Police Use Of Deadly Force Essay

Use of deadly force is becoming the most common topic in today’s society. It’s becoming so common that nothing on either side is being solved to help rectify or define the proper use of deadly force. I used to be one of those people that believed the low would uphold the rights of everyone but in my recent discovery and research I’m on the fence between defending or upholding this law. I will project both arguments for reasoning and doubt to fully disclose my views.
Police use of deadly force is a main theme ever since officials were allowed to carry firearms since the 1850’s. Since that time, the legal force was guided by the so called fleeing felon rule. It’s basically gives officers the use to apply deadly force as a legitimate reasoning for specific individuals that are suspected from fleeing the crime.
“By any means necessary.” A legitimate quote from the late great Malcom X. Which I now believe stands for I’ll take your life before you take mine. In most cases of used of deadly force (fleeing felons) African Americans have been prime targets. With all the recent cases involving Sandra Bland, Treyvon Martin, Freddie Gray and even as far back as Rodney King just to name a few are in the main headlines of victimless use of deadly force. Each party listed above
was proven that no weapons were on any party but somehow winded up deceased while being apprehended in the care of law enforcement.
Officers have the right to defend themselves as well as regular civilians, we are all people. With the way of the world officers, are completely unsure if the suspect they are trying to apprehend is in a same state of mind and must take every precaution. As some of these cases demonstrate, there should be steps taken to have new laws in place to ensure police are not permitted to used lethal force except where it is necessary to protect against threat of death or serious injury.
There is one huge question about police use of deadly force.
How often is deadly force employed (one’s that aren’t national headlines) by officer’s. There is no correct right or wrong answer but there are many factors that contribute to such absent information. To start, the lack of reliable information from any federal agency. The information from supplementary homicide report which is part of Uniformed Crime Report (UCR) are supposed to include information on deaths at the hands of police. The loss of human lives cannot be undone once someone is dead regardless of the cause and effect for the use of deadly force. Different confrontations, lethal force is mostly justified but not all cases are the
same.
In a report written by George Coppole in Feb 2008 the Division of Criminal Justice to investigate all police involved shooting while on duty for their use of deadly force. This division is an executive branch headed by the states chief attorney. They are also in charge of investigating and even prosecuting criminal matters. In this report he states that a report must be written anytime there is a use of deadly force and it must be submitted to the chief attorney for review. If the states chief attorney says there is enough evidence to prosecute the office for the use of deadly force for murder or manslaughter. If the office claims that they did adhere to the statutory standards for the use of deadly force at trial it’s the states responsibility to disapprove this beyond a reasonable doubt if they were a conviction (State vs Hardwick, 1 Conn. App. 609, cert. den 193 Conn. 804 (1984)). This is a length process with involves their duty to investigate, appointment of a prosecutor, investigation the report and they an investigatory grand jury. There are numerous other entities involved in this process I have just named a few.
On the other hand, law enforcement in today’s society have a very difficult job. Their jobs vary from patrol officers to detective and supervisory positions, all the way up to chief of police or sheriff. Each level has different responsibility patrol office are mainly involved community relations. They also investigate crime and auto accidents; Detectives are involved in more serious crimes where there have to use their investigative skills to solve crimes. They work in their local police department and they investigate crime scenes, gather evidence, interview suspects and victims and consult with other law enforcement professionals. As for police chief or sheriff’s have the responsibilities of overseeing operations within various departments. They also have a direct task of directing investigations, monitoring performance, hiring new assigned personnel, assigning cases and ensuring good community relations. With all these difference jobs with the law enforcement community the one that is most difficult is the patrol office because there are the ones on the in direct contact the criminals on the street. The don’t know if someone is armed or not, if they are in the process of committing a crime or a law abiding citizen. With the recent changes to the stop and frisk laws I think it’s become even harder. I understand firsthand how hard it is to use restraint from my days in the Military. There were times on patrol by yourself and heard a noise in the bushes and you were quick to pull your firearm. But, some of the cases that I have been researching these people were not carrying any weapons so there was no need for deadly force to be used.
In conclusion I used to be one of those people that believed that law would uphold the rights of everyone but in my recent discovery and research I’m on the fence between defending or upholding this law. Everything is justified with every occurrence but the alternate question will be how much is too much. Only the truth shall be shown in the light.