An example of officers allowing their ego to affect their duty is in the 1999 case against four New York police officers. Reported by Barstow (1999) four New York police officers were convicted for accepting bribes, gifts and sexual favors from an illegal brothel. It is also reported that in return, the officers would alert the madam of any police raids to her establishment. This is an obvious case of officers thinking about their own personal gain instead of their professionalism. This situation could have been different if they had a better understanding of egoism.
Some officers could allow their anger and adrenaline interfere with their professional judgement. This is sometimes done by exerting excessive force for personal gratification.
Officer and PerpetratorFactors Another important consideration is the officer himself as compared to the subject in question. An officer who is 5'1" and 105 pounds may be justified in using greater force against a subject who is 6'3" 240 pounds than would a taller, heavier and stronger officer in similar situations. Uses of Force More Complicated Than First Looks Suggest All of this goes to demonstrate that uses of force by corrections and police officers are most often far more complicated than a single news report makes them appear.
One common opinion is that officers should not use more force than is necessary or reasonable, and even then, that force should be used only as a last resort. “Police use force to affect civilians’ conduct. On a day-to-day basis, they do so most often by employing the least degree of force available to them, their mere presence. Cops wear uniforms and drive distinctly marked cars so that, without saying a word, they may have an effect on citizens’ behavior” (Fyfe, 38). When an officer’s presence fails to fulfill the desired conduct, the next course of action for said officer would be verbalization.
When it comes to Police, most people have many mixed opinions about them. Some view them as honest defenders of society that uphold the law while others view them as rotten & corrupt people that abuse power. Even when you have done nothing but get pulled over, a sense of anxiety kicks in, not because you have done something, but because you know the possibilities of what could happen. There have been many cases of police abusing their power in situations, whether it is in fiction such as Khalil being shot dead for a traffic stop, or in real life such as Oscar Grant being shot while on the ground because he was supposedly “resisting” arrest. This is known as Police Brutality, in which officers abuse their authority and perform brutal actions,
Law enforcement and correctional officers daily cope with delicate situations. When faced with an unique, possible deadly situation requires an immediate and appropriate response. We have learned thus far that law enforcement and correctional officers employ a great amount of discretion on a daily basis when performing their duties. Misuse of discretion can lead to society questioning police tactics and policies. Racial profiling is an illustration of misuse of discretion.
Consequently, officers try to counteract behavior patterns they display. Case in point, an officer may use extreme force on suspects who make efforts to resist or contest police authority. When police overreact to these situations they feel that they are justified due the resistance by the suspect. If law enforcement agents justify their actions in every situation police brutality is going to intensify.
For one thing, accusations of law enforcement using excessive force and the outcomes of the use of excessive force is flooding the media as it changes the public’s view of the people who sworn to protect and serve us. The question that the people should be asking is ,“ what compels some officers to abuse the power that is granted to them?” In a survey titled," A neutral look at police Brutality" it serves as a non-bias source about law enforcement views about police brutality. that was composed by police officers it stated that
Many officers have been tried due to the excessive force. Some of these officers have have ended up being convicted of the crime, where others just lost their job. There have been many been many well publicized high profile cases in the last 30 years, where some of the officers have been arrested due to their part
It can be hard to prosecute a cop for these actions due to the constant state of threat a cop’s life is at while doing their job and the unpredictability of their job. An example of an case where the police’s use of force were questioned was the Wardlaw v. Pickett case. In this case a man named, William C. Wardlaw decided to sue the United States Deputy Marshals, William Pickett and Albert Crew. Wardlaw claimed that the two violated his constitutional rights by using excessive force on him and falsing arresting and prosecuting him.
In my opinion it is, for many reasons, officers cannot predict how a suspect will act in a confrontation leading up to their arrest. The suspect could become violent in a matter of seconds, leaving the officers with a split-second decision to use deadly force. This decision could be life or death for the police officer. Police officers have just as much right to protect their lives as everyone else. I try to perceive myself as a police officer in a situation where I had to choose to use lethal force or face death at the hands of someone I have never wronged, but only have interaction with due to my job.
Also, there are many incidents involving officers who use their right to use force that exceeded
Officers abuse their power and most of the time get away with it which is not right, they are figures that the public trust to enforce the laws and keep them
In some cases, police officers exert excessive force on individuals. The amount of force should be necessary for the situation. For example, a police officer should not use a weapon because a civilian will not obey an initial command. In the article, When Does Force Become Excessive?,
The main goal of a officer is to gain control of situation, to protect and serve the community. So if they can 't regulate the problem, by using the low levels of force, then they simply must increase the amount of force. Also
The public has a misconception that deadly force is the same thing as excessive force. They can be similar if the police use deadly force to a point where every officer discharges their entire magazine on person when the threat has been eliminated. Officers receive hours of training on how to shoot a gun, but sometime receive little instruction on how to determine when to use the gun. Training starts in the Police Academy, and continues throughout their careers. There are officers who teach and train the departments every month.
Law enforcement agents are should behave to a standard that is greater than the average civilian. Police brutality comes from an abuse of power granted to the police. Police brutality is often drawn on by overreaction in certain situations drawn on by panic. Police using excessive force in the United States is a crucial dilemma and must be stopped.