The integrated paper will probably be 4,500-6,000 words. Copy/paste in your revised/rewritten Literature Review. Your revised work must present a comprehensive overview of the contemporary research st

Police Use of Force

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Abstract

The paper explores twelve published articles on police use of force. The reviewed articles differ in their definitions and explanation of police use of force. Chaney and Robertson (2014) argue that police use of force in the US mostly affects Black Americans. Americans should think differently on police brutality. In most of the articles, authors suggest better training to be offered to police to ensure all forms of institutionalized discrimination they spread is undermined. Police use force when dealing with minorities, and most of the corps caught mistreating Americans are the inexperienced young officers. Review of several articles on police use of force will show the different situations where police in the US use force to mistreat minorities.

Keywords: police use of force, brutality

Police Use of Force

Numerous studies reveal that police use force as they exercise their duties in the field of law enforcement. According to Chaney and Robertson (2014), police brutality is not new to Americans and mostly target low-class men from different races in America. Police use of force has different definitions, but most researchers agree that excess force exerted to criminal suspects by police officers should be discouraged. Ways to reduce excessive use of force by police is a great concern to Americans, but inexperienced police officers argue that their law enforcement duties require the use of force to easily settle hostile situations. To better understand the police use of force, there is a need to review different articles with information on police use of force.

Scholarly Review

Chaney and Robertson (2014) studied the social unrest in the US regions due to police use of force. Justice in law enforcement was the main concern of the two authors, and in their article, they explain an incident that occurred in 1991 related to police brutality. In 1991, Rodney King who, a motorist from Los Angeles was mistreated by white police officers because he was from a black race. Videotaped beating of King Rodney was proof of how harsh police officers target the Black Americans to spread racism. The Black residents in Ferguson were interviewed and how police brutality has been affecting them over the years. From the study of police brutality in Ferguson region, results showed that corps from the Ferguson Police Department in the US mistreated black residents and most of the local people had no trust with the corrupt police officers. Police violence affects black men more than white men (Chaney & Robertson, 2014). The issue of police brutality has made many students and human rights activists to advocate for justice from all criminal justice officers because peace cannot prevail in a society where police use force to punish people from a particular race. Reviewed study on police use of force by Chaney and Robertson is effective in describing the acts of brutal police officers by giving evidence of Black Americans discriminated by corps in Ferguson region. However, there are limitations in their studies since the Chaney and Robertson lack statistics of US citizens harassed by brutal corps in recent years.

More so, Donnermeyer (2002) discusses the local preparedness for terrorism among US corps. Police officers who actively participate in law enforcement must make local arrangements to curve possible terrorists who may threaten the lives of Americans in the future. Therefore, police officers who use force when conducting local investigations are ineffective in detecting terrorists since local people are not free to share information concerning local criminals. Donnermeyer reviewed several journals on police use of force before writing an article on local preparedness for terrorism. According to Donnermeyer, critical training should be offered to police officers in the US to help them enforce laws to US citizens fairly without spreading any form of institutionalized discrimination. Critical training needs and critical equipment are needed to help police officers fight all forms of terrorism in the US (Donnermeyer, 2002). Donnermeyer effectively discusses the needs of US police officers in undermining works of terrorists but his scholarly work was published over ten years in the past, and this serves as a limitation. However, Donnermeyer provides a thorough analysis of police officers' needs as they are involved in law enforcement in different regions of the US. The author’s stand on the topic of police use of force is that all corps must undergo critical training to ensure they are competent as law enforcers in America.

Similarly, Faure and Weber (2017) discuss the diversity of the European Union and their approach to law enforcement. Research works reviewed by Faure and Weber reveal that the European legislature set norms to guide the law enforcers in all of its member states and since the US was colonized by Europeans, the law enforcement tools proposed by EU must be adhered to by all members of the US criminal justice system. Faure and Weber argue that the US law enforcers should not differ with the European competition law. EU has strategies to ensure the private law enforcement and the criminal law enforcement forces are fair, and they do not mistreat minorities based on their racial background (Faure and Weber, 2017). Faure and Weber wrote their scholarly article to emphasize the need for fairness in law enforcement. However, the authors did not explain the scope of European law and the areas where it addresses the issue of police use of force.

Fridkin, Wintersieck, Courey, and Thompson (2017) explains the race and police brutality in the US. Before Fridkin, Wintersieck, Courey & Thompson analyzed the importance of media framing; they had explored several cases of violent white police officers who confront the Blacks in the US and accuse them of criminal injustices they have never conducted. The article on race and police brutality explain how an African American professor by the name Ersula Ore was body slammed by campus police claiming that the African professor was jaywalking. It was on 20th May 2014 when the white police attacked the Black African and the incidence changed most of Americans' impressions towards unfair corps. Fridkin, Wintersieck, Courey & Thompson argue that officer Ferrin was spreading racism ideology when he forced the professor’s hands behind her back, arrested her and transported to jail where she stayed for eight hours (Fridkin, Wintersieck, Courey & Thompson, 2017). The article is successful in explaining police use of force since the incidence explained between a white police officer and a Black American professor show brutality of police to an innocent individual.

Hufnagel, Gani and Bronitt (2012) discuss shooting to kill and the impact of lethal force in domestic and international law. Police who use lethal force mostly fail in their duties of law enforcement. As per Hufnagel, Gani and Bronitt (2012), the US police officers do not use excessive force in a terrorist situation alone but in protecting private properties and in executing an arrest. However, it is unfair for police to use force in punishing minorities like the Black Americans who reside from the American ghettos. Police officers who use excessive force in unnecessary situation claim their acts as self-defense but should be fined by criminal justice system if their pre-emptive use of force is unauthorized (Hufnagel, Gani & Bronitt, 2012). Domestic and international laws intersect and discourage the excessive use of force by police officers when executing an arrest.

Kasper (2012) explains the concept of how police die as a result of injuries they acquire as they execute their daily duties. Violent police officers use force when enforcing laws and this may result in injuries. Injured police officers cannot effectively investigate terrorist activities. In 2010, the US criminal justice department introduced a memorial fund for the National Law Enforcement Officers to cater for the interests of police officers who die in the line of duty (Kasper, 2012). Violent police officers who use substance abuse and are affected by family issues are mostly injured when working. The research by Kasper (2012) has limitations because it does not give statistics of police officers who died in a particular year as a result of workplace violence.

Klahm and Rob Tillyer (2010) explains how police officers over the years have been victimized for improper use of force on members of the public and other criminal suspects. Klahm and Rob Tillyer made extensive research to explore factors forcing US corps to use force when dealing with Black Americans. An interview was used to collect data on the causes of police brutality. Results from the interview revealed that high-stress levels among police offices forced US corps to be harsh to members of the public. Some police departments subject their officers to long working hours, especially when investigating potential terrorists (Klahm & Rob Tillyer, 2010). More so, pressure from authorities and lack of ability to fulfill basic needs make police use excessive force when enforcing laws. However, use of force by US corps is considered legal when they are defending themselves from armed criminals.

Knight, Woodward and Lancaster (2017) explain types of extremism and how they relate with the concept of police use of force. Violent extremism differentiates between the violent and non-violent actors in a criminal case. The European Union defines violent extremism as the act of engaging in ideological conflicts to meet the social and political objectives of an organization (Knight, Woodward & Lancaster, (2017). The violent actors influencing ideological conflicts are targeted by police officers and excessive force used to arrest them because they threaten the security of innocent citizens. However, non-violent actors should not be mistreated by police officers but guided on how to organize themselves in society to avoid chaos.

Kuhns, Joseph and Johannes Knutsson (2010) reviewed several journals before discussing the global perspective of police use of power. Most police officers are routinely assigned guns, and when they misuse them, they are fined by leaders of the criminal justice system. In the US, police officers who use force respectively, lawfully and consistently help maintain a safe society. However, illegitimate use of force by police officers erode the confidence of innocent citizens to their government officials (Kuhns, Joseph & Johannes Knutsson, 2010). Violence and crime increase in a society where police officers are corrupt and unfair to local people. Therefore, police officers should effectively use firearms to maintain the security of members of society and stop mistreating innocent members of the public.

Further analysis of police use of force was done by Laurie (2018). Laurie focuses on police shooting and how it raises questions to members of the public, especially when carelessly done. In the article, the author describes the story of a woman who was shot by a police sergeant from Bucks County by the name Richard Vona before she was proven guilty. The corps were forced to shoot the woman after her failure to comply with simple commands given. Therefore, the example given by Laurie was an illustration of how police use force to harm suspects without permission from their leaders and such acts should be punished. The US Supreme Court punished Vona for conducting unjustified shooting and urged leaders from various police departments to rethink police training to ensure police brutality minimize in the US (Laurie, 2018). In-service training for US corps will enlighten them on how to control their emotions and increase their effectiveness in crime investigation.

Paoline, Eugene and William (2011) discusses the special issue of police use of force. US corps use force when arresting criminal suspects and such acts harm suspects and complicate their roles of the criminal investigation. Verbal commands from police officers and shooting threats cause unrest to members of the public. As per Paoline, Eugene and William (2011), some police officers fail to differentiate between control and harm. Therefore, most of the efforts of inexperienced police officers harm criminal suspects instead of controlling crime. Paoline, Eugene and William lacked quantitative data in their research on the special issue of force.

Sweet, Meissner and Atkinson (2017) reviewed several journals on police use of force and later analyzed the naïve control of US corps to detect weapons. Studies on behavior-based threat detections revealed that inexperienced police officers in the US fail to discover concealment of weapons if they mistreat members of the public and lack operational experience (Sweet, Meissner and Atkinson, 2017). When in-service training is supported in various police headquarters, police will be advised on how to avoid bias in their investigations and cater for the safety of all members of the society.

Conclusion and Future Study

To gain more knowledge on police use of force, it is essential to review more scholarly articles, videos, and books with information on criminal justice officers who misuse their authorities and threaten lives of innocent US citizens. Different Journal articles may differ in their explanation on police use of force, but the fact remains that illegitimate use of force by police is punishable by law but the legitimate force from police help increases safety in society.

References

CHANEY, C., & ROBERTSON, R. V. (2014). "Can We All Get Along?" Blacks' Historical and Contemporary (In) Justice With Law Enforcement. Western Journal of Black Studies, 38(2), 108-122.

Donnermeyer, J. F. (2002). Local Preparedness for Terrorism: A View from Law Enforcement. Police Practice & Research, 3(4), 347-360. doi:10.1080/1561426022000032105

Faure, M., & Weber, F. (2017). The Diversity of the EU Approach to Law Enforcement--Towards a Coherent Model Inspired by a Law and Economics Approach. German Law Journal, 18(4), 823.

Fridkin, K., Wintersieck, A., Courey, J., & Thompson, J. (2017). Race and Police Brutality: The Importance of Media Framing. International Journal Of Communication (Online), 3394.

Hufnagel, S., Gani, M., & Bronitt, S. (2012). Shooting to Kill : Socio-Legal Perspectives on the Use of Lethal Force. Oxford, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing.

Kasper, J. (2012). How Cops Die : Understanding and Preventing Duty-related Deaths. Springfield: Charles C Thomas.

Klahm, C. F., & Rob Tillyer. (2010). Understanding police use of force: A review of the evidence. Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice 7.2: 214–239

Knight, S., Woodward, K., & Lancaster, G. J. (2017). Violent versus nonviolent actors: An empirical study of different types of extremism. Journal Of Threat Assessment And Management, 4(4), 230-248. doi:10.1037/tam0000086

Kuhns, Joseph B., & Johannes Knutsson. (2010). Police use of force: A global perspective. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

Laurie M. (2018). Police shooting results in questioning about use of force training. Criminal Justice. Retrieved from https://whyy.org/articles/police-shooting-raises-questions-about-use-of-force-training/

Paoline, Eugene, & William. (2011). Special issue: Police use of force: Varying perspectives. Journal of Crime and Justice 34.3.

Sweet, D. M., Meissner, C. A., & Atkinson, D. J. (2017). Assessing law enforcement performance in behavior-based threat detection tasks involving a concealed weapon or device. Law And Human Behavior, 41(5), 411-421. doi:10.1037/lhb0000243