Many, police officers sometimes come to encounters with unruly people not because they want to but it’s part of their job. People sometimes are just angry and intentionally cause chaos. Many police think before they act to reason with the suspects, but it doesn’t always work that well. It is sometimes not that easy to reconcile with someone that is about to harm their self or harm or hurt that officer and their actions cause force to be used. Police force is used for safety reasons and police force is defined as “a body of trained officers entrusted by a government with maintenance of public peace and order, enforcement of laws, and prevention and detection of crime” (Webster).
There have been many lives of officers and civilians taken because a police officer chose not to use force at all or improperly. Many people have questioned is the officers using the correct amount of force, are they trained properly, and will the police department be held accountable for the force used improperly? In the early nineties after the Rodney King incident, he was beaten by the police. Law enforcement agencies around the country began to train and re evaluate their policies on the use of force. Many officers had to reconsider and change their beliefs on how suspects are treated and mistreated.
In March during the year of 1991 was a Gallup poll that was concerning the mistreatment and excessive force by officers during contact with citizens, and it asked respondents have they been mistreated or abused by officers. The responders answered that about 5 percent out if the 9 percent of minorities were abused and mistreated. It was stated that about 20 percent of the people they also knew had been physically abused by the police (Alpert & Smith, 2001). The indication of these numbers showed a trend of excessive force that it caused to citizens during encounters with the police.
Many people in 1991 was angry and effected over the 1991 Rodney King incident and others disappointed “with the police conduct regarding the use of force into public view” (). There were new training techniques and policies put in place to protect and reaffirm the citizen of their safety and their departments. They justified the use of force and when it is reasonable. One police department in Texas, their Code of Criminal Procedure stated, “in making an arrest, all reasonable means are permitted to be used to affect it. No greater force however, shall be resorted to than is necessary to secure the arrest and detention of the of the accused” (Texas Code of Criminal Procedure). This meant the use of force would be justified when it is necessary to make an arrest, detain an suspect, or to protect their self or a citizen. The year of 1995, a deadly force police policy that was approved by, Attorney General Janet Reno, that was applied to all Department of Justice Centers.
The policy was adopted also by the Department of the Treasury (Hall, 1996). This policy states that a “law enforcement officer of the Department of Justice may use deadly force only when necessary, that is, when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person” (Hall, 1996, p.25). This means that a police officer cannot exceed what a reasonable person would deem appropriate amount of force to make an arrest, detain the suspect, or protect an officer or third party. The term reasonable when it is used to justify use of force, interpreting could be extremely difficult.
A general definition that could be used to force that is considered reasonable and prudent to a person is believe to necessary to complete the required task. Some experience officers that was interviewed believe reasonable force can easily be determined. Citizen we’re given that chance to sit in civil and criminal court as the jury to determine if officers are using reasonable force. Officers have to remember public perception what is reasonable force for police officers is very important to the citizens. A decision is made by the officer what actions to take and amount of force is necessary, there is many ranges of forces that could be deployed and it depend on the situation and circumstances.
Many police departments in the past chose to use the continuum method to determine the amount of force needed. Continuum force was ranged from least amount of force to greatest as follows: verbal commands, mere presence, hands on techniques, impact weapons or oleoresin capsicum (O.C.) spray, and lastly deadly force. Departments had changed the name of continuum and replaced it with term options. It was changed from continuum due to the officers were sometimes not able always use the least amount of force then and work towards using greater force to stop the perpetrator. In some situations it was not easy to deescalate the issue or situation. For example, if an officer is a approached by an armed suspect with a weapon, the officer might have to fight with suspect to obtain the gun, retain, and arrest.
They sometimes have to use the excessive amount of force by shooting the perpetrator to arrest. The officer had to use deadly force right away in this situation. Training officers the appropriate manner to use force and which options are best suited for different situations can only be achieved through a police academy. The academy will explain and demonstrate the amount of force should be used. When using the force during training, officers should be accompanied by clear and concise department policy. The policy must be outlined when officers use force that is permissible, what tools may be used, and what training methods will be used so that is clear what to expect of them. “ The training must be twofold: the officer must be trained in how to assess a threat, as well as, how to encounter a threat, ” ( Hall, 1996). In the classroom setting threat assessments can be done with instructions on policy and its interpretation. There are scenarios based on instructions that could be used to show the officers how the policy is practically implemented. For example: A man is paranoid schizophrenia and he has a gun and want to kill his self or someone. They would explain the basic steps to get that individual to put down the gun or the deadly force procedure, which is killing or shooting the individual to stop the act of someone getting hurt. This class expose the officer to what it is like to be shot as well. The officer will be trained on the psychological aspects of using force during a shoot out.
Liability is a major concern when it comes to using force. Law enforcement agencies, and agency administrators are always looking for ways to stay away from liability. They follow good policy procedures, following legal mandates, and maximize performance, and documentation control use, and protecting the department from civil suits. This is a policy defined as “a definite course or method of action to guide and determine present and future decisions or guide to decision making under a given set of circumstances within the framework of corporate objectives, goals, and management philosophies” (Kinnaird, 2007, p. 202); a procedure is often defined as “a particular or consistent way of doing something” (p. 203). The police department are held accountable for using force, using policies and procedures , policies tend to be considered more legally significant (Kinnaird, 2007). This generally states if that police officer fails to follow the department policy, the officer and department can be held civilly and criminally liable. However, a given procedure given to the same officer, that violation may or may not hurt the officer. “A study of San Francisco Police Department in 1998 identified the worst and the best police policy practices for using force (Kinnaird, 2007). Among the worst practices were the following: Policy is formulated strictly at the top of the organization, with little or no input from those who must implement the policy; policies statements are vague or poorly written; there is no clear, concise reason for the policy; policy statements were written for the wrong reason, resulting in a direction from effectiveness rather than the facilitating of achieving agency objectives;policy statements are a product of evolution;each administrator adds to the policy without subtracting anything ( Kinnaird 2007, 203). Some of the best practices were
