Should Police Officers Use Excessive Force

One cause of the problem of police brutality is the police officers themselves. Some police officers have been known to put their prejudice in front of their responsibility to protect and serve. Some people use force in direct response to perceived threats from racial or economic groups that they view as threatening (“Police”). Another possible explanation could be explained with psychology. Personality disorders, personal problems, post-job related trauma or simply officers being young and inexperienced, can all explain why police brutality happens (Gilio-Whitaker).

Section 25 part four states, subsection E specifically states that an officer is allowed to use deadly force if, “the flight cannot be prevented by reasonable means in a less violent manner” (Martins, 2016, p. 39). An officer’s judgment plays a crucial role in these particular situations. A question that can be raised when you look at this subsection is the meaning of “reasonable”. What may seem “reasonable” to one officer may not be “reasonable” to another. Once an officer gains more experience on the streets he will have better judgment in situations (J. Woodchuck, personal communication, December 18, 2014).

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.

Often criminal confessions obtained through the use of physical force are considered coerced, and in most cases, they cannot be used against the accused in a court of law. Scientists believe that police coercion may have an even more powerful impact and influence on venerable people such as juveniles, the mentally disabled and the mentally ill who admit to the crime to escape the long, harsh interrogation process and procedure. It is worth noting that coercion interrogation is more than the use of physical force to extract information from a person. The process begins by wrongful classification of an innocent individual as guilty which prompts the officers of the law to subject him or her to an accusatorial interrogation. Scientists believe that captives have information in long-term memory that they choose not to share, but the extended application of techniques and methods that induce stress and discomfort will eventually force them to release the information.

As time progresses there would be more police brutality victims then officers themselves, with untrained officers this may lead to death. Police brutality is although prejudice what’s the real reason why officers do this act. The only real reason they do this is if the victim is acting up or having a reason for a police officer to do the brutality. People may see it as brutality, but officers may see it as getting the job done. This is a big issue going on in this world debating whether or not if it 's police brutality or getting the job done.

Stop and frisk has been a highly conversed topic within the general public within recent years. Many people think that these are just a way to profile possible offenders and treat them as guilty before they do anything wrong. Our book describes how that is not true because a stop and frisk must meet certain requirements in order to be valid. A major case that was held in regards to stop and frisk was Terry v. Ohio and this case determined that a police officer must meet two requirements in order for the stop to be valid. The first one is that either a crime has been committed or will be committed and the suspect is possibly armed and dangerous.

There's a line that an officer can't cross and that's when they use excessive force, any amount of force by a law enforcement officer that is beyond the minimum necessary to achieve legitimate law enforcement objectives. A type of force that rarely an officer uses is deadly force, the use of lethal force by an officer. The court will only consider the use of deadly force responsible only when it is an absolute last resort. That is why the Supreme Court invalidated the fleeing-felon rule, which they rule that it was acceptable practice in many jurisdictions to use deadly force when a felon fled from an officer regardless of the immediacy of threat involved in the situation. An example of when an officer can use deadly force is when the officer reasonably believes there is a substantial imminent risk that the person to be arrested will cause death or serious bodily harm to the officer or to another person in the

Whenever officers feel endangered, they automatically turn to their weapons. Recently, guns have been a major problem because officers feel that it is the only way they are able to defend themselves. Sometimes abusing the power of guns. Police brutality occurs because officers feel unsure of where the situation will go if they do not take a stand before problems begin to worsen. Police are already seen as the higher power.

Police brutality is one of the most severe and troubling violation of human rights in the United States of America. The unnecessary force by officers continues, because of overpowering obstructions to accountability. This point makes it probable that officers who violate citizens’ rights are most likely to not face punishment and often leads to replication of their wrongdoings. Some government entities claim that the use of police brutality is a part of self-defense for the law enforcement, most citizens disagree on this research and insist officers are abusing their authority and using excessive force unnecessarily. Police departments should revise and reevaluate safety and cultural training to provide a solution to excessive force.

Police officers should under no circumstances physically harm anyone for any reason. Officers have also in the past used informants as bait and put their lives in danger just to try and catch a criminal. We as citizens should be able to put our trust in these officer, but sadly that trust has been broken too many times. Officers that misuse informants can also with-hold evidence such as drugs or money for themselves and just continue this cycle and then put the blame on the informant that is more than likely already facing jail time. We should all make sure that police officers remain in check and that they do not receive too much power, because things like this happen.

It is assured that the fundamental purpose for our criminal law is to prevent crime, punish offenders, assist and protect. However, there are abounding cases where criminal law has punished a convict who was proved innocent . A conviction is necessary to display the order they obtain to keep people safe in society. If a criminal was not caught the people would look down upon the system. In many cases, the deputy will arrest an individual who seems to fit a certain description that they know will lead to an arrest.

It is shameful, It is deadly.” These people will suffer from this if this isn’t resolved. Many false arrests have been made, innocent people are doing time in prison. Police officers need to be equal with anyone regardless of how they look.

To the citizens that do not enjoy all this police brutality will get more of an advantage because with all these body cameras on officers not all will be harsh on purpose. Many of the officers do say it is true that many do take advantage of victims because they know they have the power to do what they want. In this article Swinny the author is not one to judge through anything but does also believe this will benefit many officers. The reason Smiddy believes that is because not all officers will be getting judged and knowing not all officers are the same and are very equal with one another.

Law enforcement and citizens each have their own explanation and definition what excessive force is and how it should be handled. There are different ways how law enforcement uses their excessive force which could have been different in the past from now. There needs to be various amount of changes in the police department to reduce the incident of excessive force. Excessive force is a current issue that needs to be reduced to justify every case correctly and avoid this hot controversy. All individuals in society have their own definitions and point of views on what excessive force is and how it should be handled.

According to Dent v. City of Dallas, the court ruled that police officers performing discretionary duties in good faith and acting within the course and scope of their employment are immune from personal liability under the doctrine of qualified immunity. The question that is presented in this situation is whether or not the police officer was acting within his course and scope of his employment. As a nation we have endowed our police officers with the right and authority to enforce the laws on whom they choose. Whether or not we reach the realization to this reality however is another story. The police officer has to use his ability on whom to arrest and not arrest responsibly because his actions do affect society.