The Concept of Police Brutality - Essay Example

Module Police Use of Force The issue of police use of force has become of paramount concern in the society in the contemporary world. The police force is a unit of government whose key objective is to maintain order and enforce law in a nation (Bittner 125). The profession can be described as stressful and risky since it involves violent encounters. Police may be forced to use aggression so as to control a violent situation (Bittner 125). Police often find themselves in a precarious position when determining the amount of force to use when dealing with suspects (Sacks 292). They must act in discretion when using coercion or physical force. There are strict guidelines that they should follow when applying force in different circumstances. The first step should be verbal persuasion and if this fails, they should use unarmed physical force. The third step is the use of non-lethal weapons, the forth is force using weapons while the last step is the use of deadly force (Bittner 132). They have many tools at hand when the need of force comes up including fire arms, police dogs, handcuffs and the batons. Properly trained officers enforce the law and maintain order in a manner that does not violate citizen’s rights. However, this is not the case in the modern society (Bittner 140). Recent studies reveal that the cases of police using excessive force are on the rise. Fatal injuries and deaths have resulted from the use of force by police. Police have been reported to use excessive beating or even shooting innocent civilians (Hunt 51). Incidents of police brutality have been controversial in the recent past as some high profile cases have caught the attention of the media. To understand the reasons behind police brutality, the police profession, psychology profession and the criminal justice system should work in cohesion to come up with control measures and possible solutions. Police use of force is a punishable offence as it can be viewed as a crime in different levels (Hunt and Manning 318). To understand the issue of police brutality, it is necessary to analyze and offer cases as well as identify the causes of this use of force. The given case clearly illustrates how police brutality happens and demonstrates the need for police to receive psychological training on crime control. It is apparent that T.S. and W.S. are police partners working between 12 a.m. to 8 a.m.  in the 103 precinct in Jamaica, Queens. Most of the crimes are committed during this shift and this requires policemen to be more vigilant. The neighborhood is highly populated and this explains the high rates of petty crimes (Hunt and Manning 315). The people in this locality are working racial class minorities with limited education and skills. The two police officers live in a white, middle class neighborhood on Long Island with lower rates of crime and better security. The policemen have served in the police force for a long time and complaints have been made against them for police brutality. T. S. has been on the police force for ten years; he was initially assigned to a patrol unit in a high crime area and was commended for high arrest rates. This notwithstanding, he received numerous civilian complaints due to use of force but was acquitted by the Civilian Complaint Review board. It is, nevertheless, rare to find police officers in high crime areas shooting at suspects although he was involved in two shootings. He alleged that the suspects were armed though no gun was found (Albert and Jeffrey 237). He then served in the Tactical Patrol Force Unit for several years and was moved to the anti-crime unit. In his years of practice he did not have a steady partner citing personality reasons. This was until he met W. S. who had comparable problems with his partners. W. S. had never been involved in any shootings and did not have an outstanding arrest record. One night as they were doing their daily patrols, they heard an announcement on the radio concerning a robbery that had just been committed. The announcement gave a description of the suspects alleged to have committed the crime. One of them was 5'10' and the other about 4' 6 ' and this created a disparity in their height (Albert and Jeffrey 237). The policemen drove around the neighborhood in search of the suspects. T. S. hit the breaks when he spotted two people matching this description. The police officers moved toward the suspects and commanded them to stop. They run towards the boulevard and the shorter one fell and T. S. approached him and pulled the trigger. He then turned the body of the alleged suspect surprisingly turning out to be a ten year old who had gone with his father to work that fateful morning. The microphone on the police radio was open and this served as evidence in future. His father had stopped another police car and reported that his son had been shot. The complainant confirmed that the father and son were not the suspects. The duo was acquitted of any wrong doing by an all white civilian jury and was fired from the police department (Albert and Jeffrey 237). There are several causes leading to police brutality, however, most of them can be attributed to their psychological state and their perceptions (Waegel 147). Modern research reveals that there are multiple causes of police brutality, leading to the question whether police departments should use pre-employment screening to identify violent individuals. Officers who use excessive force are known to have violent profiles. They are highly aggressive when provoked and apply excessive force. Police officers with personality disorders are highly likely to use excessive force (Sacks 203). They can be described as paranoid, antisocial and have abusive tendencies. From the given case, Officer T. S. can be observed to have a personality disorder. Personality disorders affect judgment and interactions with other people. Police officers with personality disorders are highly likely to face complaints of brutality from citizens. Police officers who have been through traumatic experiences are at a risky position (Hunt and Manning 317). Those who have experienced traumatic situations such as justifiable shootings are more likely to use excessive force. They tend to hide the symptoms of trauma and lose control when dealing with various situations that do not call for the use of force. Police officers should be undertaken through psychological debriefings and regular training to help them deal with traumatic experiences. There are police officers who develop poor patrol styles which is true for the given case. These individuals are sensitive to any form of provocation and use dominance when dealing with suspects (Skolnick 209). They use force to show that they are in charge and this becomes a norm. This can be observed from the two in the given case that shot at alleged suspects simply because they ran away. Another cause of police brutality is racial, social, educational, ethnical or cultural profiling (Jacobs 921). This arises when a police officer profiles a suspect and acts based on the factors stated above. This is a significant factor contributing to police brutality since people from different ethnic backgrounds and social statuses are argued to be more prevalent to commit crimes that others. Police should treat all suspects equally regardless of their ethnicity, race or social status (Jacobs 921). The mechanisms governing the police force should be strict to enhance discipline. There are deficiencies in the accountability mechanisms with policemen in most cases being acquitted of any wrongdoing in situations of police brutality (Kappeler et al. 112). The control structures in the police force are rigid resulting to increased cases of police brutality. These are the leading causes of police brutality and measures should be taken to put a stop to it. In conclusion, police brutality is a crime since it violates constitutional rights, state laws, federal laws as well as the police laws. The weaknesses in mechanisms governing the police force have led to increased cases of brutality since perpetrators are set free in most cases. Police brutality can be controlled by using an interdisciplinary research by psychologists, the justice system and the police force. The justice systems should identify and punish offenders in the police system. Psychologists can help by identifying the causes of police brutality. The police force should change its structure to punish officers who abuse their power and promote adherence of the rules governing the force. These measures can minimize the rates of use of excessive force by the police. Works Cited Albert, Geoffrey P. and Jeffrey J. Noble. “Lies, True Lies, and Conscious Deception: Police Officers and the Truth.”Police Quarterly. 12 (2009): 237-254. Print. Bittner, Elgon, “The Functions of Police in Modern Society.” (1970): 123- 147. Print. Hunt, Jennifer C. and Manning Peter K. “The Social Context of Police Lying.” Symbolic Interaction. 14 (1991): 51-70. Print. Hunt, Jennifer C. “Police Accounts of Normal Force.” Urban Life. 13 (1985): 315-341. Print.  Jacobs, David. “Inequality and Police Strength: Conflict Theory and Coercive Control in Metropolitan Areas.” American Sociological Review, 44.6 (1979): 913- 925. Print. Kappeler, V.E., Kraska, P.B. and Marron, J.E. “Police Policing Themselves: The Processing of Excessive Force Complaints.” Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. (1995): 110- 132. Print. Sacks, Harvey. “Notes on Police Assessment of Moral Character.” Studies in Social Interaction. (1972): 290- 295. Print. Skolnick, H. Jerome. “A Sketch of the Policeman’s Working Personality.” (1996): 205- 214. Print. Van Maanen, J. “The Asshole.” In Policing: A View from the Street. (1978): 346- 366. Print. Waegel, William B. “How Police Justify the Use of Deadly Force.” Social Problems 32 (1984):144-155. Print.     Read More