INTRODUCTION
In human society there have always been laws and lawbreakers. Police were designed to protect the public from the dangerous offenders who might steal from them, harm them or kill them. The idea was that police were to be a positive inclusion in American cities, towns and neighborhoods. In some cases and some places they are exactly that. However, over the last few years there have been more and more instances where police have committed acts of unnecessary force, extreme violence and, unfortunately, including the use of deadly force in cases where their actions and motivation are being questioned by law enforcement, by the media and by the public. Some cases have been deemed justified, but many others have not and have brought to light some very negative and all too common abuse allegations. Many Americans feel that the police cannot always be trusted, they fear the accusations of violence against detainees and believe that not enough is being done to address the problem. That said finding measures to properly address the issues of police use of force and to prevent it from existing into the future is imperative. Americans are angry and are protesting, sometimes, violently, because of this issue. The best way to understand some of the issues it is better to discuss them individually in a real world cases and determine whether or not the force used was warranted or completely inappropriate. In order to end the possibility of police excessive use of force or brutality there is a need for a number of policy and procedure changes needed, including training, psychological evaluation and, finally, and most importantly, body-cameras.
BACKGROUND
The only way to clearly see what constitutes unnecessary or unwarranted use of force it is essential to know how “use of force” is procedurally supposed to work. There are several stages and levels of force that an officer is allowed to use in order to bring a suspect or offender under their control; especially when the offender poses a threat to the officer’s lives or the public. Generally speaking, officers are supposed to use all avenues of non-violent force unless absolutely necessary.
Verbal Commands: Officers will generally attempt to gain the compliance of the suspect with verbal commands and orders. If they follow those orders many arrests can be achieved without incident (National Institute of Justice, 2015).
Pepper Spray: The strong smell, severe burning and the body’s reaction to it is very affective at ceasing an offender’s refusal to comply or surrender. While it may be painful, pepper spray does not cause permanent damage; it can also be administered from a distance (National Institute of Justice, 2015).
Tasar: Like the pepper spray, tasar is another valuable tool in an officer’s arsenal that can bring down many offenders easily without further incident. Again, this may be painful but it is not lethal nor intended to be (National Institute of Justice, 2015).
Physical Restraint: When a suspect or offender refuses to comply, attempts to escape the officer’s control and, often physically assault the officers, they have the right to engage in physical restraint to complete a successful arrest (National Institute of Justice, 2015).
Firearms: Police officers are only supposed to use their guns as a threat of potential shots if one does not comply, however, they are only supposed to use it as a last resort or when the only way to secure the safety of others is to take the shot (National Institute of Justice, 2015).
Many argue that this tide of police brutality is something new to society. Unfortunately, that is not the case. There have always been good cops and bad cops. Officers that are dedicated to the spirit of the job they are doing and then there are others who abuse their power and use force for the sense of superiority and control it gives them. That said the only reason that it seems as if it is a new phenomena is because in this era of technology everyone has a camera, buildings have security cameras and even the cities monitors the public; it is very hard to do anything without being seen doing it (Goldsmith, 2010). Today we are seeing the number of cases when police force has been misused, which was always there but often went unseen.
DISCUSSION
There are a number of different contributors to the excessive use of police force, including unprovoked deadly force, is because the law enforcement has changed in the last decade and a half. September 11, 2001, when members of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, hijacked four American passenger jets and used them to destroy the portions of the Pentagon, both towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and the last, which was likely intended for the White House, crashed in a field when the passengers thwarted the hijackers intentions. That day American changed. In order to make Americans feel safe the government engaged in stricter laws, security measures and policies. Some of that change may be negatively affect the police forces of the United States. Police historically were perceived as civil agency, but after 9/11 it became more of a militant one (Rizer & Hartman, 2011). Police are engaging in some the approaches and policies previously only applied to the military. This kind of change has and may continue to have a negative effect on how the police treat the general public. However, while this may be a reason for the occurrences it does not excuse them. Another theory as to why it happens so often is that it is institutional. Meaning that there are behaviors that encourage certain mindsets about certain people that lead to violence interactions between the police and such individuals. A good example is racial profiling. Police are often taught that because more crime occurs in minority neighborhoods that minorities are more likely to be guilty of some kind of crime over their white counterparts. There is a similar to the socioeconomic stereotypes that are taught regarding poor people, regardless of race; they often assume that because poor people have so little that they are most likely to commit crimes in order to get what they need or want (Self, 2016). Of course, there is also the reality that there are some people who are fueled by the power that a police officers are granted, they use their position to bully and, sometimes, brutalize offenders without cause; which, of course, is often covered up by other officers. But, again, understanding the differing sources does not justify the behavior that is being seen enacted by some police officers on duty.
A very good example of these kinds of mentalities and behaviors in question is the too many stories that have dominated the press for the last several years. The case of Laquan McDonald is easily one of the most shocking and personifies the idea of unnecessary and excessive use of force. Laquan McDonald was a teenage boy in Chicago. On an evening in of 2014 he was found walking down the middle of the highway, holding what was, apparently, a small knife. Police officers on the scene maintained a distance of several feet between them and McDonald. McDonald made no aggressive moves toward the officers in anyway, as can be seen on the video taken from one of the patrol cars dash-cameras. McDonald was clearly upset and he continued to ignore the instructions of the police, but again his ignoring them did not directly threatened them (Austen, 2016). He refused to follow instructions but remained unthreatening according to the video. This is a huge part of how officers gauge a threat to their safety and whether they should use force or lethal force (National Institute of Justice, 2016). However, in the midst of the scenario another patrol car pulled up and officer Jason Van Dyke exited his vehicle, drew his weapon and with only a single command or two to McDonald, he opened fire. McDonald was not even facing him when the gunfire started. Van Dyke emptied his weapon, reloaded and then preceded to fire more at the teen who was now incapacitated on the ground. He shot McDonald 16 times. After the fact, the police were not quick to address the injuries that McDonald had sustained and after the fact, the officers attempted to cover up the actions of Van Dyke. However, public outrage, ethical questions and the truth-telling dash-camera video it became clear that Van Dyke’s actions were completely unprovoked and unnecessary. The officer was charged and convicted for the murder of Laquan McDonald. (Austen, 2016).
In the case of Laquan McDonald the outrage, protest and media debate was entirely warranted. There was nothing about McDonald’s actions that night that warranted the officer’s actions and surely did not call for a death sentence for this troubled teen. The media and public response was valid in the accusations against the police department. However, that does not mean that there have not been instances where the media coverage and public response ultimately were entirely wrong. Sometimes the press does not benefit the truth of a situation (Goldsmith, 2010). In the case of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the initial story and impression was that the lone officer, Darren Wilson, chased Brown into an alley and despite the fact he held up his hands in surrender, Wilson shot him several times, killing him. The public erupted in protest, some so extreme that they resulted in riot behavior. The media perpetuated this version of the story. However, in the end, both witness testimony and autopsy report proved that the scenario did not occur that way. In fact, Brown had already tried to take the officers weapon which resulted with a shot being fired into Wilson’s cruiser. When Wilson pursued Brown, he did not surrender. In fact, he was doing quite the opposite. He continued to charge and attempt to intimidate the officer. The autopsy showed that Wilson initial shots were superficial and nonlethal, but still Brown would not surrender; which ultimately resulted in the taking of Michael Brown’s life (Capehart, 2015). Despite the fact that the truth was known protest groups, like “Black Lives Matter” continue to use Brown’s case as an example of police brutality and excessive force, but that is not the reality of this case. That said in this case the media be it television, internet or radio continued to perpetuate a story that does not match the facts. Unfortunately, this also means that it encouraged riot, violence, arson and attacks on random police officer all across the United States.
Whether we are discussing the misleading information regarding the Michael Brown case or the very real case of Laquan McDonald, which is essentially a murder at the hands of police, it has tarnished the reputations and perceptions of the police from coast to coast. Once again, not all police officers fall into this category of unwarranted abusers. There are, overall, more “good cops” than bad ones, but that minority of officers that participate in excessive and unprovoked uses of force are overshadowing those that do not. Fortunately, many law enforcement agencies are making efforts to eliminate the possibility and instances of excessive use of force.
Psychological and Background: In order to become police officers there is a lot of training involved. However, given that there are people who are psychologically more prone to aggression and violence over others needs to be acknowledged more quickly (Paoline & Terril, 2007). Greater psychological and background checking of applicants who wish to join the police force. Ideally this would help law enforcement agencies identify those candidates so they never end up on the police force at all.
Revising and Reforming Policies: Changing the policies and procedures that place the police at odds with specific ethnicities and socioeconomic statuses. Poor people should not have to worry more about negative interactions with the police over their wealthier counterparts just because they are poor. Police should not make assumptions that some suspects are guiltier than other based on the statistical data of other similar individuals in similar situations (Self, 2016). This means that the wealthy are respected by police, but the poor are not. Many agencies are changing and updating their policies in order to create better relationships with officers and the communities they serve.
Mandatory Body-Camera: This is probably the most beneficial possible effort being made to monitor police behavior and incontrovertible proof of the actions. This is not only going to be beneficial to the public by discouraging officers from behaving inappropriately or committing acts of abuse against the public, but it would also be beneficial to officers, because it would help to prevent instances of false accusations against the police, like when suspects will injure themselves and claim that the police caused the injury. Las Vegas has implemented such a requirement and there has been a huge drop in accusations, false or valid, since it was put into practice (Lochhead, 2015). Many feel that this is the ideal solution. However, there is some resistance to such a requirement being implemented, primarily from members of police forces. That said if there is nothing to be hidden then having the cameras should not be a problem, but a fantastic solution.
CONCLUSION
Whenever one discusses the issues and negative views that are becoming more and more prevalent in the media regarding police officers is not laughing matter. Several people have been unnecessarily injured or executed by police when they were not a threat or menace to anyone in the given situation. On the other side of the issue, a number of police officers, unrelated to the acts that are angering the masses, have been executed in the vehicles in some kind of protest or retaliation. People are dying so things need to change. Police abuses and misusing of force is a serious problem, but it is one that can be overcome. If people, including law enforcement agencies, make the needed changes then it such behavior can be deterred and prevented. Police are supposed to be the people that the citizens can go to for help, but for many citizens the police do not represent safety or help. That needs to change. Ultimately, if more police department incorporated the measures that are being tested throughout the United States, more psychological testing, reforming policies and the implementation of mandatory body-cameras for all on-duty police officers; this is the only way that police abuse of force can be prevented and deterred. There should never be another Laquan McDonald or any of those like him.
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