It will hopefully provide research data that will help in developing policy to clearly define what is considered excessive force and justifiable force when someone dies from the use of force by the officer. It will look into misconduct by officers on and off the job; it will suggest solutions that can lead to policy changes and a Biblical viewpoint of the subject.
The Problems
When police officers commit crimes, or engage in misconduct whether it is on or off duty that affects the public perception of them and their jobs. There is been a lot of negativity about what the public views as excessive force being used by officers that ended in the death of another person. The courts normally see this as justifiable in the line of duty, others do not and that leads to problems like protests of which have become violent, fear of police officers, and news and social media are fueling the flames of this issue.
“Young officers who entered the police service with no post-secondary …show more content…
Some deal with financial strains, relationship issues, problem with drugs or alcohol, and stress from the job, all of which can lead them down a path that will put them on the wrong side of the law and they as seen in the statistics commit criminal behavior and activities that land them in jail or prisons. The problems do not just stem from on duty excessive use of force but also from officers who commit crimes while ‘not on the clock’ such offenses as domestic violence, alcohol or drug related issues, or even the killing of another person.
Misconduct happens in police departments across the country and “almost every major police department has had at least one misconduct-related scandal in its history” (White and Kane, 2013 p. 1303) and some have many occurrences of repeated misconduct. In some research it was determined that “most misdeeds occur early on in officers’ careers—though for some, the misbehavior persists through their entire careers” (White and Kane 2013 p. 1304) this type of research data can benefit policy actions as will be discussed