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Deadly Force: The Use Of Police Force

1398 Words6 Pages

In the world of law enforcement, Police Officers across the United States operate in a wide variety of functions daily in order to accomplish three simple goals set forth by our governing authority for the well-being our society. To put it simply, Police Officers are charged with enforcing criminal laws, preserving public order and protecting the citizenry from crime. The overwhelming majority of Police Officers regularly carry out these functions widely unnoticed by the general public. The mission of America’s law enforcers is wide and the margin of error for mistakes in the profession is nearly null. In the day to day of law enforcement, it is quite common for Police Officers of all types to make countless interactions with people of the …show more content…

Among the various levels of force used in modern law enforcement, for the sake of the research to follow, these various types can be simply broken down into two categories: non-deadly force and deadly force. The difference between the two is distinguished by the likelihood of its use to gain compliance or to cause great bodily harm or death. So, simply stated the use of deadly force refers to the application of force that is likely to result in lethal consequence. To understand the pervasiveness of Police use of deadly force, it is imperative to fully understand the scope of the functions of Police Officers and the burden of authority placed upon them by law to use coercive …show more content…

This Ultimately authorized officers to apply deadly force as a legitimate means of apprehending individuals who were fleeing from suspected felonies. This doctrine stemmed from traditions traced back to the Middle Ages when most committed felonies were punishable by death. Since then, many police departments have prescribed the circumstances under which deadly force could be used and today modern agencies follow a “Defense of Life Doctrine” where the use of deadly force is mainly authorized in situations where its application will defend and preserve the arresting officer’s life, a citizen’s life, or another officer’s life while in imminent life-threatening danger (Chambliss, 200). Today Police Officers abide by a Use of Force continuum that essentially requires Officers to meet force with force within the scope of reason based off of the totality of circumstances presented in a situation. Of course, deadly force rests at the end of the continuum being the highest level of force

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In the model it urges the officer to consider specific factors before determining if force is necessary to cause compliance. The factors that the officer must consider are “the severity of the crime, if there is a flight risk or the resistance of arrest”. Deadly force in Minnesota is permitted only if it serves in “protecting the officer from death or bodily harm, effect the arrest or capture, or prevent the escape, of a person whom the officer knows or has reasonable grounds to believe has committed or attempted to commit a felony. For example, if the suspect used or threatened to use lethal force, or if the police officer believes that the suspect will cause death or great bodily if they are not apprehended”. The policy encourages the police officer, if feasible to issue verbal warnings before using deadly

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• This book will be useful in talking about different cases that occurred at the beginning of the decade and how these cases started the awareness of police brutality in the 1990s. Adding some different viewpoints that this book provides will

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As defined by Egon Bittner, police use of force is the “distribution of non-negotiable coercive remedies.” Methods of force used by police officers must be non-negotiable, otherwise there would be no order in society when a suspect decide to resists. However, police officer do not have free reign to choose the level of force asserted to gain control of a resistive suspect. Force options listed in the use-of-force continuum of the Cobb County Police Department is broken down into 7 categories: officer presence, verbal command, soft empty hand control, Oleoresin Capsicum (OC)/Electronic Control Device (ECD), hard empty hand control, impact or other less-lethal weapon, and deadly force. When choosing a level of force, the following must be

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One common opinion is that officers should not use more force than is necessary or reasonable, and even then, that force should be used only as a last resort. “Police use force to affect civilians’ conduct. On a day-to-day basis, they do so most often by employing the least degree of force available to them, their mere presence. Cops wear uniforms and drive distinctly marked cars so that, without saying a word, they may have an effect on citizens’ behavior” (Fyfe, 38). When an officer’s presence fails to fulfill the desired conduct, the next course of action for said officer would be verbalization.

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Police officers have vowed their life to protect and serve. They risk their lives every day for their communities. As the last few years have sped past us, police officers have been very aggressive with the force they use when arresting a suspect, or even people in general. According to a Texas article on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights, “police officers typically use force offensively rather than defensively and do so with at least some degree of premeditation.” (Gross,2013, page 167).

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It was a dark and stormy night. I was walking with my best friend, Joe Boddy. There was a lump in the mud. I stepped on it and heard a groan. "Ugh."

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The policy’s main strength is that it is a very effective way to deter crime. Criminals avoid committing crimes since they are aware that the police will stop at nothing to ensure that public safety has been protected and criminals apprehended. Another strength of the use of force policy is that it enables officers to be armed and use force thereby allowing the police officers to protect themselves from the many dangers and risks that they encounter in the process of carrying out their daily duties. Furthermore, the policy also helps to enhance the feelings of safety among members of the public since they are rest assured that the law enforcement officials are properly armed and can take any forceful actions to counter criminal activities when it is

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Nevertheless, they also added that the willingness to shoot a firearm by a peace officer to another person, or a vehicle in which another person is thought to be in, is also known as deadly force. When defining use of force they suggested police contact which involved the following: using weapons, equipment, tools, devices, animals to hurt someone or cause injury to another; any physical maneuver to another person’s body, any physical maneuver which causes pain or injury to someone else, and any constrain applied to someone else which may cause an injury. Summary: When defining use of deadly force, both departments cited the Minnesota statute 609.066. However, their use of force definition was some what difference.

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Police officers use the amount of force necessary to ease the situation, arrest an individual, or protect themselves and others from harm. A certain amount of people understand that excessive force is required in different situations. There are moments when police officers will be obligated to use excessive force to calm the situation. For example; Rahtz said, “Then you have others who understand that in some situations, force is not only necessary but is required, if serious, injury or death is avoided” (Rahtz, 2007). Force can be necessary and understood

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Use of force is the amount of force used in a given situation during police work. The police are supposed to follow the continuum when it come to using force. This continuum is known as the “Use of Force Continuum”. Despite this, use of force is still a constant problem in policing. There are many cases where a cop are sued for using more force than necessary, sometimes on purpose and sometimes by accident.

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Weapons are deemed as a significant element for military strategies all over the world. Overtime, these illicit weapons distributed to police forces have caused injuries some at minor at levels and whilst some are deemed at extreme levels. Electronic stun devices and other less-lethal weapons are marketed as offering unmitigated benefits to both police and public safety, with this statement there are various problems also associated with these devices such as unnecessary injury and deaths. There are various intentional injuries that police officers are affected by whilst working, the prevalence of injury in the force is rather high. By the 1800s, after departments and police departments distributed weapons and demanded the use of force that

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If the law enforcement were to reduce the amount of force the officers are allowed to use, crime would simply be even more out of control. I say because if the officer can 't get control the suspect will easily take advantage of the officer. The current amount of force an officer can use is efficient, for the this reason the police officers have to right to protect themselves along with the community. The law allows police officers to use deadly force if

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In some cases, police officers exert excessive force on individuals. The amount of force should be necessary for the situation. For example, a police officer should not use a weapon because a civilian will not obey an initial command. In the article, When Does Force Become Excessive?,

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For decades now, the controversy over deadly force has continued to show up in the news when police officers have acted in a manner that some citizens find just while others deem completely unfair. Many lawsuits stemming from shootings and crimes have found their way to local courts or the Supreme Court to deal with this issue. A portion of the U.S. population finds deadly force unnecessary when non-lethal weapons such as pepper spray or batons just as easily subdue the criminal. In addition, these citizens argue that officers might be liable for cases filed against them if they use excess force on people that seem suspicious but have not actually committed a crime. On the other hand, the opposing argument in favor of deadly force states that

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The public has a misconception that deadly force is the same thing as excessive force. They can be similar if the police use deadly force to a point where every officer discharges their entire magazine on person when the threat has been eliminated. Officers receive hours of training on how to shoot a gun, but sometime receive little instruction on how to determine when to use the gun. Training starts in the Police Academy, and continues throughout their careers. There are officers who teach and train the departments every month.

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