authority, and law-abiding enforcement (Rob and Santina, 2015, p.348; Wortley, 2003). “They seek to sustain politically defined order and ordering via tracking, surveillance, and arrest. As such, they require compliance to command from lower participants and citizens. " (Peter and Jeffrey, 2015, p.246). Discretion is universal and legitimate power applied by criminal justice professionals in modern policing, which requires employing individual judgment for adjudicating whether they use a legal sanction in a particular situation (McLaughlin, 2013).

In today's modern world any use of force, whether deadly in nature or not, is subjected to the scrutiny of the media as well as the court of public opinion. Allegations of the use of excessive force by police departments in the United States continue to dominate the top news sources in the nation. However, citizens never hear of the countless incidents where officers choose to hold fire and display restraint under extreme stress, or decide to instead utilize less than lethal means to achieve their objective. Split-second decisions, even when made under ideal or perfect circumstances, are exceptionally difficult. Even well-trained officers are not consistently able to discharge their firearm, if appropriate, in the time before a suspect holding

This paper will prove that this change is not only likely but policing in Australia has already shifted in this direction. Events including the Global Financial Crisis, the increase in transnational crime and terrorism highlight the need for a stronger national police force to manage high-risk situations. The benefits outlined in this essay, while offering a benefit to the community are also beneficial to the police in their role protect and security the community. The United States will be used as an example of this shift, increasing their

Policing relies on the public trust, police legitimacy and accountability, which can be destroyed by unjustifiable police shootings (Squires and Kennninson, 2010). Within this country, there is a recognition that the police do not always adhere to the rule of law (Newburn and Reiner, 2012: 809), which has led to consistent public outrage at the lack of effectiveness and legitimacy the police has maintained. Therefore the deliberate decision to enforce police to attend to the streets unarmed was employed to reassure the public that the police were not to be feared (Waddington and Wright, 2010). Ultimately, concerns derive from the belief that the police are completely ineffective when dealing with gun crimes (Farrell, 1992: 20). However,

It has been made abundantly clear in the Victorian police blue form that the existent operating model is battling to prosper with the evolving demands upon it and to meet the wider communities’ expectations. In its current form the model will fail to meet the expected augmentation and sequences of demand in the coming years. Precipitately increasing demand is motivated by extensive social, economic and environmental trends. There are various factors leading to the need for change in the way Victorian police operate. A major factor is the rapid change in technology.

Their abuse of powers does not only directly impact their victims, but the very people they pledge to keep safe. It also contradicts the rule of law (MULLINS, 2018). Recommendations for the future to limit the abuse of police powers, is to provide adequate training and reinforcements about not utilising more force than “reasonably necessary to make the arrest or to prevent the escape of the person after arrest” because applying more force than necessary is assault and is costing innocent lives globally. The training should be centred around reinstating that the use of firearms is the last resort, this will prevent more lives being lost due to abuse of police powers. An increase in the penalty associated with the crime and adding prevention measures is also applicable and essential to limiting the misuse of powers. In addition, all law enforcement officers should wear camera gear on their chest when receiving an incoming call, when making an arrest and when called to a scene. This will ensure primary evidence if issues arise. 100% of the survey respondents agreed with this recommendation. In addition, there should always be more than two officers attending a scene, this will decrease the likelihood of unreasonable actions from occurring in relation to brutality acts and civilians resisting arrests. To limit the racial and bias elements in regards to brutality incidents is to avoid racial stereotyping and try to incorporate programs that increase exposure and cultural competence within the police academy. There should also be an introduction of measures to ensure that police officers who engage in police brutality are properly investigated by a body other than the police force itself (Nedim, 2018), because if they were investigated by law enforcement officers, that could inflict bias perspectives

Chapter 15 of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld) outlines through codification the “Powers and Responsibilities Relating to Investigations and Questioning for Indictable Offences”. When operating an interview of questioning suspects about criminal offences, the requirements in chapter 15 relating to questioning suspects are there as safeguards against the abuse of police powers. According to the Police Powers and Responsibilities Bill 2000, the legislation had a number of purposes behind codifying the powers of police. These purposes were to consolidate and rationalize the powers and responsibilities police officers have for investigating

Police have an option to utilise their discretion at the scene by utilising their powers, however; as outlined in the Tasmania Police manual which guides police: ‘Members are expected to apply judgement and discretion and, on all occasions, must be able to demonstrate any action taken was reasonable and justifiable in the circumstances.’ (TPM 2016).

To be able to understand the developments of police and policing it is better to define each concept so we can distinguish between each concept. Policing is a set of tasks necessary to maintain social order and could be carried by person or institution ,while the ‘police’ is one example of social institution organized by the state to formally carry the task policing (McLaughlin &Muncie, 2013:319).However, The development of the police relate strongly to the development of the state