Police Use Of Force Essay

For many years the public has had their own views and beliefs about the concept of the use of force when used in certain situations by law enforcement officers. The Association of Chiefs of Police describes the use of force as “ The amount of effort required by police to compel compliance by a unwilling subject”. According, to the National Institute of Justice the use of force should only be used in certain necessary situations. Such as, self defense and/or in defense of another person or a group. In the case Tennessee v. Garner the U.S. supreme court ruled that a “police officer who has a probable cause to believe that a suspect poses a threat of serious harm to the officer or others may use deadly force to prevent escape”. There are many

Police officers are entitled to endure training, to better understand the use of force. Police officers are trained to determine if a scenario needs the involvement of force in order to gain control of a situation. According, to the National Institute of Justice officers are also trained to acknowledge the fact that time plays a major role in the use of force. Time balances life and death when determining whether the use of force should be of use. According to the article When are police justified in using deadly force by Los Angeles Times the article states, that “deadly force occurs in less than 1% of the millions of encounters police have with people each year”.The use of force is a method and tool law enforcement uses when an officer feels his or other lives are in danger. Officers are trained to take steps and follow the force

When the suspect who was suspected of being a cocaine dealer pointed a shotgun at officer Nolte. Officer Nolte quickly withdrew his weapon and shot at the suspect which disarmed him. That was the “official story” told by the Los Angeles Police Department since officer Nolte followed the policy of the use of force he was clean and faced no charges. A couple years later the suspects case went to trial his trial reopen new information that shocked everyone. New evidence unravel, evidence not seem but the commission's showed that the suspect Leonard Robinson was not holding any weapon and was not a threat. Evidence showed that Robinson had his hands in the air trying to surrender when officer Nolte fired. Officer Nolte did not have any reason to pull his weapon and fired at the suspect. That year Leonard Robinson was granted two million dollars in damages. This cased showed an example where the use of force was excessively used and not