Research Paper on Police and Use of Force

http://www.urgentcustomessays.com/blog/2012/01/research-paper-on-police-and-use-of-force/Research Paper on Police and Use of ForceEssay Blog

Research Paper on Police and Use of Force

Introduction

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 polices regarding the use of physical, verbal or any other kind of force like, chemicals, electronic control devices or lethal weapons by police-men. Moreover, the attitude of public, media, courts and juries towards the excessive use of force will be studied, but before that it is important to understand following definitions;

Order Now!
Research Paper on Police and Use of Force

Force:

Force is defined as, a non-negotiable use of police authority to influence the behavior of citizens (Ederheimer, Fridell, 2005). On the other hand, National Institute of Justice defines use of force as under;

‘Amount of effort, used by police to compel compliance by an unwilling subject’.

Police ensures the enforcement of law by the legal use of force, verbal as well as physical force can be used in this regard depending upon severity of situation, and the purpose is to decrease the unwanted results of a particular event. However, in this situation it is recommended by NIJ that police officers should ensure that any individual who gets injured in this event must receive medical aid; moreover, anyone close to the injured subject (family member or friend) should be informed about this situation.

Reasonable force:

Reasonable force is that amount of force, which a prudent or careful person can use in a given situation (Ederheimer, Fridell, 2005).

Excessive force:

Excessive force is the amount of force exceeding the ordinary force (Ederheimer, Fridell, 2005).

Excessive use of force became a subject of discussion after the ‘Rodney king case’ in Los Angeles, afterwards the allegation was made against the police officer, who used force to arrest him. After this event, national as well as international attention focused on the definition of use of excessive force in an event. There are some strict policies against use of excessive force, and officers get charged because of this; for example;

Justine Volpe a police officer of New York police was charged because of the fact that he assaulted Abner Loulma with a broomstick and humiliated the Haitian immigrant who was handcuffed.

People have a good knowledge about the laws and policies related to unjustified use of force by police. Although, these officers have to take decisions so as to cater the situation, but these split-second decisions can become a subject of long term public review (Orthmann-hess, Hess ortheman, Hess, 2009).

The excessive use of force is an unreasonable act, the reasonableness is determined by the fact, whether a careful officer would have used this much of force in the similar circumstances. The information is gathered about the situation from the officer as well as other police-men involved in this task, however, resistance from the offenders, if occurs during arrest, excessive use of force become justifiable. Otherwise it becomes a negative pint for the officer.

Guidelines for the use of force:

There are several guidelines for the use of force, which vary from place to place and situation to situation, there is not universal rule and guideline for the amount of force used in a particular event. However, national institute of justice gives guidelines for the use of force based upon various factors which are as under;

v  The experience of a particular police department

v  Law enforcement technologies, which are available at a given place during specific event

v  Federal as well as state mandates becomes another influencing factor

v  Complex relationship that can develop between police and general public at given place is also another determinant of the use of force (National Institute of Justice, 2009).

Use of force continuums:

Officers have specific training regarding use of force, for this purpose officer’s continuums were developed in the year 1960s. These continuums are based upon the resistance faced by the police officer and the amount of force that can be justified at that particular time. It can be said that he use of force should behave in a linear manner that means the rise should occur from the negligible resistance to increased aggression (Orthmann-hess, Hess ortheman, Hess, 2009). Law enforcement agencies almost, at all places give policies according to which a police officer can utilize force by keeping the legal boundaries intact. These law enforcement agencies describe the process with a series of different actions, which should be undertaken so as to turn a dangerous situation into peaceful.

1-      No force is used

The issue can be resolved only because of the presence of officer at the spot; police officer should find best way to make the situation calm.  In this case the behavior of a police officer must be non-threatening, peaceful and at the same time professional, he needs to ensure the people that he is the best person who can resolve this issue.

2-      Verbal force is used without involvement of physical force:

If an issue can be verbally solved, then there is no need to involve physical force in the task. Officers can use commands such as:

‘Show me your identification’     or        ‘who are you’

Along with that, comparatively shorter commands can be used by police law enforcement officers depending upon the situation, these commands can be, ‘do not move’ or ‘stop’ etc.

3-      Physical force without the utilization of weapons:

If it is required then police officer can use physical force so as to overcome a situation, tactics are very important in this regard, which are also an integral part of police training. These tactics and techniques can be grouped into two main categories:

a-      Soft techniques:  In this case officer uses joint locks, grabs and holds so as to inhibit the movement of the subject.

b-      Hard techniques: When situation starts to become serious, then it is advised to use punches, kicks and other related tactics so as to control the suspect.

4-      Lethal Force:

In a few cases officers are allowed to use lethal weapons or force so as to control a rapidly deteriorating situation. Lethal weapons should be used when the situation becomes uncontrollable with the use of lethal force. Lethal force can be of various types, which are discussed in following lines;

Chemicals: Use of chemical-sprays as well as projectiles, which have chemicals in it, is devised to control the movement of suspects for a short period of time, until any other tool can be used.

Baton or Projectile: Baton or a projectile can be used to restrain an actively moving person.

Electronic control devices (ECD’s): ECD’s which are also called as controlled electronic devices, work by neuromuscular incapacitation, which immobilizes the person by inhibiting its muscular activity, under its effect subject becomes unable to move his muscles, and he collapses to the ground without further resistance. These are handheld devices and police-officers get special training for their use (Forst, Dempsey, 2011).

Life-threatening Weapons:

Officers are allowed to use lethal weapons in case when situation starts to become worse. Sometimes, suspects start to threat police officers in a way that can endanger their safety and also the safety of other people including bystanders and neighbors, in this situation, police-men can use lethal weapons to control the combative person (Naitonal institute of jusice, 2009).

Graham’s Factors:

Juries and courts know that the right to make physical arrest gives a right to the officer to utilize some degree of force as well, only then the arrest will be possible in a given situation. Therefore, the reasonableness of the use of force can be decided from the use perspectives of officer who is facing the situation. Graham V Connor established some factors so as to aid police department in use of force, these factors are discussed as under;

1-      Nature and severity of the crime of the suspect

2-      Offender if poses any kind of threat to the police officer or any other person, then use of force can be justified.

3-      Circumstances should be considered, tense and uncontrollable situation can compel officer to use force.

4-      If the offender tries to escape from the situation or fights with the officer then force can be used.

5-      Suspect if actively show physical resistance to arrest then force can be used to control the situation, otherwise, whole effort will go in vein.

Graham’s factors are also very helpful for juries to take decision in lawsuits related to excessive use of force (Orthmann-hess, Hess ortheman, Hess, 2009).

Problems with the use of force:

There are several problems associated with the police and use of force. Sometimes police officers are not aware of the situation in which they are going to arrest someone; moreover, they should also be aware of the law-cases in the area. There are several reasons because of which police force leave it open to lawsuits, most of these are related to following things like;

1-      False arrest                                  2- Excessive use of force

3. Shooting                                           4- A wrongful death by police

Here, the false arrest can lead to a serious case against the officer who is involved in this. False arrest can be defined as ‘it is an action of civil court tending to establish that the officer that claimed an authority to make an arrest did not have any probable cause of this arrest at that time’.

The only way to avoid such kinds of problems with the use of force is to obtain an arrest warrant or get the conviction from the court before taking action against someone who is suspected. These arrest warrants and convictions from the court even work when the arrested person is not found guilty of a specific crime. Moreover, police officers can also reduce these law-suits when they know rules and regulation, which they are going to enforce, they should also know the elements of each and every crime and what was the cause of this crime. These officers, who know all these things, can also use ‘good faith defense’ to secure them in such situation.

Use of force during arrest is a very serious matter, sometimes it causes lawsuits, which are most difficult to deal with.  It is supposed that the use of physical force is not very much necessary in all kinds of arrest; rather these arrests can be made without use of physical force. International association of chiefs of police released a report, in which it was observed that the rate of use of force is in 3.61 per one thousand events. However, it is widely established that the use of force is required for arrest most of the events for many reasons, which can be one or more than one of the following:

a-      Personal safety                                                     b- Public safety

1. Decrease the rate of homicides                            d- Guard the innocent bystanders

e- Enforce the law (Ruecker, 2006).

Good judgment and understanding of situation is a necessary tool to decide the use of force in a particular incident. Use of force should be in direct relationship with that of the resistance, if there is no resistance then try not to use force. However, when the situation is becoming serious then officers decide to involve force. Sometimes, this decision has to be taken only in a second. In a few cases use of force is done largely at the time when the incident is at its peak and offices have to take decision in a fraction of second. Juries as well as courts often excuse those police officers who use more force than intended because of some other external factors, as court knows that there are many important things involved in such decisions taken in split second.

Available Statistics on the use of force

Use of force is an issue that has gained considerable public attention in last few years, unfortunately, television and other media publication determine that excessive use of force has become a norm; they show events and pictures of excessive use of force at much higher than that of the actual rate. Public is very much cautious about these kinds of events and therefore take a great interest in discussing and scrutinizing such events. However, a detailed study done by National Institute of Justice reveals some important facts about this issue, these facts are briefly discussed in following lines;

1-      It has been observed in the study that the rate of complaint against excessive use of force from police is 6 percent, which means 6 out of hundred cases show this. Law enforcement department has written in its report that 92 percent of these complaints have no evidence to support it. Jury has rejected those cases which are without evidence and no action was recommended against these officers (Hickman, 2006).

2-      In the year 1999 and 2000, police officers behaved in a very careful manner, out of 100 calls for police action, only one event showed the use of force from police department (International association of chiefs of police, 2001).

3-      Use of police force is although not very common; however it depends upon how someone defines the excessive force according to the severity of event or condition, (National institute of Justice, 2009).

A report released by US department of justice reveals some important facts and figures bout the use of force by police officers in different events like, arresting a suspect, controlling a combative person and stopping an aggressive demonstration. The report suggests that the use of force by police occurs usually in the form of garbing, pushing, kicking etc. in this regard, a case study was done on almost seven thousand five hundred and twelve  adult-arrest cases, and it was observed that use of physical force and tactics without weapons was done in almost 80 percent cases. In which, grabbing was most common and was used for half the time. Only 2.1 percent of all arrests showed the use of weapons by police officers. According to the observations;

1.2 percent of all arrests showed the use of weapons like; chemical spray and tear gas

0.2 percent of all arrests involved the use of fire arms.

Police department undergoes training of all of its officers before allowing them the use of force. They are ordered to use weapons and force in a progressive way. Use of least amount of force is recommended to achieve their targets in a safest way (Beureu of Justic Statistics, 1999).

Law enforcement agencies provide some important recommendations for its police officers regarding the use of weapons and force during their job. These recommendations are discussed in following lines;

Recommendations:

There are some recommendations according to the policies regarding excessive use of force;

Police officers must know the policies about use of force, police department should record all the complaints related to excessive use of force, moreover, a complete and thorough review of these complaints must be done.

Officers must study the research findings when force is likely to be used; for instance one research suggests that the officer can use force in an event when the suspect starts to undertake actions, which are harmful for neighbors or other bystanders, as these actions can increase rate of homicides, so use of force is required in such situations.

When the suspect shows signs of drug abuse or use of alcohol, he can engage himself in harmful behavior, and use of force can be done is such case.

Officers should be aware of these policies and must not take steps, which show disrespect to anyone, they should not involve themselves in the use of excessive force.

If police officer is not in uniform, it is important to show badge to the suspect and talk to him in a peaceful and calm way. Police officers must not create a situation that can trigger resistance. Also, it is important to give reason about the questioning before arrest. Moreover, it is fundamental to listen other side of the story from the suspect and then decide appropriate action regarding it, it can be;

a-      Warn                           b- arrest                            c-  release                    d- issue a citation

Officers should create a situation that favors voluntarily arrest, however, the situation does not remain peaceful all the time, therefore, it is allowed to use as much force as required in for the arrest. Police officer is allowed to use force in an ascending order;

• Use of empty hands which should be along with defensive tactics
• Use of control agents including tear gas and mace
• Use of deadly force in case of life threatening event

Conclusion

Police officers are trained and given the responsibility to ensure the protection as well as domestic well-being of public. They are armed all the time, it is their duty to coerce the combative person and also comply with the police s and procedures of law enforcement agencies. As police carry lethal weapons therefore their capacity to use force is also a subject of public scrutiny. First and foremost responsibility of police-offices is to improve the public safety and ensure their protection, and therefore the force they have is allowed to be used for the purpose of decreasing death rate of innocent people. Along with that, their duty is to safeguard those who are violating the rules or planning to harm themselves or others. In doing so officers are allowed to utilize force in an effective and careful manner. The amount of force used has a direct relationship with the threat from the criminal and it is limited to the minimum force needed to complete the given target. While using this force, police officer must keep in mind that they are drawn from their own community and the purpose of their job is to bring peace, happiness and prosperity in that community, keeping this thinking ahead they can perform their job in a required manner, which will not only improve the integrity of the department of police, but also improve the image of police officers amongst the eyes of general public.

Reference

Alpert, G.P, Dunham, R.G., 2004.Understanding police force, Cambridge University Press.

Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1999, Use of force by Police,  National Institute of Justice.

Forst Linda S, Dempsey Forst S, 2011, An intorudction toPolicing, Cengage learning.

Fridell Lorie A, Ederheimer Joshua A, 2005, Chief concerns, Police Executive Research Forum.

Hickman, M.J., 2006. Citizen complaints about police use of force, American Society of Criminology.

National Institute of Justice, 2009, The use of Force continuums, Office of Justice program.

National Institute of Justice, 2009, Police use of force, Office of justice program.

Office of justice program,1999, use of force by police, overview of national and local data, Us department of justice.

Orthmann-hess Christine, Christine Orthmann-hess, Hess M Karen, 2009, Criminal investigation, Cengage leaning.

Smith E Christopher, Cole George F, 2006, American system of criminal justice, Cengage learning.

West federal supplement, 2008, west publishing company.

Incoming search terms:

• essays on excessive force during arrest (2)
• Police Excecutive research form use of force 2009 (1)
• Police Force 2009 (1)
• police use of force essay (1)
• police use of force in criminal investigation research paper (1)
• policy for police department for lethal and non lethal force (1)
• research paper graham v connor (1)
• research paper on law enforcement (1)

Tags: Excessive force, force continuums, Graham’s Factors, physical force, Police, Reasonable force, use of force, Verbal force