Why Do Police Officers Use Excessive Force?

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). Many police officers get off easily because they call it as self-defense, but it’s not. People being brutally beaten or killed, riots breaking out, mourning of neighborhoods, lawsuits against police departments all can be at stake of police officers using excessive force. This is part of the reason our country has been in an uproar. In the last few years’ police brutality has been at an all-time high. Because of it, movements have been started and protests have broken out. As most should know there has been a split in the diversity of the nation because of it. With police officers using excessive force it

They would probably be more lenient when it came down to using to use excessive force. Instead of automatically reaching for their gun, the officer would try to talk to the person, only taking out their firearm if the other person had one or they feel threatened. You can’t feel threatened by a person with no weapon. The way excessive force is measure is through three questions: “First, what was the severity of the crime that the officer believed the suspect to have committed or be committing? Second, did the suspect present an immediate threat to the safety of officers or the public? Third, was the suspect actively resisting arrest or attempting to escape?” (Wallentine, 2007) If these questions do not apply to the situation, excessive force should not be