Tennessee V. Garner 1985 and Making of a New Force - Case Study Example

 Tennessee V. Garner (1985) & Making of a New Force The U.S administrative structure highlights the constitutional prominence of the definition of freedom in a democratic country with a federal law with reference to the provisions for timely amendment of existing rules of administration of any unlawful situation against the safety of a citizen’s life, property, dignity and mobility while guaranteeing a defendant, whosoever is, charged with an offense the right to prove the innocence after being prosecuted in a court of law thereof. The sovereignty of every country is endorsed by the law enforcing bodies and the system of maintaining law of the land. The U.S constitution is the most standardized design of an administration that provides for the freedom of its citizens with all due consideration for the real value of life. Unhealthy situations and times of emergency actions are separately handled by the national policing department which is subject to the boundaries of the judiciary. Thereby they are responsible and prosecutable for any deliberate or impulsive or situational action taken against any individual without consideration of the provisions of the law of civilian rights in the United States of America. The case study examines the conditional liabilities of the police department and the Tennessee statute during the prosecution and after the verdict by the Apex Court of the United States of America. This case attained global attention as it was an unforeseen event of an “individual v/s constitution debate”. There are specifications of situational advantage to the police, as had been rendered by the law which resulted in the shooting-to-death of a 15 year old 8th grader during his attempt to escape arrest for a suspected burglary attempt in the night on October 3, 1974. The incident was thus described as Edward Garner, an apparently unarmed felon, tried to flee the crime spot and a police officer, Elton Hymon chasing him, shot him in the back of his head while he was trying to climb over a 6-feet-high fence in order to elude the arrest; and as a result, the victim died during a surgical operation at a hospital. This case was sensational for the controversial verdict of a Tennessee stature that approved the officer to use all necessary means to enforce the arrest of a fleeing or forcibly resisting defendant while the Police Department allowed the use of deadly force only in cases of burglary. As a development of the prosecution, Hymon was granted immunity under the Court Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on finding that he had acted upon the best reliance in the Tennessee stature while determination of liability of the city was remanded for hearing with the reference of Monell V/s New York city Dept. of Social Services,436U.S. 658 (1978) and the District Court was directed to ascertain the qualification of the city for immunity against the culpable use of deadly force in a law enforcing process. At the end, the court decreed that Hymon’s act was constitutional. However, the Court of Appeals reasoned (710F.2d 240 (1983) that the killing of a fleeing suspect is “seizure” under the Fourth Amendment and is therefore constitutional only if reasonable. As such, the Tennessee stature lost the argument for failing to adequately limit the use of deadly force by distinguishing between felonies of different magnitudes. As Siegel (2006) points out, the arbitration of the case further arrived at the conclusion that the use of deadly force of apprehension is a seizure that requires fulfilling the requirement provisions as per the Fourth Amendments. It clarifies that an apparently unarmed, non-dangerous, fleeing suspect may not be apprehended by using methods of the fatal effect (pop. 538,539). As per the case, Garner fulfills the conditions of being ‘unarmed and non-dangerous’ and therefore, the officer cannot claim that the suspect was ‘posing a serious threat’ to him or fellow individuals; therefore the seizure attempt by the use of deadly force to prevent his escape was constitutionally unreasonable. This case also hints to the timely amendments of the provisions of the law to ensure the time-bound legitimacy of legal actions by sealing all the possible circumstances of the deformation of existing firearm license rules for the use of the rudimentary weapons of older days by the police department presently. At end of the prosecution proceedings, the legislature further proclaimed that constitutionality of a legally acceptable action by any official should be considerate about the logical necessity of such imminent deeds, and in this case, as the Court sees, though burglary is a serious offense, the young, slender unarmed suspect does not constitute any reasonable threatening appeal to craft the officer judge that his intention was a force entry into the house and thereby could pose any serious life threat, thereby leaving Hymon punishable for homicide. In the wake of all these unfair incidents, Justice O’Connor, however believes that the Fourth Amendment intervention of public interest provisions in police action has to be dissented only for the fact that the reaction of a police officer on beat is derived from the effect of on-the-spot observation of the crime scene involving nighttime burglaries. He regrets his disagreement with the Court’s approval of deadly force only against a dangerous outlaw while criticizing its commitment to the constraints posted on the use of potentially lethal practice by the police to nab the culprit irrespective of the magnitude of risk involved in the process of apprehension. O’Conner clarifies that the unfortunate incident of Garner’s death as an attributed police administration scenario of insufficient guidance to use proper weapons in different emergency situations. He indicates that the Court had failed to define the strategy for assessment of the threat posed by the suspect while his preparation to flee. He was further of the opinion that the relaxation so granted to the fleeing suspects by the Fourth Amendment of the constitution would result in reduced number of arrests and prosecutions related to such grievous incidents and thereby leaving a chance of developing dissent among the police department. With all his dissent to the Court’s opinion on the basis of the constitutional provision for individual interest, he establishes that the action of a police officer who has an arrest-power has to be considered as his maximum possible option and therefore, shooting is one of such approvable actions. The court was, on the other hand, on the claim that the evidence present in the incident of the case could not guarantee the thesis that the threat of force discourages the attempt to flee and thereby it could not be approved that deadly force were in better effect in reducing the crime rate as well as tendency to escape from the crime scene. Making of a New Force Formulating a new policing strategy requires a wide range of conceptual elements such as patience, observation, longevity, integrity, confidence and energy apart from the existing elaboration of POLICE. In my opinion, allocating a definition to each of these qualities can redefine the purpose expected from the new low enforcing team. Patience is one of the finest qualities required by every person to remain calm even against a storm. It gives one time to rethink and analyze what is the optimum thing to be done to resist the difficulty. It gives us the ability to think positively even when things don’t turn out to be the way we want them (Thakore, 2004, p. 25). This quality enables the ability to listen and comprehend the situational demands pertaining to call of duty. A person thus trained to be patient never retreats at times of emergencies, instead it ensures a sense of ‘wait and watch’ attitude in every person. Observation is the most essential quality to be trained for the analytical ascertainment of situations and their demands thereby. It is a sensual activity through which a person collects imminent data and design responses accordingly. This quality helps and individual enhance the ability to confirm things and situations as to whether they are threatening or normal in nature. Longevity can be defined in this context as the ability to continuously offer service for a longer course of time. Since the effective employability of police personnel is brought into action only after a long term’s training, he needs to endure his service for long. Longevity provides one with consistency and efficiency to develop self motivation during difficult times of one’s tenure. Integrity, as an important virtue of every person keeps him in a consistent format of behavior, thoughts, values, expectations and actions. People having this quality never confronts the problem of rational conflicts, instead they develop the habit of sharing and understanding. It is the supreme requisite for team spirit and leadership by virtue of courage. Confidence is the state of mind that determines the correct side of predictions and drives the motivation towards expectation. It is very important for everyone because confidence guides determination towards success. This quality is very essential for police personnel as they always encounter situations whose result may be unexpected. It leads from the front in all actions and hence it is the basic steering for every venture; either instantaneous or eventual. Energy in biological terms refers to the invisible quantity of power transformed from an original point to the effective end point of an action. Police personnel however have to maintain a high amount of energy to produce effective action both physically and mentally. Since the job is physically demanding, they must possess a very strong physical mechanism to produce the longstanding needs of the body. Syllabus for Training Physical agility and Martial arts training Training in physical agility enhancement and an optional martial art will form part of the curriculum. The primary intent of this training will be guaranteed fitness to react upon instantaneous energy production and continuity of the stamina for a longer period of time doing the similar activities like running, trekking, fighting, swimming etc. This training is meant for the uniform training pattern involving a 2x2 hour parade for each day, one in morning and one at evening. During this session every trainee is supposed to line up in a ranks and files and move according to the instruction of the squad leader. It is similar to all the military and police training. A composite warm up exercise should cover jogging, running and breathe exercise along with gym trials for weight lifting and body shaping. It should be made mandatory that every aspirant chooses a stream of martial art from the select ones provided in the academy. Candidates with exceptional skills of proven talents in this field at state or national level need not undergo training but are expected to demonstrate their skills for the encouragement of other trainees. This physical training must involve sessions for stamina analysis by conducting several forms of athletic and gaming sports. There should be a formative pattern of discipline training as it enables the entire group think, feel and move as a unified troop. Physical ability tests and skill tests in martial arts will be conducted at regular intervals in order to assess the stamina of each person and thereby form a new commando wing for specially demanding duties. Firearm Training and Classes on Classification of Weapons Firearm training is guaranteed to every candidate who successfully finishes the physical agility training. There are prescribed norms of acquisition, possession and use of firearms by individuals and licensed officers, the validity of those provisions must be learnt thoroughly by every officer (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004-05, pp. 283-87). More number of classes and seminars on the lawfulness of an arms license will be carried out and experts will be invited to effectively teach the tactics and principles of using firearms of different magnitudes of threat of force. During this session, a candidate learns to use a number of different weapons ranging from baton to rocket launchers. The basic principle of this session is the enforcement of intelligence and accuracy while denoting that most of them are not to be used without due orders from the higher authorities. This training period will be the most enjoyable time during their training in the academy where by partially enjoy the benefit of armament and target training. It is an expensive process; therefore, there must be deputation among the candidates for the group leader’s position which is to be made responsible for the maintenance of the entire inventory. Arm training must focus on different levels of the training; firstly, the infantry battalion requires training in deadly weapons such as ground level firing, remote firing, rocket launchers, detonators, point blank assault, rapid firing, shell stinging, close target shooting and grenade hurls; and in less than deadly weapons like batons, electric prods, pepper spray, stun guns, electric shock batons, clubs, knives, ropes, bows and arrows and various forms of sticks used in martial arts. An effective firearm license is required to entitle the use of deadly force in situations resulting in fire exchanges. Also the aforesaid weapons will be bought in sufficient quantity for the effectiveness of first hand training and for the model demonstrations of firearm exhibits and skill sets. And the inventory must be maintained perfectly with due observation that none of the candidates try to take away a weapon in any nature. Psychology and First aid Theories on the psychological differences among people should be part of the curriculum as it improves the team spirit and better the individual abilities such as cognition and recognition, confidence and courage. These theories are very essential for ensuring the internal discipline of every individual and physiological discipline as a group. Majority of observers believe the fact that ‘human success depends upon discipline’ (Bhalla, 2004, pg.56, Prem) of the success of a troop always depends upon its unitary discipline and hence it shall definitely form part of the curriculum. Moreover it is easy to analyze the fundamental motive of an individual on the basis of observations made on him as contextual relationship with some of psychological theories and thereby the official is able to take necessary precautions to counteract, if necessary. Knowledge in psychology is a great asset for personnel as it enables them to avoid risky or unlawful actions motivated by impulses or uncontrollable emotional outbursts. Apart from this they should also be trained in first aid for self help and mutual help during an emergency. For this, there shall be classes on both traditional and contemporary methods of first aids. General Knowledge and Penal Code Every incumbent must possess a considerable amount of general knowledge based on politics, geography, civics, history and all sciences with sufficient level of reasoning ability in mathematics. This will enable the personnel’s free movement from places to places and easy adoption to changing societal and geographical patterns. Awareness about current affairs and politics help them speak authentically during arguments and thereby attain the approval of the peer group. Continuous sessions of this teaching will be part of the curriculum and interim tests will be conducted to ensure that they retain the acquired elements of knowledge. Along with this, they should also be taught the basics of the Penal Code for the easy identification of the magnitude of a crime and for the wiser choices of action at the crime scene. Language Art and Culture The curriculum will cover sessions of language training particularly in English and a neighboring foreign language apart from their mother tongue and the national language. Accuracy of handling a language facilitates an easier and better form of expression of opinions as well as clearer and more legitimate transfer of documented data to the higher authorities. Certain studies (Apte, 1978) suggest that conservation of relevant culture as a relationship with language and art is necessary for the facilitation of modernization in any field (pp. 9-10). Promotional events of arts like music, painting, designing and drawing will be included as extra curriculum activities. They will also be allowed to exhibit culture like folk songs, traditional dances, cookery and all other formats of performances related to their original life style. This improves the scope of peer pleasure and chances of exhibiting their innate artistic talents for the actualization of their esteem needs. References Apte, M. L. (1978). Mass Culture, Language and Arts in India: Papers Presented at a Symposium at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan. Bhalla, P. P. (2004). 7 Mantras to Excel at Exams. New Delhi: Pustak Mahal. Siegel, L. J. (2006). Criminology. Canada: Thompson Wadsworth. Thakore, A. (2006). 31 Mantras for Personality Development: One Tip a Day to Better Yourself. Delhi: Pustak Mahal. Tennessee V. Garner et al. Supreme Court of the United States. Retrieved from http://sobek.colorado.edu/~mciverj/2481_471US1.PDF U.S. Department of Justice: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. (2004-05). Sate Laws and Published Ordinances- Firearms. Washington, DC: DIANE Publishing. Read More