Police Use Of Police Force

Words: 978
Pages: 4

Pain compliance and incapacitation are two types of police force use to gain citizen compliance. The use of police force is still under debate among many cases that has caused death, pain, or has violated a citizen’s rights. The majority of the public view the use of force in certain cases as unnecessary and over used. This perspective is usually shaped by the media because partial information or story is given, thus resulting the public to have a negative perspective about the police. To resolve this misunderstanding, the public needs to be informed about officer training and officer safety to understand why the police react a certain way in some situations. Once being well informed, the public can make better judgments about the police when …show more content…
It is really all about how the story is being portrayed and what previous experiences or knowledge one has about the police. An experiment conducted by Belur, observed subjects rating an officers use of force and an African American male’s resistance through via video. In the study they found, “… that 35% of the subjects in their sample had based their knowledge of the police solely on media accounts,” thus the participants already had a biased perspective of the police. Another significant finding was the “[relationship] between support for racial profiling and all of the measures [of]… police use of force. These findings suggest that individuals who are more supportive of this particular aggressive police practice were less likely to view the actions of the police as excessive in this incident.” (Jefferis, 2010). Use of force not always be the way to force a citizen to comply, there are other tactic to deescalate situations with using force at all. One solution to this issue as Schatmeier describes is “reduced use-of-force violations, increased citizen satisfaction with the police department, and changed the culture of… policing from a militaristic model to one emphasizing problem-solving and community interaction” (2013). Having a friendlier friendship with the community would have a great significant impact in reducing a police officer’s use …show more content…
Throughout this course, I have learned that all police departments have different training on how to handle different types of situations. For example, Huntington Beach and the Los Angeles Police Department have different ways in using excessive force. Taking the simulator also opened my eyes on how difficult it is for officers to make quick decision. Videos shown by Lt. Domingo, proved how quickly it is for anyone to pull out a firearm and shoot. Police officers are always under a lot of stress and have to make quick decision that everyone might not agree on. It’s unfortunate that officers don’t have at least a bit more time to think about their actions. Hopefully with better training and tactics it will be easier for any officers to make the best choices when responding to a call. Another topic that will help the public have a better understanding of an Officer’s priorities and duties is officer safety. Officer safety is a number one priority of any police department. Every officer has a family or a significant other that they want to go home to. It is critical for officers to be extremely cautious when approaching any kind of situation. In addition, informing the public about the officer’s defensive tactics will be extremely helpful to understand why officers react a certain way and why they are always, so precaution when confronting a