Free «Use of Force in Law Enforcement» Essay Paper

Introduction

The objective reasonableness of applying different types force by the police officers has always been the controversial point regarding constitutional issues. The primary goal of police was defined by Conser James et al. in their book. Law enforcement exists to control appliance of basic rules, established rules and regulations in society (Conser J. A. et al., 2013). However, the actions of police representatives do not provide the institution’s main function. The statistics show 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012 in a widely publicized report by ProPublica, represented in 2014. The problem of excessive force appears on the basis of inappropriate interacting with suspects and following unjustified usage of force. The statistics show the tendency of police representatives to the racism, therefore another point for concern is racial biases appearing as the result. This work studies excessive law enforcement cases and their kinds, and questions the gradient of the system approving.

Recent incidents and controversies were connected with a number of deadly and excessive force usages. The victims belonged mainly to the minority groups, such as Latinos and African-Americans. The rising protests in society caused police officials, politicians and scholars reviewing national reforms and paying more attention to applying democratic ideals. It was caused by the chain of deaths starting with Eric Garner on Staten Island in 2014.

What is the Effect of Militarizing Police Force?

Types of force represented to the police representatives include many options starting from verbal persuasion and up to firearms. Starting with the moment of weapon wide spreading among the officials there exist a lot of situations which show the negative effect of militarizing. The deadly force applying toward the teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson and non-indicting officer Darren Wilson, who shot the boy, led to the further protests. Another teenager Tamir Rice was only twelve when he was shot by police in Cleveland, Ohio. The toy pistol, which was in boy’s hands, could hardly serve appropriately for the force justification. Walter L. Scott and Freddie Gray were other victims the same year.

What is the Down Side of Racial Biases and Distrust the Police and Justice System By Not Indicting the Cops and What are the Alternatives?

According to the Intel gathered surrounding the life and death of Mike in Missouri, it looks like the place where the black community of Americans suffer from forceful or deadly law enforcement practices twice as compared to their white neighbors. Evidence about the prejudices and discrimination in practice indicates that the percentage at which the society and different bodies authorized to handle such matters compares the number of deaths relating to the blacks and whites across the country. It shows the difference in three times more murders of black people. The case of Michael Brown represented only one of the situations in which the official was not indicted after having shot the civils. Regarding the circumstances and the belonging to the minority there exist the tension with, the justice system along with all law enforcement displays the brutal role in people’s eyes. The notion of body cameras elaborated by Kille and Wihbey in their texts could provide an alternative for the decrease in the number of distrust the police have with the public. Their data indicates that “the use of force by officers fell by 60% and citizen complaints dropped by nearly 90%” (Wihbey J. & Kille L. W., 2015).

What are the Stakeholders Here and What Should Police Department or District Attorney Do to Avoid Future Conflicts in a Community?

To avoid the conflicts, the law representatives have to follow the Constitutional Issues covering this kind of problem. As a primary source it is the Fourth Amendment and the Eighth Amendment. They claim the no acceptance of excessive punishments and those abusing people's rights or threatening their lives. The force justification must be estimated with no regard to the people but objectively. However, to eradicate the problem completely, police officers have to get enough knowledge and trainings of how to behave in different situations and what type of force to implement.

The question of experience is very important, though it has two ends. On one hand, statistics show the policemen with more experience do not rush in their actions. On the other hand, their experience breeds stereotypes. These stereotypes are especially workable with the social minorities. The policemen's demeanor towards African-Americans is different than to white people. They would faster believe the black men have criminal intentions than white people. Such approaches have encouraged several racial groups to be victims of police officers’ actions especially in areas where they are considered prone to social crimes (Gaines L. & Miller R., 2015).

The cases of brutal deadly or excessive law enforcement appear to become more often in modern police. The rudest violation of human rights and tendency to racism do not consider the ideals set out in primary sources for the law enforcement foundation and abuse the constitutional issues. The unarmed black citizens often suffer from excessive force applying and it causes unrest in society. African-Americans appear to be one of the minorities, which suffer a lot because of discrimination and injustice system particularly. The level and nature of force applied by the given law administrators and its personnel against proponents of ethnic or racial minorities has been witnesses as a much higher level of ensuring law and order as compared to any usual usage of unwarranted force within the different parts of the country. As such some samples were shown as a representation in the workplaces to consider people who were unarmed and signified no real risk but were gunshot because of policemen’s preconception. From such an analysis, we view that the concern of a specific group within the society should be taken into consideration as the excessive usage of force would be manifested even greater when data the general public considers the population of the minorities nationwide (Conser J. A., et al., 2013).