The Police Task Force Report

When looking at the distinction between yourself and a police officer look at what differences stand between you. Which one of you has more power? As pioneering scholar Jim Fyfe (1988) argues, “The police are the only American public servant authorized routinely to make quick, unilateral, irreversible decisions that are likely to result in the death of other Americans.” As shown in The President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, Task Force Report: The Police (Katzenbach et al., 1967) the use of firearms by police in instances to apprehend or arrest subjects is an extremely delicate matter that should be handled with caution. Task Force Report (Katzenbach et al., 1967)) outlines the cases in which deadly force

In such cases, it is immaterial whether the attacker has committed a serious felony, a misdemeanor, or any crime at all” (Katzenbach et al., 1967). Although this appears to be a sound example of a good policy set forth in the report, it is too opened ended and appears to go against other detailed guidelines that the report states, such as the outlines that specifically say when a weapon can and cannot be used. As we know, many times the usage of a firearm is unwarranted by police (Katzenbach et al., 1967) therefore, can the idea stated above, which outlines that police are supposed to make a choice about what kind of force they should make, undoubtedly in the heat of moment, truly offer protection if we know that the decision often made is unwarranted? Through the Report’s guideline no one can be safe because of the variation and differing degrees of safety that it

As the New York Times article (Williams, 2016) highlighted, “anti- black disparity persists”. Perhaps the way some officials are trained, by being taught that every interaction is life or death, paired with implicit bias is why community relations continue to be estranged. The officers that are intended to protect citizens repeatedly enter situations in a way that suggests every interaction will lead to a standoff between citizens and an officer; as we can see, officers typically enter situations with minority individuals in this manner more so than whites. We are waging an individual’s life on what officers “believe” to be true during the heat of the moment, despite knowing the fact that when individuals are overcome by fear their perception of chaos and peril heightens (Neuhauser, 2016). In a video done by the Close Quarter Defense (Neuhauser, 2016), officers that participated in an attack simulation couldn’t accurately recall the actions they displayed during the simulation and were startled to realize the situation they had originally perceived to be dangerous was not as dire as they had remembered. They had acted using militaristic ideas, yet in this instance, the practice was unwarranted much like it is in real circumstances. Also, the presence of stereotype threat plays a role in why