What Is Improper Use Of Force

Every day, law enforcement officers encounter danger while carrying out their duties. The foremost duty of law enforcement officers are to serve and protect citizens. Most law enforcement agencies do this successfully. However, many people view law enforcement officers as the enemy. People need to be better informed about law enforcement and why officers take specific actions in certain circumstances. In our society, police are in a very dangerous position when it comes to the amount of force they can use when dealing with an individual. Officers use discretion when deciding the best course of action for the situation, whether it be physical force, persuasion, or coercion. They must take the correct course of action, because if they are too lenient or to forceful, even when dealing with petty things, they can be reprimanded by superiors and the public. Should police use force? Which circumstances warrant use force and what are the limits of force they can use? These questions are often asked when police are compelled to use force.

Police use of deadly force in the United States has been growing at a rapid pace due to several incidents that have taken place over the last few years. The biggest question today remains why has this been such a relevant topic across the U.S. lately? The use of deadly force is specifically important because it directly affects the publics’ attitudes and behaviors towards the police and government. Some will blame police policies, some will blame abuse of power, and some even claim the use of deadly force is necessary to in order to properly defend themselves. The use of deadly force continues to increase due to lack of what the true definition of “use of force” and what actually means. This lack of definition creates

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.

Law enforcement officers are given much power and authority over one’s civil liberties. Not only do they have a duty but also a responsibility to enforce laws and ordinances in their jurisdiction, maintain order and protect its people. In some cases, the only way to accomplish this is through legitimized use of force. Use of force can best be described as "the amount of effort required by a law enforcement officer to induce compliance of an unwilling subject" (nij.gov, 2012). With that said, law enforcement officers have been given the right to apply only enough force necessary to control a situation, while defending others, preventing escape, during self-defense and while a subject is resisting arrest (Pollock, pp. 234). It is not until that force becomes excessive that it becomes say an issue.

Police brutality is a topic that everybody confers to emphasize the burgeoning fear of the police. This comes in the form of excessive force which becomes a controversial topic for citizens and police alike. The nation has it’s own definition of what excessive force may be, as some believe using a Taser has the same intention as using a nightstick to apprehend scoundrels. Others may ascribe excessive force as a race crime; “In March 2015, the DOJ also issued a report detailing a pattern of clear racial disparities and discriminatory intent on the part of the Ferguson, Mo., police department”(Excessive or Reasonable Force by Police) resulting in uneasiness between the multiple groups regardless of their age; interestingly officers are also affected by the disparity of the community. The judgement they receive can actually affect how an officer decides to act because they

Police officers are authorized to use force under certain circumstances, for instance; controlling a disruptive, aggressive and disturbing demonstration, undergoing arrest of an accused person or controlling a combative individual. These officers are trained properly regarding use of force while fulfilling their duties. However, the use of force by police is a subject of hot discussion amongst public, as many times law enforcement agencies, televisions, newspapers, and civil as well as criminal courts have taken serious actions against excessive use of force by police-officers under a given situation (U.S department of Justice, 1999). The aim of this paper is to study national as well as international

Many police officers decide that it is best to use force. Even when it is not required. An innocent man asked a police officer to move his vehicle out of his driveway and the officer forced him out of his house. The officer had a “...history of brutality, attacked him, tasered him in the back, kidnapped him and threw him in a cage for weeks — causing him to lose his job, his house, and his dignity” (Algorist). This cop chose to harm an innocent man and risk his job over a simple question that could have been resolved in a much safer manner. The cop used force towards the man and the man was not a criminal.

Police use of force has been manipulated into police brutality by news broadcasts and social media sites causing many citizens to despise the police. The spread of videos featuring unnecessary force by police officers arresting criminals has given all officers a bad name, however, not all officers make bad decisions when it comes to the proper use of force. According to a 2008 study that was done on 40 million police cases only 1.4% of the cases were threatened with or involved with the use of force (Dempsey & Frost, 2014, p.136). Yet, society still associates the police with brutality. The public does not understand the factors that go into force, such as, the training of the officer, knowledge of rules regarding use of force, the situation the police encounters, social threat, attitude displayed towards officers, and resistance (Lee, Jang, Yun, Lim, & Tushaus, 2010). The public does not know the many factors that influence an officer’s use of force. So when they see or hear about force, they assume it is unnecessary. However, there are certain situations were force is necessary to stop an immediate threat. Very few officers are actually involved in police brutality, but the media would show otherwise.

Over the past three years there has been a conflict with the use of force not just by police but with citizens as well. Recent events such as the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in 2012 and the killing of Mike Brown by a Ferguson police officer just recently in August of 2014 has raised eyebrows about the use of force. Clearly there is a misunderstanding of the concept of when and when not to use force especially when it is the use of deadly force. The training that is given as well as the understanding of use of force is outdated. The federal government should implement excessive use of force training for all law enforcement agencies in the U.S.

There have been many serious incidences involving the police’s use of force bridging over a decade. Due to the advancement in technology, many of these incidents have been videoed and used as evidence in court cases involving the police’s use of force unnecessarily. For example, in July 2014 Eric Garner’s death arising from an officer using a chokehold on the victim. One month after, another officer fatally shot a teen (Wihbey & Kille, 2015). In Virginia, a college professor was walking to avoid some construction that had obstructed the walkway. She was approached by an officer and ordered that she produce some identification. The professor questioned the officer as to why she was stopped. The officer replied she was jaywalking and demanded she produces some identification or he was going to arrest her. Needless to say, the professor did not comply, and she was slammed to the ground causing her dress to expose parts of her body, she retaliated and was arrested. The community was outraged (Moi, 2014). According to the Washington Post, police officers tend to use force, especially when dealing with suspects that have mental instabilities. “Nationwide, police have shot and killed 124 people this year, who were in the midst of mental or emotional crisis” (Lowery et al., 2015). The authors further note, that in these incidences, police are likely to react using tactics, which worsen a volatile situation, by using force.

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

The use of excessive force has been an ongoing problem and still exists to be a major concern for the United States today. This issue needs to be resolved as soon as possible due to the matter; the police officers are losing the people’s trust in their communities which creates a dangerous environment for law enforcement officers to operate

Clear narrative accounts from observers provide detailed descriptions of altercations that give a step by step account of how a situation played out and what factors sparked the use of force. The force continuum’s worth as an analytical tool is also firmly established. Where, the continuum has generally been a mechanism to guide officer decision making, from the study it’s use as a means to assess force appropriateness becomes quite apparent. Terrill is able to uncover that officers actually perform quite well when dealing with resistant suspects but fail to show as much restraint when dealing with non-resistant

When debating the issue of police use of force, the issue of what actions constitute too much force must also be addressed. Another concern is the possibility of corruption amount officers. When given such great power, the probability of corruption is high. Officers generally do not start out as corrupt, but years of work on the force can create animosity between officers and suspects and lead them to decide to use force more quickly (McEwen, 1996). Many times, officers patrol the streets alone which creates the opportunity for potential abuse of power (McEwen, 1996). Although police officers need to be permitted to exercise some discretion, they also need limits and guidelines to follow when using their powers of discretion (Manning, 1997). The decision to use force should not be taken lightly in that citizen’s lives are at stake. Police should be allowed discretion in decisions to use force; however, this discretion should be limited. In several cases in Arizona, officers have used deadly means of force. In all cases, the officers

Results from this study suggest that when people, such as police officers, are given the authority to use whatever force deemed necessary by an authority such as the police department, they feel justified using their “power” however they feel. David Lester conducted a study in which he found police officers attain an “expectation of harm” through their schooling at police academies (Lester 186). Lester found “shifts in…attitudes during both academy training and the period of working” (Lester 186) to officers being less willing to admit to the existence of police brutality. It seems that the departments do not see the occurrences as brutal, but as self-defense.