The amount of force that police officers can use when making an arrest is a subject of much concern and controversy. Police officers have discretion to use as much force as they—at the time of arrest—reasonably think necessary to protect both the public and themselves. But citizens’ groups, especially those made up of ethnic or racial minorities, often oppose the way police officers employ force. They claim that police regularly overstep the bounds of necessity.
Reasonable Force can be determined by a court of law based of off:
1. The severity of the crime
2. Does the suspect pose a threat
3. Was the suspect resisting arrest or attempting to flee
According to the article I've provided below "the most common factor for abuse is disrespect shown to the police by these subjects".
http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6818&context=jclc
A officer has to determine two factors to determine if use of force is warranted:
1. Escape
2. Physical Threat
The officer will need to determine what the lesser of two evils would be. They are responsible for the maintaining the peace in our communities and have probably suffered people being disrespectful while resisting arrest, and other atrocities while on the job. You can reasonably assume that they have been subjected to brutality from the community and as such will naturally act in a way that is more forceful than necessary to prevent a situation from getting out of control.
Of course, there are situations that escalate from reasonable force to police brutality. These situations have recently come to light through social media and being highlighted through protest. Michael Brown was a violent criminal resisting arrest, and I believe if I was an officer I would have tried to stop the boy with a gun as well. Especially after attacking and officer and a business owner in one day. Eric Garner's arresting officer should have been indicted in my personal opinion. They had already handcuffed him, and had him in custody, yet the officer continued to hold him in a chokehold which eventually killed the man. The pool party incident in Texas? I probably would have acted in a similar way if kids were pushing, attacking me, and talking back. After a certain point I would have been frustrated with all these kids refusing to listen me. I wouldn't have pulled a weapon but based off of what the officer dealt with that day, he obviously wasn't in a good frame of mind to deal with rowdy kids (he dealt with two suicide calls, one in which a man shot himself in the head). Even the victim in that specific case said that the people at the pool party were yelling and cursing at the police officer. Seriously! WHY?
WHAT WE CAN DO
I think a positive way to prevent police brutality is body cams, because then it will TELL both sides of the story, the PUBLIC can see what happened and that can either exonerate/prosecute the individual accused of being to brutal. As an officer (just like the military) it is your duty to act in a manner that is beyond accusation. You ALWAYS have to be on point regardless of what has occurred while your worked as a law officer. You have to show respect but demand it at the same time, and that is a very hard line to walk.
There is something else that the public can do to prevent police brutality. When an officer questions you answer their questions with respect. Showing respect to the officers is all you need to do. It probably is also a good idea to not reach into your pockets or the waistband of your pants or lunge to grab you wallet that fell under your seat. I don't know, seems like doing those things could get you shot....so don't anything without the officers express knowledge and move S L O W L Y. Parents can teach their children to respect officers and learn to keep their mouths SHUT. Whether or not you like the police force they are in a position that deserves respect. If you think they are brutal, then do their job. Seriously. You might have a change of heart about what police brutality when you are one.
No comments:
Post a Comment