By: Dr. Peter A. Barone, Esq., Ph.D.
What do we mean and what are we speaking of when we keep
hearing and referring to Police Use of Force or Excessive Use of Force?
What Exactly Do
We Mean by Use of Force?
There are statutes in each state and policies and
guidelines defining what use of force is considered to be and how and when it
is supposed to be used throughout the world in various states, countries and
law enforcement agencies. Even the military has protocols on when force can be
used and not sued depending on the type of action and location of that
particular action. When examining police use of force it is observed that this
very controversial topic and activity is characterized in a variety of ways.
Sometimes, these characterizations are functionally interchangeable so that one
can be substituted for another without doing injustice to the factual
interpretation of a statement. At other times, however, differences in
terminology can be very consequential to a statement’s meaning. As an example
of this it is seen that “deadly force” refers to situations in which force is
likely to have lethal consequences for the victim it is being administered
against by someone one and when involving law enforcement it pertains directly
to the officers actions. This type of force is clearly defined and should not
be confused with other types of force that police use and it is also addressed
in state statutes in addition to departmental policies, procedures, general
orders and operating procedures.
When examining use of force it is important to also
discuss “excessive force” which is
a term used to describe situations in which more force
is used than is allowable when judged in terms of administrative or
professional guidelines or legal standards. There is a proportionality of force
which is needed to be used in direct response to the force that is being
presented by the subject or assailant. The judgment of the response of the type
and amount of force employed by the law enforcement officer at the time of the
incident must be examined and assessed using a totality of the circumstances
approach to provide a true and accurate understanding of what the officer
involved in the incident experienced in making their decision as to what level
of force they deemed necessary and proper as a response to the threat and force
directed at them or someone else. Criteria for judging excessive force are
fairly well established. The term may also include within its meaning the
concept of illegal force.
What is Illegal Use of Force?
“Illegal” use of force refers to situations in which
use of force by police violated a law or statute, generally as determined by a
judge or magistrate subsequent to the action having taken place. The criteria
for judging illegal use of force are fairly well established and would again
involve the use of the totality of the circumstances criteria.
When examining allegations of Improper, Abusive, Illegitimate,
and Unnecessary use of force it is observed that these are terms that describe
situations in which an officer’s authority to use force has been mishandled in
some general way, the suggestion being that administrative procedure, societal
expectations, ordinary concepts of lawfulness, and the principle of last resort
have been violated.
Why do Police Use Force?
When examining the role and mission of law enforcement,
it is seen that the primary purpose of police is protection and the maintenance
of social control in society. In keeping with this objective and commission law
enforcement officials have been approved to use force; however, the use of this
force can be used only to promote the safety of the community and not with
malice but with a specific purpose to a specific and justifiable end. Police
have a responsibility for safeguarding the domestic well-being of the public,
and this obligation even extends in qualified ways to protecting those who
violate the law, who are antagonistic or violent toward the police, or who are
intent on hurting themselves. These
activities are seen by officers throughout the world on a daily basis. In
dealing with such individuals, police may use force in reasonable and prudent
ways to protect themselves and others which is inline with their commission and
oath to promote the safety of the community and maintain social control.
However, the amount of force used should be proportional to the threat being
presented to and against them or others and the amount of force employed by law
enforcement should be limited to the least amount required to accomplish
legitimate police objectives; which should be to stop the existing threat and
return to the original homeostasis of the day.
It is interesting to note that in a study conducted by
Bayley and Garofalo (1987) they advised that their data revealed that
police-citizen encounters that involve use of force and injury are “quite
rare.” In another study conducted by Garner and Maxwell (1996) the results of
their data revealed that the use by law enforcement officers of physical force
(excluding handcuffing) was used in less than one of five adult custody arrest.
An assessment of this figure does not truly qualify use of force as, it must be
considered low, especially in light of the broad definition of force that was
used and especially when considering the entire spectrum of force with mere
grabbing an individual on one end and the use of deadly force at the other end
of the spectrum. This being said it is very important that society to correctly
place police use of force in context in order to truly understand the true
vista of the potential magnitude of use-of force issues.
How Often are the Various Types of Police Use of Force
Implemented by Law Enforcement?
Research by Alpert and Dunham (2004) and also by this
writing indicates that police are most likely to use force when pursuing a
suspect, attempting to exercise their arrest powers and when presented with a
dangerous confrontational situation by a suspect. Furthermore, resistance by
the public increases the likelihood that police will use force. These findings
appear intuitively sound given the mandate that police have regarding use of
force. Police may use force when it is necessary to enforce the law or to
protect themselves or others from harm and if the person the police are
interacting with does not escalate the situation then law enforcement has not
need to escalate the situation. This writer again refers back the study
conducted by Bayley and Garofalo (1987) where they advised that their data
revealed that police-citizen encounters that involve use of force and injury
are “quite rare.”
What are the Types of Use of Force Used by Police?
When reviewing various texts and articles it is
vividly demonstrated that and known with substantial confidence that police use
of force typically occurs at the lower end of the force spectrum and is usually
involving the grabbing, pushing, or shoving of an individual who has not
complied with an officers requests or orders and who has brought the situation
to the officer. In the study, by the NIJ (1999) which focused on 7,512 adult
custody arrests, 80 percent of arrests in which police used force involved use
of weaponless tactics. The study indicated that the tactic of grabbing was the
tactic used about half the time by law enforcement personnel during encounters.
The study further demonstrated that approximately 2.1 percent of all arrests which
were affected law enforcement officers involved the use of weapons by police. The
study also indicated that chemical agents, such as pepper spray, were the
weapons that were most frequently used (1.2 percent of all arrests). As relates
to firearms the study showed that only (0.2) of the times officers used firearms;
which makes the firearm the weapon least often used by law enforcement during
use of force situations (NIJ, 1999).
What Types of Weapons Did the Suspect Use?
There is an interesting contrast in the study
conducted by the San Diego County Districts Attorney’s Office in San Diego
California involving the types of weapons used by the perpetrators of crimes
that law enforcement had to deal with while performing their duties indicated
that suspects used firearms some In this
study the data reflected that 42% of the suspects used handguns; 19 suspects
used knifes; 8 suspects used blunt or sharp force objects and 13% of the
suspects used motor vehicles against the law enforcement officers (OIS Study
2006). An assessment of these figures indicates again that the suspect is the
initiator of the activities and the officers are responding to the situation
and activities presented to them by the perpetrators.
Conclusion
The use of force by law enforcement officers in the
performance of their duty is one of the most serious actions that officers have
to take, and this is especially true when the suspects forces the situation to
require an officer to have to resort to deadly force to stop the threat being
presented to them. All of the aforementioned areas addressed in this writing
truly need to be pondered and considered before comments and judgment are made
by someone not being presented with the situation requiring a response
necessitating use of force. It must be also remembered that law enforcement
officers are facing situations where individuals are in possession of storms of
emotions that accompany human interaction and come forth uncontrollably
especially during human confrontation. The main reason these officers find
themselves in these hail storms of emotion and violent actions is because their
primary role is to protect life and maintain social control.
References
Alpert, G.P. &
Dunham, R.G., (2004). Understanding Police Use of Force: Officers,
Suspects, and Reciprocity. Cambridge University Press.
Bayley, D. H., & Garofalo, J. (1987). “Patrol
Officer Effectiveness in Managing Conflict During Police-Citizen Encounters.”
In a Report to the New York State Commission on Criminal Justice and the Use of
Force (Vol. III), May pp. B1 – 81.
Gardner, J.H. & Maxwell, C.D., (1996). Measuring
the Amount of Force Used by and Against the Police in Six Jurisdictions. Cambridge University Press.
National Institute of Justice (1999). Use of Force by
Police: Overview of National and Local Data. U.S. Department of Justice Office
of Justice Programs.
Officer Involved Shooting Review: Analysis of Cases
Investigated by the San Diego County District Attorneys Office 1996 – 2006.
