Essay On Police Use Of Force

Within policing, some would argue that the use of force is a necessary component for police officers as it is used as a form of self-defence to protect the officer from any danger against a potential threat. The ‘use of force’ can be justified as using “the amount of force necessary to mitigate an incident, make an arrest, or protect themselves or others from harm”. However, through the years it has become a controversial topic within policing’s and has resulted in many cases and allegations against the police of using unjustified excessive force.

Although in some cases, the use of force is required it is unsure of in what particular type of situation it is required in, as well as to the amount of force an officer is allowed to use as this
can be interpreted differently for each individual. To begin with, this itself is already a problem for a police officer when required to use force as it could be excessive however, from the ‘International Association of Chiefs of Police’ (ICAP) has stated that “the reasonableness of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with 20/20 hindsight vision … the question is whether the officers’ actions are objectively reasonable in the light of the facts and circumstances confronting them”. If the law enforcement agencies do not thoroughly review their policies on the use of force; properly train their officers so that allegations are not put forth against departments, they would be able to reduce the problems that are associated with the use of force. As well as finding alternatives to using force and improving the police accountability by investing more money in body cameras.

Over many years, there have been a large number of cases regarding unnecessary use of excessive force which has resulted in many complaints as well as injuries of victims. A recent example, I had found had taken place on the 11th May 2018 in Georgia (America), which involved a 65-year-old African American woman. The women had been accused by police officer of the Georgia Police Department of not maintaining her lane whilst driving which caused to stop of the vehicle. The 65-year-old ‘Rose Campbell’ did not agree with the reasoning of the police officers and did not comply with opening her door. This forced one of the police officers had decided to take action, by forcefully removing Rose Campbell from the vehicle. This event has been deemed as the use of excessive force against an individual.

From looking at the difference policing within the United States of America and the United Kingdom it had shown a clear difference within their guidelines for the use of force.
Upon reading, I had found from a ‘2016 Use of Force Report and Recommendations’ published by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), had begun to provide examples of force used by a police officer – pushing, pulling and striking. These examples that are given, enable the officers to follow the strict guideline of the use of force which by doing so will allow them not to have occurring problems to arise if they are using excessive and unjustified force in unnecessary conditions. Provided from the ‘Independent’ newspaper had revealed the clear difference in police accountability within America and England, which should that within America “it was not compulsory for forces around the country to submit their data” compared to the UK where the ‘Independent Police Complaints Commission’ are obliged to record and investigate all of the crimes that are
reported.

A past case, has allowed the Supreme Court to judge the situation of a police officer that has used force, which has been analysed under the 4th amendment, ‘protecting individuals from being searched or having their belongings taken away from them without a valid reason’. This case was Tennessee vs Garner that occurred in 1985, had involved ‘Dethrone Graham’ having an insulin reaction in which he needed to obtain some sugar, officer Connor had witnessed Graham leaving a convenience store in an odd-fashion. From the perspective of Connor, had thought that this suspect ‘Graham’ had been involved in a robbery. Officer Connor had then stopped Graham and had begun to handcuff him which then lead to the use of unnecessary force upon Graham. From the ruling of the Supreme Court, ‘police officers cannot use deadly force against a fleeing suspect unless is a significant threat to the officers or to others’. The decision of the Supreme court had stated that “the calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments in circu¬¬¬mstances that are tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving – about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation”. This has led to deaths of unarmed and innocent people, even though many cases of excessive force have occurred in the past, this has not made relevant government departments create a national data base and review the policies regarding the use of force across the different states.

Linking back to my questions, alternatives should be found in order to reduce the use of force on unarmed people and to reduce the number of complaints against departments.
From research, I found a website called ‘Campaign Zero’ which voiced strong opinions on the police violence within America which explores how the police force in the US are able to reduce excessive force through a variety of solutions as well as training. Its first solution to this, is by reporting the use of force by police and suggest implementing the use of verbal warnings before using force as well as allowing the officers to use force when there is a threat to the officer or surrounding people. This solution should be put forth as currently within the system of America, the ‘National Institute of Justice’ has stated that “there is no national database of officer-involved shooting or incidents in which police use excessive force”. By doing this, it would strengthen the police accountability for the use of force as then they would be able to record the number of justified as well as unjustified forces in which they can keep on reducing. From further research, I found a website called ‘Mapping violence’ which has been able to gain information through extensive research – criminal records, social media and other sources to see the number of events that have involved a police officer. From the recent statistics of 2017, revealed that 1,147 deaths occurred which 92% of the cases had included a weapon, use
of force or police vehicle. From these statistics, it revealed that from all of the incidents, only 13 cases had found an officer guilty and was charged with a crime however the cases that were found proven only accounted for 1% of the killings of 2017. It goes on to explain, strengthening the current policies on the use of force and by using other methods before the use of force needs to come into place. It suggests a variety of methods to reduce use of force in a situation, such as – verbal deescalating the situation, carrying a less lethal weapon (Taser, pepper spray and other types) and not allowing officers to use force until all other methods have not been suitable. The website, later suggests a training method which would be more effective for police officers when having to deal with an actual situation including force. Explaining the use of proper training, which would have officers experience ‘real-life scenarios’ so that they would be prepared for when they are dealing with hostile situations. By doing so, this would allow their supervisors to access the officers in order to see how they deal with the situation physically and would allow them to change or improve how it is done.

The most efficient way, of reducing the problems (unjustified / excessive) of the use of force conducted by a police officer would be to implement the use of body cameras. The main reason for the use of body cameras was to ensure that the police accountability would be improve and would change the behaviour of police officers when they are interacting with a suspect. An example of the police body cameras being effective was shown in 2017, when 13 cases involving a police incident had shown that 9 out of the 13 cases had video evidence that were captured on both body cameras as well as dashboard cameras. According to the Los Angeles Times, a recent research that was conducted within the San Diego Police department found that since the implementation of body cameras have reduced the misconduct of officers but mostly important the use of force. From the report of the police department, had shown the effectiveness of the cameras through data that was compared in 2016 to 2013, the allegations of misconduct had been reduced to 43.1% and allegations of force which was also decreased by 47.4%.