Excessive Use of Force by Thesis

The young man had struck the officer repeatedly before continuing to resist arrest, and finally being killed. The court found in favor of the officer.

Hopkins v. Andaya is a similar case in which an officer was struck repeatedly and ignore despite several warnings. In both these cases, self-defense necessitated the use of firearms.

In the case of Tennessee v Garner, on the other hand, a suspect was fleeing. According to the law, a police officer could use deadly force if he or she believed that the suspect was dangerous to the public and guilty of the suspected crime. Such use of force, as Hall argues, is however no longer relevant in the legal climate of the United States. Due process and the presumption of innocence necessitates providing felons with the opportunity to state their case before a jury. Overly excessive force was therefore used in this case.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, there are many encouraging signs that the problem of police brutality is being addressed via the research. Legal and social circumstances have changed, necessitating a new paradigm of police work. For the future, the greatest challenge lies within research and development. Academic and policing institutions need to collaborate in finding ways to curb the excess of violence that departments appear prone to.

The police force is an extremely important part of an ordered and peaceful society.It should therefore not perpetuate violence, but rather curb it. Police officers should therefore be thoroughly schooled in the acceptable use of force, and in the types of force that are acceptable for certain situations. Furthermore, research should also be conducted into the psychological traits that encourage and perpetuate violence. These issues should be handled in a targeted manner within police departments, possibly by means of councilors. In this way, the police can once again become part of the problem, as intended in the first place.

References

Charlton, Jacquie. (1997). A brief history of a "less than lethal" weapon. http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/1997/041797/sidebar.html

Halle, John C. (1997, Oct). Police Use of Nondeadly Force to Arrest. Law Enforcement Bulletin. http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/1997/oct975.htm

Mangan, David. (2008). Police Brutality the Use of Excessive Force. Drury University. http://www.drury.edu/ess/irconf/DMangan.html

Net Industries. (2009). Law Enforcement - Use of Force. http://social.jrank.org/pages/1332/Law-Enforcement-Use-Force.html.....