Police Use Of Force Case Study

When you hear the name Rodney King you think of the now famous case of when Rodney King a black male was beaten on the side of the road in Los Anglos, California by four white officers. Rodney King was in a high speed chase with L.A.P.D. when they finally stopped the officers beat Mr. King, thankfully someone nearby actually caught it all on camera. This case was heard all over the country. When the case went to court the officers who were charged with his beating was acquitted for the charges until they went to the federal courts. The federal courts determined that two of the officers were acquitted of the charges again and the other two were found guilty and imprisoned. The world viewed this as racism coming back the world thought …show more content…
There isn’t a set definition for it but The International Association of Chiefs of Police has stated that use of force as “the amount of effort required by police to compel compliance by an unwilling subject”. Was the amount of force used in these three cases or did the officers use excessive use of force? Most of the law enforcement agencies have different use of force policies. The levels of force that many law enforcement agencies have are physical presence, verbal command, physical control, less lethal force, and deadly force. An officer may use his physical presence as a use of force by just being there with him being there it can deter things by happening because nobody will do anything since he’s there. Verbal commands is also a good use of force because with the officer’s presence he also can use his voice and ask someone to do something and he also can control a situation from escalating and making things get worse. Physical control takes things to another level because the officer is actually putting his hand on the suspect. When using physical control the officer is just trying to control the individual and deescalate the situation. Less lethal force is when the officer can’t gain control of the suspect or the situation so he results to using a Taser, pepper spray, or something that may cause some physical discomfort for the suspect to gain control of the situation. Lethal force the officer uses his gun or something else that may cause deadly force. Lethal force should always be the last result when trying to gain control of a situation and a suspect but it seems like that’s not the case with the cases that was discussed in the beginning of the paper because if it was some of those discussed may still be alive to this