The Self Defense/Excessive Force Wild Card

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“Get out of the car! Get down on the ground now! Get your hands out of your jacket! Stop moving!” The suspect is a Latino male and speaks no English. The officer puts a bullet into the chest of the suspect because he refused to obey. The police officer later finds out that the man was trying to give him his I.D. Was this a justified shooting? In Albuquerque New Mexico, situations like this happen all the time on a regular basis. In fact in the past 20 months, Albuquerque police have shot 20 people, 14 fatally (McKay C1). Are the police justified in self defense or is the police using excessive force and how does this ratio of shootings in Albuquerque compare to other cities in similar size and population?

Methodology

With my research, one can see how this controversy has two very distinct sides, however, what facts that aren’t as evident in my writing fall into a grey area. I conducted my research by mainly shifting through several online journals and newspapers using the database called News Bank. Since this issue is very local I decided that the Albuquerque Journal would be the best source. Most of the journal articles were either supporting the idea of police abusing their power or defending the police’s right to self-defense, however, there were several periodicals that suggest a neutral ground between the two extremes. These articles suggested that it was solely biased on the situation in which each officer was in and to never assume that all situations in which an officer faces the decision to use deadly force will be identical or justified.

Results

Many families of the suspects that were shot, as well as many activists, argue that police involved shootings are getting “out of hand” and are considered “e...

... middle of paper ...

...could be a knife or a gun, also use a deadly weapon” (Galvan A1). The best way this policy can be amended is through crisis intervention training (Galvan A1).

Conclusion

Are the police justified in self-defense or is the police using excessive force and how does this ratio of shootings in Albuquerque compare to other cities in similar size and population? The results show the sides of two groups of people that believe they are in the right. The activists against police involved shootings believe that the officers of Albuquerque react to situations with deadly force too often. The supporters of the police force believe that the shootings are higher in Albuquerque because suspects in the area give police more reason to use deadly force. Albuquerque has the highest ratio of population to police involved shootings in six cities of similar size and population.

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