Law Enforcement Incident Analysis

In our class activity, I played the role of a community member. In this most recent incident there appeared to be some kind of civil unrest going on. Law enforcement officers were on the scene attempting to manage it. A woman approached an officer looking noticeably upset. She kept getting physically closer to the officer and when he turned toward her, he hit her in the head with his baton. The Woodland police, once again, used aggressiveness as a technique. The woman was clearly unarmed and didn’t do anything to harm the officer. This woman was, more than likely, in a rage because she didn’t like how the officers were handling the situation. It is possible that she knew someone that was hurt by the officers prior to her incident. The officers …show more content…
In the first video, the use of force did seem excessive due to the fact that the man was unarmed and wasn’t a direct threat to the officers. The story I heard was purely word-of-mouth, but from what I heard their actions weren’t justified to killing the man. In the second incident, the officers used an effective method. The man was going to bomb a bank and even held someone hostage, he was potentially dangerous and had to get off of the streets. Hitting him with the car was clearly the best option since he had the advantage of being on a motorcycle. They caught the criminal and kept the community safe. I have mixed feelings about the third incident, but I lean toward the law enforcement’s side of it. The woman that was clubbed in the head should have known not to approach the officer in such a hostile manner. The environment they were in was already chaotic and she could have hurt the officer. Although she was probably emotionally unstable during that moment, the actions of the officer were justifiable because she seemed to be getting out of hand. The Woodland police motto of aggressive policing methods isn’t very effective to me. Violence should only be used to an extent in policing. Overall, I believe police officers know what they are doing. They made it into the police force for a reason and they have the ability to handle criminals. With the exception of the first video we were shown, the actions of the officers were valid. I stand by my opinion of law enforcement agencies functioning as an organized and civil institution whose purpose is to serve the