Excessive Use Of Force Case Study

Police and the excessive use of force have been going on for years and it is still prevalent in today’s world and seems fairly new to my generation. But if I ask my parents they tell me that it has been going since way before I was born. In fact that is true the case of Graham V. Connor dates all the way back to 1989. Graham was a diabetic who needed some orange juice to counteract the onset of an insulin reaction. He had a friend take him to the store but the line was too long so he left. An officer saw him and got suspicious and pulled him over for no reason. Graham had sustained multiple injuries and attempted to take things to court and win a case but that did not happen. I just used that as an example because you hear about those same

There is blunt impact which an officer uses a baton or projectile to immobilize a combative person. Then you have chemical use is when an officer uses pepper spray to restrain a person. Then the officers also have the option to use Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs) those are used to immobilize an individual and they discharge a high voltage of electricity. The last step of the use of force continuum is lethal force and this step Officers use lethal weapons to gain control of a situation. Should only be used if a suspect poses a serious threat to the officer or another individual. Otherwise it shouldn’t be used. That is the use of force continuum that officers should follow but there is a lot of discretion when officers use force with an individual that is why there are many issues with officers and the excessive use of force in today’s

There isn’t just one cause of the police excessive use of force it is a collective matter. Law enforcement agencies training plays a part in it and so does the supervision and discipline of the officers. The individual accountability plays a key role in the problem also and so does the courts, because there haven’t been any real problem solvers for officers who use unnecessary use of force. There needs to be multiple things done for there to be a true remedies to stop officers for using unnecessary use of force on civilians. We are supposed to trust law enforcement in all situations no matter what race you are. But I feel until there is a real deterrent effect put in place for officers we will continue to see a high volume of use of force in our country. Prosecutors and the courts would have to come together to help deter the amount of use of force because they untimely have the most power even more than the agency. If officers begin to feel that there is a high consequence for unnecessary use of force they will begin to think twice about how they go about encounters with civilians. Police agencies will also have to go more in depth with officers to inform them on use of force and that it will not be tolerated. I feel like that could be the easiest step to help to eliminate it. But until then I believe