The use of deadly force involving police officers has a lot of attention this past year. In today’s news and social media, there have been more reports and videos of police officers using deadly force on their suspects and how the victims of the police where not a threat. There have been people that were killed and that they had no weapons on them, were mentally challenged, or were just running away and most of the time the police officer will say that it was a necessary use of deadly force. According to sites, like theguardian.com “South Carolina Shooting Raises about how the U.S. has more deaths by cops than any other countries, which is a serious problem, and while on CNN, they found out by Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor, that in a case of Walter Scott, who was unarmed and running away, that “the use of deadly force is permitted but conditional”. Therefore, this means …show more content…
that the training police officers undergo could mainly be the cause of excess use of deadly force in the U.S. The problem that could affect many people needs to be fixed and some ideas that can help might be to report police officers who shows bad conduct, teach people their rights when they are confronted by police, and to change the training of police officers. There are cops who take the authority of being an officer way over their heads and because of the authority that they have could think they can do whatever they want to people who are detained by them.
Reporting police officer with bad behaviors towards people should be a way to reduce the use of deadly force. If police officers act rude or ill-mannered toward people in normal situations wouldn’t it be in the future that their attitude would get worse and then the way they handle normal situations could change and possibly be more aggressive toward the people. However, if they are reported that could help in the officer being punished and for him/her to change their attitude. It could maybe put the officer on leave, maybe without pay, until they do fix the problems that people had towards them and this could also be a reminder to cops who act ill-mannered that people will do something and could have a negative effect on them. In addition, when people know in situations when they feel the cop is being forceful it is always important for the people to know their
rights. Many people in the U.S. do not know when the cop is permitted to be forceful, in which it could lead to the use of deadly force. People of today should learn about the rights they have when they are confronted with a police officer. Police officers will often try to do unnecessary searches and will not say why or tell the person being searched that they have the right to refuse; if people knew beforehand, their rights there would be less problems that involve that situation in which occurs a lot. People will also know that the officer will not be able to arrest them if they are not answering question, or if the officer does not have a warrant. In addition, that the people should know for sure that they have made or not made a minor misdemeanor because even if they did the only penalty would be a ticket and no use of force of any type would be used from the cops. It is important that people know what they can do when it looks like it could take a turn for the worse involving the police. Also considering changing the training of police officers could be the most effective idea to diminish the use of deadly force. It seems that the root of the problem could be coming from the training police officers receive. If the problem is coming from their training then the obvious solution should be to fix it by changing and specifically stating when it is an appropriate use of deadly force. By changing their training in teaching them that the use deadly force should be one of the last resorts to use and that to think of other options they have, like their Tasers, batons, or pepper sprays that they have equipped at reasonable situations could reduce the deaths caused by the use of deadly force. Officers will also know better ways to handle different types of situations with less use of a weapon; people will stop hating the police so much because they will see that they can do a better job in their work. In addition, if cops are not hated they will be less likely to be targeted by the people in their community as it was shown in the media. There will be no fear from innocent people, no more protests against police will be made unless the police show them they can effectively do their job, and the cops will be trusted again by their community. If we were to apply these ideas and strictly use them then police officers would surely stop using deadly force on people. It should be known that not all police officers use deadly force and that we should not judge all of them as being the same. People need to take immediate action against the cops who have wrongfully used deadly force on someone who did not deserve it. Every person’s life matters and if the cops are just let to use deadly force and get away with just saying that it was an appropriate use on a situation that wasn’t appropriate then we should do something about it instead of just talking and arguing over it. If we use these ideas maybe situations like the one that happened to Eric Garner, who was choked to death by police, could have been different instead of the police chocking him, they could have politely told him to put his hands behind his back instead of instantly putting him in a chokehold and could have been alive today. By working together on both sides, one being the cops and the other being the people, we can have an improved system of police enforcement officers. Work cited Martinez, Michael. "South Carolina Shooting Raises Questions on Police Use of Deadly Force." CNN.com. 4 Apr. 2015. Web. 23 Sept. 2015. Lartey, Jamiles. "By the Numbers: US Police Kill More in Days than Other Countries Do in Years." Theguardian.com. 9 June 2015. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
The Tennessee v. Garner case impacted law enforcement agencies today by utilizing the Fourth Amendment right of not using deadly force to prevent a suspect from fleeing unless the officer is in imminent danger of their life. Consequently, before this was set into place, an officer had the right to use deadly force on a fleeing suspect by all means.” The first time the Court dealt with the use of force was in Tennessee v. Garner, in Garner, a police officer used deadly force despite being "reasonably sure" that the suspect was an unarmed teenager "of slight build" who was running away from him” (Gross,2016). Whereas, with Graham v. Conner case was surrounded around excessive force which also has an impact on law enforcement agencies in today’s society as well. “All claims that law enforcement officers have used excessive force deadly or not in the course of an arrest, investigatory stop, or other “seizure” of s free citizen should be analyzed under the Fourth Amendment and its “reasonableness” standard” (Doerner,2016).
For this paper there are many current events in the united states and across the world that directly correlate with my literature I am reviewing. What I was chosen to research, or what my research question ended up being was. In what situation can a police officer use lethal or deadly force. There are many variables and situational characteristics that play into how police officers handle high risk violent encounters. for instance, some variables could be how the police officer was trained, public attitudes towards police officers, psychological makeup of the police officer, previous or current behaviors of the police officer, the police officer current mental state, also previous incidents with police officers having to use lethal or deadly force. This topic is very challenging because there is not as much
Over the years, our nation has witnessed countless cases of police brutality. It has developed into a controversial topic between communities. For instance, deindustrialization is the removal or reduction of manufacturing capability or activity can lead to more crimes when people are laid off. Police officers are faced with many threatening situations day-to-day gripping them to make split second decisions; either to expect the worst or hope for the best. The police are given the authority to take any citizen away for their action that can ruin their lives. With that kind of power comes great responsibility, which is one main concern with the amount of discretion officers have is when to use lethal force. The use of excessive force might or
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday forcing them to make split second decisions and to expect the worst and hope for the best. Police officers are given the power to take any citizens rights away and even their lives. With that kind of power comes responsibility, that’s one major concern with the amount of discretion officers have is when to use force or when to use lethal force. The use of excessive force may or not be a large predicament but should be viewed by both the police and the community.
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday forcing them to make split second decisions and to expect the worst and hope for the best. Police officers are given the power to take any citizens rights away and even their lives. With that kind of power comes responsibility, that’s one major concern with the amount of discretion officers have is when to use force or when to use lethal force. The use of excessive force may or not be a large predicament but should be viewed by both the police and the community.
As a result, “Nearly all agree that when an officer is facing a deadly threat, the proper response is to use deadly force”(Lind). Yes there are many people out there that can be a deadly threat to police officers because the way they are acting but, there are many innocent people that do not affect anyone and still have to be a part of the problem for no given reason. Although a police officer’s proper response is to use deadly force upon someone, there should be other alternatives or ways they can use before going into deadly force and possibly cause someone to lose their live. I certainly do understand that there are certain situations where a cop is coming across someone that is pointing a gun or knife at them and approaching towards them. So therefore them using deadly force would possibly be the right thing to do if they have too, but before using deadly force they should at least try deploying tasers or using bean bag guns to attempt in taking them
For many years in the past, police action particularly police abuse, has come to be unclear. Citizens are worried about protecting them from criminals. In fact they need to me aware of the corrupt police officers that are in the streets today as well as the criminals. There are many examples that make police brutality the worst as it is today. This one is one of them. Police Officer Daniel is in the choke hold death of Eric Garner, come in the wake if November 15th by the channel 24 news in Ferguson Missouri, police officer would walk free after killing 10 year old Michael Brown. (www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32740523) In the present police brutality does exist in the mist of us in the time and age we live in everyday. We just haven’t seen it yet. There are people that think if a police
Police Brutality Police work is dangerous. Sometimes police put in situations that excessive force is needed. But, because some officers use these extreme measures in situations when it is not, police brutality should be addressed. The use of excessive force may or may not be large problem, but it should be looked into by both the police and the public. For those people who feel racism is not a factor in causing the use of excessive force, here is a startling fact. In Tampa Bay, Florida, five men died while in the custody of the
Attention Getter: Are all the officers who are intended to "Protect and Serve" really following through with that?
Recently in the United States there has been in increase in deaths that have come from police officers using deadly force. The use of force is inevitable as a police officer, many times their own lives or the life’s civilians are at risk when it comes to determine what type of force a officer should use. There are many incidents where police officer have to react in a matter of seconds and has to choose between his own life or that of the individual causing the disturbance. When a Police Officer uses deadly force has caused outraged with the public, stirring up protests and creating a scandal for the police officer and the Police Department. Many do not know when it is right for an officer to use deadly force and what constitutes it, or what happens when the officer does not use the appropriate amount of force that is required to control the situation. There has been many changes in Police Departments around the country to try to reduce the use of deadly force in response to the issues that have occurred because of it.
Police shootings occur all over the world but are a huge problem within the United States. We continue to hear more and more about them. These shootings are making headlines. Front page news it seems almost weekly. All the shootings go one of two ways. Either a Police Officer has been shot or a Police Officer has shot a citizen, but either way the final result is death. Whether an Officer has been shot or an Officer has shot someone these cases seem to be related to one thing, fear. People in today’s society feel as though they can’t trust Police Officers as they are there to hurt and kill them. And Police Officers feel as though they are in danger of doing their everyday duties because people see them as the “bad guys” and want to hurt or kill them. Yes, police brutality and racism still exist, but not all cops are bad. Yes there are still bad citizens in this world that want to kill and harm others, but not all citizens are bad. People seem to react to these shootings by rioting quickly after a police officer has shot and killed someone without
When hearing the phrase “police brutality,” many people imagine batons cracking skulls, tasers electrocuting bodies and bullets penetrating innocent teens. While police officers have been known to use violence, police brutality does not occur as often as many believe. In many situations, officers have to act on impulse and curiosity, despite the backlash the media may create.
Police brutality and racism are an ongoing problem in our country. It goes back hundreds of years with no sign of it stopping. Police officers have been abusing their power since they have been around. Abuse against African American males by white police officers is getting out of hand. Most officers face no punishment at, and all there is a special code that they follow. Officers follow The “Blue Code of Silence”, which is a code that means they look out for one another. Even with video recording devices, the news, and social media, these events still go on. African Americans take most of the abuse and it looks like there is no end to this. This is a reflection on our society, and it makes us look ignorant to what is going on around us.
Young people and the police have, for many years, experienced a tense and confrontational relationship (Borgquist & Johnson et al., 1995). This has led to a great wealth of literature based upon the notion of police-youth interaction. Much of this literature has tended to focus upon juvenile criminality and the reasons why young people commit such seemingly high levels of crime. Whilst the relationship between young people and the police force has been widely theorised and explained, there is very little literature on juvenile attiudes towards the police. Research that concerns societies attitudes towards the police force tends to focus upon the views and opinions of adults (Hurst and Frank, 2000). In this first section of my literature review I am going to focus upon work that allows us to gain a deeper understanding of why young people are so important when looking at crime. This section will allow us to comprehend the ways in which, literature suggests, young people view the police. This knowledge will provide a basis for my research in which I look more specifically at youth attitudes towards PCSO’s.
Police brutality is an act that often goes unnoticed by the vast majority of white Americans. This is the intentional use of “excessive force by an authority figure, which oftentimes ends with bruises, broken bones, bloodshed, and sometimes even death” (Harmon). While law-abiding citizens worry about protecting themselves from criminals, it has now been revealed that they must also keep an eye on those who are supposed to protect and serve.