Force In Law Enforcement Essay

1557 Words4 Pages

What is considered force in law enforcement? Force is the amount of physical interaction between individuals or objects. Law enforcement officers use force when it is necessary, in order to protect individuals from each other. Police officers have the discretion to use force in situations that they see as necessary. What is the limit that law enforcement officers are able to use physical force? The amount used is dependent on the law enforcement officer in the situation. The use of force can be categorized into soft hands, presence, hard hands, baton, and deadly force. We have seen from current events that law enforcement has used the wrong judgment in the force they apply to a situation. Society has have made the image of law enforcement look …show more content…

The first idea, people get when they hear the word law enforcement is power, security, fear, and respect. What is the appropriate amount of force, law enforcement officer should use? Society judges the actions of law enforcement, without taking into account the side of the officer. There are many types of force a police officer may use when the situation calls for it. Law enforcement officers use discretion to decide on the right force to use. Force cannot be defined by individuals or by laws, instead force is exercised by individuals that upheld our criminal’s justice system. The types of force that officer can use are soft hand, hard hand, Taser, baton, presence, and deadly force. Presence is were suspects see law enforcement and turn themselves in. Soft hands is a tactic used by calm officers. Soft hand police officers like to discuss the situation out and try to use less lethal force. Hard hands is used by more experienced police officers. The force is key for many police officers because it can determine the lives of many individuals. Society sees the force of the law enforcement officers in the media, community, and …show more content…

The reason police officers react slow to their situation is because they often pick the wrong amount of force. In Wolf’s study (2009), he talks about how most police officers have to analyze the situation and the offender, when the situation comes up. It is critical for a police officer to make the right decision, when taking action against a suspect. We see this in the case of Tennessee vs Garner. In the case the police officer used the wrong judgement and faced the consequences. Should deadly force be used by police departments? Deadly force is used when the officer thinks their life is endangered. That was the case with the police officer that shot Gardner. Society thinks that police officers just shoot suspects for anything they do. Police officer’s shoot suspects because they feel like there is no other option and have to reduce the threat in the immediate area. Police officers, often do not make the right decisions, when their suspect acts out of the norm of the officers (Wolf, 2009). Law enforcement officers have difficultly, when going to a crime scene because of what they do not expect. In the Graham vs Conner case, law enforcement officers did not know Graham was a diabetic. The officers

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