Deadly Force Definition Essay

The Ninth Amendment states: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be constructed or deny or disparage others retained by the people” (Bill of Rights). This amendment was made to protect people’s rights. Including things like marriage, abortion, slavery, and police conduct. However, this modification has been compromised several times in the past and the present.

The use of force among the police was defined by the International Association of Chiefs of Police as the amount of effort that is required by the police officers to compel compliance from unwilling subjects (Silveril, 2014). Throughout the United States, different law enforcement agencies have different policies that address the use of force by the police. The New Jersey’s attorney general’s use of force policy was implemented in 1985 with the primary purpose of providing the police with adequate guidance when confronted with use of force situations in the course of their duty to protect

Use of force is the amount of force used in a given situation during police work. The police are supposed to follow the continuum when it come to using force. This continuum is known as the “Use of Force Continuum”. Despite this, use of force is still a constant problem in policing. There are many cases where a cop are sued for using more force than necessary, sometimes on purpose and sometimes by accident. 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.

Police officers have vowed their life to protect and serve. They risk their lives every day for their communities. As the last few years have sped past us, police officers have been very aggressive with the force they use when arresting a suspect, or even people in general. According to a Texas article on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights, “police officers typically use force offensively rather than defensively and do so with at least some degree of premeditation.” (Gross,2013, page 167). Many police officers get off easily because they call it as self-defense, but it’s not. People being brutally beaten or killed, riots breaking out, mourning of neighborhoods, lawsuits against police departments all can be at stake of police officers using excessive force. This is part of the reason our country has been in an uproar. In the last few years’ police brutality has been at an all-time high. Because of it, movements have been started and protests have broken out. As most should know there has been a split in the diversity of the nation because of it.

On October 3, 1974, at around 10:45 pm, Elton Hymon and Leslie Wright of the Memphis Police Department were responding to a “prowler on the inside” call. They made the scene and observed a woman in the house next to the intended home of the call. She was standing on her front porch pointing at the house. She advised that she had heard glass breaking and someone was breaking into the house next door. As Wright showed both officers on the scene on his radio to dispatch, Hymon went to the rear of the house. Hymon heard what sounded like a door slamming shut. He then saw someone run across the backyard. The person running was later identified as Edward Garner. Garner was moving towards a 6-foot high chain at the end of the yard. Hymon shined his flashlight in Garner’s direction so that he could see his face and hands. Hymon was “reasonably sure” that he did not see a weapon in Garner’s hands. To Hymon Garner appeared to be 17 or 18 years old and about 5’5 to 5’7 feet tall. Hymon began to give verbal commands of “Police,” “halt” as he walked towards Garner because it appeared that he about climbed the fence. Garner disregarded the command and started to rise to elude police. With the belief that Garner would get away if he made it to the other side of the fence, Hymon shot him. Hymon shot Garner in the back of the head. He was taken in the ambulance to the hospital where he later died on the operating table.

There are many concerns for a working police officer in America. Officers can face several types of dangers while on duty. Most of the time when police officers sign up for their job they already have prior knowledge of the risk they may be taking. They represent the civil authority of the government. According to Rose Johnson, "The job of a police officer is risky, and officers incur a higher rate of illnesses and injury than the national average for other jobs. Officers spend a great deal of time working with criminals and dealing with threatening scenarios". Although officers in America face several types of dangers, it does not give the officer the right to engage in unlawful acts. Police officers who receive more education and training will more than likely interact with different minorities through his/her institution. Officers should be more diverse because they will not be very biased and it could help end the problem with racial profiling. Police officers should be randomly drug tested for the safety of the citizens.

Legally, officers have the authority to use force to protect themselves and others from harm. The use of force only allows use within the standards of reasonableness. In the United States, the use of force is known as the use-of-force continuum, which provides law enforcement officers with guidelines that govern how much force is allowed to be used against a person in a given situation. The use of force continuum has five levels: officer presence, verbal commands, empty hand control, less lethal methods, and deadly force. Officers are not required to follow the different levels of the use-of-force continuum any particular order.

Tamir Rice was a twelve-year-old boy playing in the snow at his local park, making the mistake of waving an air pellet gun at strangers- a mistake that would cost him his life. A bystander made a call to 911, and when the police arrived on the scene, within seconds of exiting the vehicle, Rice was shot. According to an article by the Pittsburgh Tribune, although police have been caught in the act, captured on camera committing a crime, they are not prosecuted 96 percent of the time.

How do police decide how much force should be used in a situation and how has that changed throughout the year? Has Tennessee v. Garner been effective in protecting individuals against excessive force? Before the case Tennessee v Garner in 1985, how to police decided if they should use deadly force determined by one of four groups; these four groups were The Any-felon Rule; The defense-of-life Rule; The Forcible Felony Rule, and The Model Penal Code. The extreme one was the Any-Felony Rule which was “English common law authorized officers to use any means necessary to arrest felony suspects or prevent them from fleeing. In the United States, courts interpreted this rule as legal permission to shoot an unarmed felony suspect in flight” (Tennenbaum)

Before the Garner case there were four rules that dictated lawful deadly force by an officer on a suspect. The Any Felony Rule, The Defense of Life Rule, The Model Penal Code, The Forcible Felony Rule. The Any Felony Rule gave officers the authorization to use any and all means necessary to arrest a felon suspect or prevent them from fleeing. It was interpreted as giving law enforcement the legal permission to shoot an unarmed fleeing felony suspect. The defense of life rule states that police officers can use deadly force only in situations were their own lives or the life of another person are in danger. The Model Penal Code states that and individual commits involuntary manslaughter when they commit a criminal homicide in a reckless

In today’s modern society, many feel that is okay for a police officer can kill a man armed with a harmful weapon at any cost. On many news channels, there are various amounts of articles and reports about a police officer committing this act. Even though a police officer has the right to take action against an armed man, this could be argued in many circumstances. In the 2013, Sammy Yatim was a young adult with a mental illness and was armed with a weapon on a streetcar in Toronto. Yatim was confronted by Const. James Forcillo, who took action against Yatim, shot multiple times and killed him. After an extensive trial, Const. James Forcillo was convicted with attempted murder and no additional charges were laid against him. For the reason

Police officers are only supposed to use the amount of force necessary to prevent any accidents. According to the National Institute of Justice ,"the use of force by law enforcement officers becomes necessary and is permitted under specific circumstances, such as in self-defense or in defense of another individual or group." The law enforcement are allowed to use lethal, non-lethal force, physical, and verbal restraints. The amount of force used by the law can be depended by the situation they are currently in. While on duty, a officers are trained to judge when the situation requires a use of force. 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

Weapons are deemed as a significant element for military strategies all over the world. Overtime, these illicit weapons distributed to police forces have caused injuries some at minor at levels and whilst some are deemed at extreme levels. Electronic stun devices and other less-lethal weapons are marketed as offering unmitigated benefits to both police and public safety, with this statement there are various problems also associated with these devices such as unnecessary injury and deaths. There are various intentional injuries that police officers are affected by whilst working, the prevalence of injury in the force is rather high. By the 1800s, after departments and police departments distributed weapons and demanded the use of force that

Police brutality will be an issue until a solution is created. Many individuals are victims of this form of assault on daily basis. The liberties held by law enforcement are challenged each time they perform their duties. Police officers should abide by the same laws that each citizen is expected to abide by. Although police officers are granted with the right to determine laws as constitutional, civilians are sometimes treated in ways that are beyond unlawful.

For decades now, the controversy over deadly force has continued to show up in the news when police officers have acted in a manner that some citizens find just while others deem completely unfair. Many lawsuits stemming from shootings and crimes have found their way to local courts or the Supreme Court to deal with this issue. A portion of the U.S. population finds deadly force unnecessary when non-lethal weapons such as pepper spray or batons just as easily subdue the criminal. In addition, these citizens argue that officers might be liable for cases filed against them if they use excess force on people that seem suspicious but have not actually committed a crime. On the other hand, the opposing argument in favor of deadly force states that