Introduction
Law enforcement has turned out to be extremely challenging in the contemporary changing social and cultural climate. It has continued to experience a range of challenges that are generated by the existing environment. The law enforcement practices, as well as policies, have received a lot of public scrutiny. Terrorism, large-scale population movements, globalization, and entrenched social problems have made the enforcement of the law, especially by the police, more challenging. The contemporary policing is primarily marked by the uncertainty and broadening of crime deterrence problems. Among the law enforcement officers, the police have been scrutinized heavily by the public. They have received much criticism due to their use of force while enforcing the law. MacDonald, Manz, Alpert, & Dunham (2003) emphasize that the police use of force is turning out to be a more and more contentious issue. In point of fact, the use of force has remained one of the most controversial issues in policing, especially in the American policing. Notably, this issue has affected not only the country’s police organizations but also the communities that these organizations serve. Consequently, the present paper delves into the use of force/use of ethics in law enforcement.
The police officers play an imperative role in the law enforcement system. Ideally, they respond to the emergency calls, participate in the community patrols, probe the crimes, make arrests, and testify in the courts of law, among other roles. Without a doubt, the police officers hold an influential and prominent position within the society, which demands them to safeguard individuals’ values, principles, and morals. They are required to make a range of decisions/choices when carrying out their day-to-day duties. In essence, they are called upon to exercise professional discretion in their decision-making. It is vital to mention that discretion necessitates the police officers to make hard choices that are subject to scrutiny. It heavily influences the degree of force that they use while enforcing the law.
According to Bittner (1970), as cited by Terrill & Reisig (2003), force lies at the heart of the police function. There are certain circumstances that require the police officers to use force. They are expected to exercise professional discretion when making the decisions to apply force. Pollock (2014) affirms that the unsuitable use of force takes place when the law enforcers apply unethical criteria to resolve decisions. There exists a code of conduct, which is made up of the ethical mandates that the law enforcers are required to apply in carrying out their duties. Among these ethical guidelines include exercising discretion, upholding integrity and confidentiality always, acting impartially, and using only the needed force. It is vital to mention that the police officers are expected to apply these and other ethical guidelines when making decisions.
MacDonald et al. (2003) assert that there exists a deal of uncertainty for the police officers who answer to the calls for service. It is essential to state that these law enforcement officers experience a range of situations during their careers in which the application of force is necessary. In particular, the use of force is authorized when the police officers are controlling an unruly demonstration, restraining disruptive combatants, and when the suspects are resisting arrests. It is also authorized when the police officers are preventing the individuals from injuring themselves and preventing the suspects from destroying the evidence. MacDonald et al. (2003) further maintain that police officers have various means to maintain order, but the one, which sets them aside from the other individuals is their right to apply physical force. They receive training on the use of force and are not authorized to apply excessive or deadly force when it is not necessary.
There are some standards, which dictate the degree of force that the law enforcement officers might use justifiably. Notably, the justification of the application of force is an imperative determination, which a law enforcement officer is called upon to make prior to making the decision to use force on a suspect. Brave (2002) highlights the criteria for acceptable use of force by the officers in the law enforcement agencies within the United States. One of these standards is that the use of force must not be outside the limits specified by the country’s constitutional and statutory law. Besides, it must be in adherence to the applicable guidelines of the equipment manufacturer.
Additionally, the use of force ought to be within the satisfactory limits of the appropriate department procedures, training, and policies. What is more, it must not be outside the limits, which are specified by the relevant state constitutional and statutory law given that the State law is more restrictive compared to the Federal Law. The law enforcement officers are required not to act outside all the above constitutional boundaries when applying force. The incidents, which encompass the use of excessive or deadly force by the police officers receive a lot of attention from the media.
The public has heavily scrutinized the activities of the police officers even when the level of the force they use does not surpass the level that is considered acceptable under different circumstances due to the impact of both the mass media and social media. As a matter of fact, the media portrayals have greatly framed as well as swayed the public perception of the aptness and incidence of the police application of force within the United States. The media has essentially become saturated with outlandish and unrealistic depictions of the law enforcement as well as the policing occupation (International Association of Chiefs of Police & United States of America, 2012). It is depressing to note that the media has reported the news that has had detrimental effects on the way the public view the law enforcers. The have concentrated more on the bad incidents involving the use of force by some police officers compared to the heroic stories of most of these law enforcers.
Wolfe & Nix (2016) maintain that a string of hugely publicized events involving the demises of some members of African American communities as a result of police use of force resulted in continuous media attention. The much publicizing of the use of force by some police officers has caused confusion and outrage among the public. In particular, the media has considerably contributed to the worsening of the situation by not reporting what has happened in different cases precisely. For instance, in the case involving Michael Brown, the media to a large extent caused much outrage that led to protests in some cities throughout the country by not reporting what exactly happened. Besides, according to Wolfe & Nix (2016), the tragedies that happened in Ferguson involving the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, both African Americans, stayed in the news for several months, causing protests in numerous cities. The media is mainly to blame for the various protests that have taken place in the country following the police use of force while enforcing the law.
The media is fast to highlight the suspects’ race and the police officers’ race when the occurrences that involve the utilization of force happen. In most cases, the media fails to report whether the use of force was justifiable. As a result, this significantly contributes to the negative publicity of the law enforcers. It has worsened the relationship between the police officers and some communities, particularly the African-American communities. Wolfe & Nix (2016) insist that the Ferguson incident led to civil unrest, which continued for weeks and reinvigorated a discussion with an extended history in the United States- the relationships between the African American communities and the police as well as the excessive use of the force. The media is primarily to blame for this. It is discouraging to mention that the confidence in the law enforcement among the minority groups, especially African-Americans and the Latinos, is extremely low because they are certain that police officers are likely to apply excessive force due to the publication of the issue by the media.
The perceived appearance of racism or bias when the law enforcers use any force has created a disconnect between numerous citizens, particularly in communities of color, and the police organizations in the United States. Ideally, this has made the work of police extremely stressful and challenging. Wolfe & Nix (2016) emphasize that the police in the United States seem to be experiencing a legitimacy crisis owing to the hysteria over highly publicized lethal force occurrences in various cities during 2015. Specifically, the highly publicized excessive use of force by the police officers has increased the dangers that the police officers face while carrying out their duties, especially in the neighborhoods dominated by the communities of color. The use of acceptable force by the police in these areas is most of the times seen as excessive and the citizens are now more likely to retaliate. The violence against the police, for example, the Dallas police shootings that occurred in 2016 is primarily due to the perceived appearance of racism when the police apply any force.
It is vital to mention that the excessive use of force and racial profiling occur among a small number of law enforcers in the United States. In other words, there are only a small number of bad apples among the police officers in the United States. Not all the police officers use force excessively. The majority of them operate within the law. They use force only when it is strictly necessary. Besides, they apply force only for the permitted law enforcement purposes. However, most of the members of the public accuse the entire police forces due to the mainstream media much publicizing of the excessive use of force by the police.
Various individuals, especially from the minority groups, have increasingly accused the police of racial profiling. Wolfe & Nix (2016) report that the high-profile civilian demises at the hands of the police officers have triggered prevalent adverse attention, which some claim is making the police officers abandon their duties so as to evade being blamed for racial profiling or excessive force. In essence, the accusations regarding racial profiling levied against all the police officers, particularly those operating in the areas dominated by the communities of color, are resulting in the decrease in motivation among those officers who are clean, that is, those officers who do not take part in the excessive use of force.
The law enforcement is one of the leading professions, which demands higher ethical standards. The public heavily scrutinize the law enforcers more compared to the other professionals. The law enforcement agencies in different parts of the world including the United States endeavor to recruit, hire, and offer training to the law enforcers who show robust moral values. The law enforcement officers are required to commit themselves to doing the right things at all times. Pollock (2014) insists that the criminal justice professionals have a duty to the population they serve, but still more than that ought to have the moral as well as ethical sense to thwart the power intrinsic in their positions from being applied for oppression. Consequently, all the law enforcement officials including the police officers must endeavor to higher standards of behavior.
The police erode the trust that the members of the public have in them when they fail to do the right things and instead act unethically. As a result, this facilitates the degradation of the capability of the law enforcement to operate within the communities and achieve its mission. The police officers are, thus, called upon to abide by high ethical standards so as to attain the goal of modern policing. They are required to apply ethical standards when exercising their discretion. According to Pollock (2014), the police officers and other criminal justice practitioners experience a range of ethical choices. These include balancing the needs of the offenders against the institutional goals and bureaucratic efficiency, balancing friendship against the institutional integrity, and balancing personal biases or goals, which conflict with the impartial and fair treatment of the civilians and the offenders. It is, therefore, essential for all the law enforcement officers to be provided with the training in the critical ethics. Ideally, this training contributes to the development of the necessary reasoning abilities along with analytical skills among these law enforcers.
The ethical decisions for the practitioners in the criminal justice system, especially the police officers, arise time and again from their use of power as well as their exercise of discretion (Pollock, 2014). The law enforcement officers experience a range of ethical issues in carrying out their law enforcement duties. In essence, these issues are at times not easy for them to identify. In particular, they have enormous amounts of power that they can use against the people to search them as well as their residences and take away their freedoms. They also have the power to use force reasonably against the suspects. They are not required to misuse their power in any way. The abuse of the right to use force by the police officers is a contentious issue within the American policing. In essence, it raises ethical questions. The purpose of the use of force doctrines is primarily to balance the security needs with the ethical concerns for the suspects’ well-being and rights. Under no circumstances are the law enforcers required to abuse their power by using the force where it is unnecessary.
The policing of different communities in the United States frequently brings ethical situations, particularly the use of force and racial profiling, into consideration. As law enforcers, the police officers experience complex situations, which involve volatile circumstances as well as robust emotions. In responding to these situations, the law enforcers are not only required to think ethically, but they are also required to act ethically. However, at times, some situations make the police to use force, particularly the excessive force. Notably, certain difficult situations produce ethical dilemmas among the law enforcers and result in the use of force where it is not necessary. Pollock (2014) describe ethical dilemmas as the decisions, which are hard to make because the correct course of action carries some adverse consequences or the correct course of action is not obvious.
Determining whether some situations call for the use of force become a tough decision, which affects the involved police officers, the entire police force, and even the civilians. The police officers are required to think and act ethically within the shortest time possible. In fact, they have insufficient time to assess the challenging situations and determine the appropriate responses. The use of force is necessitated at times for the police officers to protect the civilians and themselves better. In more incidents than not, the police officers have used force accurately within their right to do so. Nevertheless, numerous citizens have heavily accused them, claiming that they overstep their rights by applying force when it appears not necessary. A considerable amount of the evidence substantiates that most of the police officers are working morally correct to accomplish their tasks as well as maintain public safety.
It is essential to mention that the excess use of force is tantamount to being unethical. Pollock (2014) maintains that the excessive force is illegal and unethical. He describes excessive force as the use of force, which surpasses what the police officers need to attain their legalized purpose, or when their intention is not self-defense or lawful apprehension, but instead coercion or personal retaliation. There have been instances where some police officers in the United States have been found guilty of using excessive force when it was not necessary. The unjustified use of deadly force has been proved among these law enforcers, and they have been prosecuted. Among these police officers include Charles Becker who was found guilty of murdering Herman Rosenthal and Ray Tensing who was charged with murdering Samuel DuBose.
The excessive use of force by the above mentioned and other police officers primarily amounts to being unethical and not acting within the legal parameters. Nonetheless, the juries have justified the use of excessive force by some police officers. For instance, in the John Crawford case, the jury did not charge the officers involved since it was established that the use of excessive force was necessary. Besides, in the Samantha Ramsey case, Tyler Brockman was not found guilty of murdering. Brockman maintained that he acted in self-defense and the grand jury justified his excessive use of force.
In conclusion, the issue of the police use of force has become highly contentious. The negative publicizing of this issue by the media has significantly deteriorated the relationships between the police agencies and the communities that they serve, especially the communities of color. Most of the members of these communities view all the law enforcers as bad people, but this is not the case. Not all the police officers misuse the power inherent in their positions. Most of them think and act ethically when responding to the situations that necessitate the use of force. Some officers have not been found guilty of excessive use of force, which has resulted in deaths. Their discretion in the use of excessive force has been justified. However, there are some who have been charged after the juries have failed to justify their lethal use of force. The perceived appearance of racism or bias when the police officers use force, particularly in the areas dominated by the communities of color is, therefore, wrong since it is only a small percentage of the law enforcers who apply excessive force when it is not necessary.
The police officers should be trained on how to control their emotions during the volatile confrontations and to apply force when it is necessary since emotions facilitate the lethal us of force. The decision regarding whether or not to utilize force is among the most challenging circumstances that police officers face in their law enforcement duties. It is, therefore, imperative for them to apply moral and ethical standards when exercising their discretion. In essence, this would help them avoid using force where it is not required and, as a consequence, improve the ability of the law enforcement to operate in all the communities and accomplish its mission.
References
Brave, M. A. (2002). How Much Force Is Acceptable? LAAW International, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.ecdlaw.info/outlines/Brave%20-%20Article%20-%20How%20Much%20Force%20is%20Acceptable.pdf
International Association of Chiefs of Police, & United States of America. (2012). Emerging Use of Force Issues: Balancing Public and Officer Safety.
MacDonald, J. M., Manz, P. W., Alpert, G. P., & Dunham, R. G. (2003). Police use of force: Examining the relationship between calls for service and the balance of police force and suspect resistance. Journal of Criminal Justice, 31(2), 119-127.
Pollock, J. M. (2014). Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice. Nelson Education.
Terrill, W., & Reisig, M. D. (2003). Neighborhood context and police use of force. Journal of research in crime and delinquency, 40(3), 291-321.
Wolfe, S. E., & Nix, J. (2016). The alleged “Ferguson Effect” and police willingness to engage in community partnership. Law and human behavior, 40(1), 1.
