Excessive Use Of Force Essay

Reducing ‘Use of Force’ / ‘Excessive Force” Incidents through Intervention

The use of force is a power inherited with the role police hold given the authority granted to them by the state to satisfy the objectives of law enforcement, such as the prevention of crime and the maintenance of law and order. The use of this power however is an option to be utilized as a last resort within reasonable levels and only in regards to resistance. On occasion an officer may be required to use force, this is determined by the act and level of resistance that can range from verbal resistance to the threat of life. With each incidence of resistance and the factors driving the police-citizen interaction, there is the potential for misjudgment in the use of force resulting in excessive force or to overstep authority to use force. Though the abuse of this authority has been expressed as an international issue, as highlighted at times in the media, it is a rare occurrence in comparison to the daily actions and interactions that police have among the citizenry. Still in the United States it remains a pervasive abuse of citizens’ rights.

The literature takes the position that the training of POs must be done with the purpose that officers must be responsive to social demands but must refrain from being overly responsive and resist execution of such a response that would violate the protected rights of citizens. The training supported is of the type of mutual involvement, between the expert and the novice, to further the educational process. The author notes the difficulties of policing in a democratic society while balancing the daily decisions of conflicting value with the expectation of society, organization and law. The usage of the type of training stems from the demand of society to establish democratic policing system the hold democratic values in all areas of an organization. The literature noted a currently used model, Community Oriented