North Charleston Police Department Case Study

For this paper the North Charleston Police Department was contacted and Lieutenant Hardee provided insight into an issue faced in the law enforcement organization and how they are going to address it, along with how it is impacting the organization. This report is a summary of the information that has been researched concerning the use of force by police officers. There are several avenues for an arrestee to complain about use of force issues concerning the arrest by a law enforcement officer. The use of force is evaluated under the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure, along with state law and followed up with the police departments policy and procedures regarding the use of force by it’s officers. The 4th Amendment of the Constitution prohibits the use of unreasonable force by a police officer when he makes an arrest, or takes a person into custody or in any way “seizes” a person. This is critical and must be considered by a law enforcement officer while in the process of arresting someone. Whenever a seizure of a person occurs and results in any type of injury it can almost always result in a lawsuit being filed by a arrestee for excessive use of force by an officer. Law …show more content…
Sometimes being mindful of the situation and making the passively resistant person be the bad guy in the situation it what is best. Lt. Hardee says he wishes he could just put in the policy and procedure to use more tact than usual. People are going to challenge law enforcement now, especially when it can generate media interest and the possibility of a civil law suit settlement. Now more than ever there has to be a mindset of being more patient and the forethought of being accountable for my actions. Maybe the best solution is to think if I act this way how will it look on the