Police Brutality: Decreasing Police Use Of Force

Over the years a growing number of cases of police brutality, both lethal and nonlethal, have made national news. According to Kami Chavis Simmons, a former federal prosecutor and director of the criminal justice program at Wake Forest University School of Law, “the widespread use of camera phones and social media (have) made it difficult for officials to ignore issues that have persisted in many communities for years”. Police also have had a pattern of racial bias of who they decide to use force with. There is no definitive definition of excessive force. Police can use many types of force such as (verbal or chemical). However deciding if the use of force in a situation is reasonable has created increased tension between police agencies

One of these believers is Jim Glennon, a third-generation law enforcement officer and a the owner of Calibre press, a organization which promotes a 'warrior' mentality for police, comparing soldiers to police officers. He argues that data done by the F.B.I. shows that police use of force is decreasing, and the media over hypes the actual problem. However, Glennon overlooks the fact that the F.B.I records only include self-reported data from 750 agencies, thus showing that this data isn’t 100% reliable according to Simmons. By focusing on the this data, Glennon overlooks the fact that over the years law enforcement have been getting more and more weapons. Why would police need more weapons, if the use of force is decreasing? The documentary “Do Not Resist” by Craig Atkinson, a son of a SWAT officer for 29 years, focuses the transformation of police departments into forces that look much like our Army and Marine. During the filming of “Do Not Resist” , Atkinson and his crew attended police conventions through the country and talked with SWAT officers at equipment expos to get a better sense of how the police compare. The film included many eye-opening scenes such as when Dave Grossman, a consultant to the police and F.B.I, talked to a room full of officers on the joys of using violence on the job. Grossman compared the use of violence on a case to that of him having “the best sex I’ve had in months”. Further backing up the idea that police don’t see violence as a thing that should be avoided, but instead a joy to have on the job. The film focus on the fact that since the 90s, the Defense Department has donated 5 billion dollars’ worth of equipment, and the fact that local governments have received approximately 34 billion dollars in grants from the Department of Homeland Security to buy their own military equipment from