What Is The Shaping Of My Character

There is various forms of human rights violation currently in the United States, however; Police abuse remains the most serious of them all. Police brutality is, therefore, the use of excessive force or even unnecessary force by the police while they are dealing with civilians. People are left wondering if the police are doing the jobs they were appointed to do under the law. They act in ways such as the use of guns and pepper sprays to intimidate civilians, racial profiling, false arrests, severe beatings, unjustified shootings, police corruption and even sexual abuse among others (King). The truth of the matter is that such incidents usually go un-noticed and worse of unreported. Police brutality is an issue of contention given that they have the authority to apply force when necessary. Hence, when do we say that police brutality has occurred, what causes it and how do we end it.

Police brutality has been and continues to be a major concern in society. Most of these incidents go un-reported or un-noticed. Through research, we seek to identify the causes of police brutality, and what we can possibly do to end it, or in the hopes that it brings awareness. While doing research on police brutality, I have observed countless online journal articles. These articles are written by professional analysts that specialize in investigating specific incidents involving police misconduct. The term police brutality is commonly used very loosely to fit all forms of police misconduct. The excessive force element of police

The use of deadly force by police officers is a very important subject in today’s society. Many consider the use of deadly force excessive in most cases. However, there are many aspects to look at when considering this topic, such as: Why was deadly force required? When did the officer feel it necessary to apply deadly force? What will be the implications for the officer after the fact? How does the use of deadly force affect society as a whole?

I, over the semester, have grown in both literacy and critical thinking. A direct comment from Mr. Gish on the first essay I wrote for the class was “Nice reading!” to this sentence in the essay “This continues to show that people in poverty aren’t charity cases, but rather they are human beings.”. This comment, along with others, shows me that I am capable to effectively write in one of the worst essays that I have written. The reason for this growth was the support of both my friends and family. My father would help me with grammatical errors and final revision decisions in some essays. This growth happened slowly with a lot of effort put towards it. An example from my first essay is “First and foremost, Gordon Park’s imagery throughout his composition.” this is the topic sentence to a short paragraph in the beginning of

Police departments have use-of-force policies that specify when force may be used and the proper level of force to be used under given circumstances. Most departments use a continuum-of-force approach that allows proportional force to the suspect’s resistance. The level of force by an officer increases in direct response to escalating resistance of the suspect. Policies such as this one have been put into place following many humiliating acts of excessive force. The policies are in place in an attempt to prevent future acts of excessive force (Pollock, 2010).

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

What is non-lethal force? Many scholars have defined it in various ways. For the purposes of this essay, use of force is defined as “acts that threaten or inflict physical harm on citizens, which includes forms of both verbal and physical force” (Terrill, 2005). There has been much debate as to whether or verbal commands should be deemed as force or not. Klinger (2005) found that verbal commands is the force that is most employed by police officers. These varying interpretations of what force is has an impact on the measurements that are used when researchers try to figure out how often non-lethal force is used when encountering a suspect. (Terrill, 2014).

Police brutality states that it is the use of dangerous force against a civilian. The arguments that surround the topic of police brutality relate to different definitions and anticipations over what is meant by

However, official definitions give the police officers the helpful criteria they may need in determining if it is okay to use force as well as the parameters for the kind of force at the given moment. According to Terill and Paoline (2012), these kinds of definitions exist in the agency policies and their guidelines, and they refer to them as the “use of force

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.

Police officers legally can pursue force in a number of situations and scenarios. Officers are justified to exude force when they are intending to defend and protect themselves, the public, arrest a suspect, overcome defiance, or control a potentially harmful situation. The terminology “police use of force” has a unfavorable, pessimistic outlook that is tied to words such as harsh, severe and barbarous treatment. Due to the fact that law enforcement are equipped with exclusive authorizations to apply a variety of forces to make civilians comply with specific requests or wants. These negative connotations only destroy the relationships and trust between the police and the

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 by police officers is a topic that continues to make headlines and a study that needs to be done. Although much research has gone into this topic there still is no consensus on why the use of excessive force occurs. Some studies suggest lack of training and/or problems with organization policy/procedures. Law enforcement officers are authorized to use force when necessary, but when the level of force is excessive, however, the actions of the police come under scrutiny. The resulting effects can include; public outrage, scandal, negative reputation for not only the officer but the law enforcement community, and criminal considerations. Although there’s is no concrete definition of excessive force, police

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

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