Whether Police Should Use Excessive Force Police officers have the significant responsibility along with discretion that comes with the nature of their jobs. Many people fail to realize the enormous burden that the police carry each day to which they need to react quickly yet appropriately. Their jobs provide them the right to infringe upon any citizen’s right to freedom, and therefore they must use their power effectively. In many confrontations, the officers are bound to a position in which they may have to use force to control a situation. The level of force used by police depends on the situation most of the time. The important factor for the determination of the level of force is the situation. Police officers
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In the course of their duty, police officers may use force when necessary. An article by Jefferis, Fredrick and Dena reveals that previous research regarding police use of force incidents has categorized the use of force incidents into three factors i.e. no use of force, use of some force and excessive use of force (86). Police officers are given the significant amount of discretion due to the nature of their job and one of the major concerns with the amount of discretion officers have is their power to decide when to use no force, some force or excessive force in different circumstances. The use of force widely depends on the circumstances, but it is solely the police officer’s choice to use some force or excessive force. Thus, police officers need to exercise good judgment when it is related to the use of …show more content…
It is true that the situations play an important role for the determination of the level of force but it does not work every time. During the training session, police recruits are taught that the level of force that they employ should only rise to the level of resistance being offered by a suspect (Reynolds). “The continuum of force ranges from an officer’s presence to verbalization, command voice, firm grips, pain compliance, impact techniques and, finally deadly force” (Reynolds). The use of excessive force is the last choice of any officer and unless the situation is worst officer’s education and training do not let him to use the deadly
In the course of their duty, police officers may use force when necessary. An article by Jefferis, Fredrick and Dena reveals that previous research regarding police use of force incidents has categorized the use of force incidents into three factors i.e. no use of force, use of some force and excessive use of force (86). Police officers are given the significant amount of discretion due to the nature of their job and one of the major concerns with the amount of discretion officers have is their power to decide when to use no force, some force or excessive force in different circumstances. The use of force widely depends on the circumstances, but it is solely the police officer’s choice to use some force or excessive force. Thus, police officers need to exercise good judgment when it is related to the use of …show more content…
It is true that the situations play an important role for the determination of the level of force but it does not work every time. During the training session, police recruits are taught that the level of force that they employ should only rise to the level of resistance being offered by a suspect (Reynolds). “The continuum of force ranges from an officer’s presence to verbalization, command voice, firm grips, pain compliance, impact techniques and, finally deadly force” (Reynolds). The use of excessive force is the last choice of any officer and unless the situation is worst officer’s education and training do not let him to use the deadly