Police Force Research Paper

According to the National Institute of Justice, “There is no single, universally agreed-upon definition of use of force. The International Association of Chiefs of Police has described use of force as the "amount of effort required by police to compel compliance by an unwilling subject”.” (NIJ, 2001) The amount of force used by police officers and whether it was appropriate or not is a battle the people have been having with officers across the country. In certain situations, the amount of force used by an officer has been necessary in settings where the officer feels that his or her life is in danger, as well as the pedestrians around. In other situations, police officers have abused their rights and their powers and have used excessive force in situations where it was not necessary. The main objective for a police officer is to make
sure that the public is safe and in situations where the police are needed, they are to start an investigation, make an arrest, and protect themselves and those around them. In some conditions, police may have to use force upon a suspect that is not complying with them. Markeith Loyd was recently arrested for the killings of his pregnant girlfriend and an Orlando Police Officer. A manhunt went underway in Orlando for Loyd for several of days before he was found hiding out in an abandoned house. When police went to go make an arrest, Loyd had body armor on him, loaded handguns, and ammunition in his jacket. Police took severe precaution because they knew they were dealing with a very dangerous person. When Loyd was finally captured, according to Loyd and an article from the Orlando Sentinel, “Loyd complained that officers beat him. Chief Police Mina confirmed at a press conference Thursday afternoon that Loyd had a fractured bone at his left eye socket, as well as some damage to his left eye.” (Lotan and Harris, 2017) According to the article, Loyd claims that the police officers involved in his capturing used excessive force on him because he would not put his hands behind his back when he was commanded to do so. Chief Mina stated in the article, "We are talking about a cold-blooded, ruthless killer who then took off and committed more crimes, attempted to kill a sheriff's deputy and also carjacked somebody.” (Lotan and Harris, 2017), meaning that there had to be excessive force used in the situation because of the type of person they were dealing with and because they were unsure of what his next actions were going to be when he came crawling out from the house. This leads to the question of whether or not the use of force was used properly or if the police had overdone themselves? Dethorne Graham, a diabetic, was pulled over after a police officer became suspicious as to why he went in and out of a convenient store so fast.
The police officer had speculations that Graham had stolen something. When the officer pulled Graham over, the driver of the vehicle had told the police officer about his condition. When the office went back to the car to call in for backup, Graham had gotten out of the car and passed out on the sidewalk. An article written in Police Magazine stated that when the backup officers came, “One of the officers rolled Graham over on the sidewalk and cuffed his hands tightly behind his back, as Berry pleaded with the officers to get Graham some sugar. In response, one of the officers told him to "shut up" and shoved his face down against the hood of the car.” (Clark, 2014) After all of that, the officers had come to the conclusion that Graham did not steal anything from the convenient store and released him. While in custody, Graham broke his foot, had cuts on his wrists, a bruised forehead, and a damaged shoulder. This is what led Graham to sue and have the Graham vs. Connor bill pass in
1989. Markeith Loyd situation compared to Dethorne Grahams situation are two completely different cases but are related to each other because of the force used by police. I feel as if the use of force in Markeith Loyd’s situation was necessary because these police officers did not know what to expect from him at all. They were dealing with someone who killed a pregnant woman and a fellow police officer. They had to take all the precaution they could to protect themselves.

Works Cited

National Institute of Justice: Police Use of Force. (2001). Retrieved March 18, 2017, from https://www.nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/officer-safety/use-of-force/pages/welcome.aspx

Lotan, G. T., & Harris, D. (2017, January 19). Police release aerial video of Markeith Loyd capture. Retrieved March 18, 2017, from http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-markeith-loyd-capture-video-20170119-story.html

Clark, M. (2014, October 27). Understanding Graham v. Connor. Retrieved March 18, 2017, from http://www.policemag.com/channel/patrol/articles/2014/10/understanding-graham-v-connor.aspx