Category: Police

“There is a difference in knowing you are black and in understanding what it means to be black in America. Before I was ten I knew what it was to step off the sidewalk to let a white man pass.” – Margaret Walker

The issue of the abuse of power in high positions is something that happens frequently in everyday life. It can happen in the work place, it happens in politics and it happens with the police. Although racism is strictly applied to racial groups in interaction, the concept of power can be more generally applied. In fact, power, is a concept of considerable scope: it can be used to help account for group oppression per se and to explain the continued association of certain racial groups with certain class or caste positions. Class or caste membership develops from historical contact in which groups possessing a power advantage have been able to place themselves in superior positions solidifying a social structure that features a racial stratification system (Wilson, 1976). Police brutality is an ongoing problem, especially in America, it leads many people to wonder why this is the case, whilst racism is the obvious answer, the evidence of police brutality, why the police who are committing murders are not being held accountable and the improvements and efforts to bring about change in the treatment towards African American people are also is an important factors to considered. There is a general understanding of what is meant when we speak of ‘police brutality’ but for clarification, police brutality is a civil rights violation that occurs when a police officer acts by using an amount of force with regards to a civilian that is more than necessary. Excessive force by a law enforcement officers is a violation of a person’s rights (US Legal, 2019).

Although police brutality has always existed, police brutality towards black people has become more significant over the past years because activist groups like ‘Black Lives Matter’ founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi in July 2013 have allowed this issue to become an internationally recognised topic. This movement started as a hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman (who is not a policeman, but a neighbourhood watch coordinator), who shot and killed an unarmed young black boy, Trayvon Martin. The Black Lives Matter movement, has been challenged by some people claiming that ‘all’ lives matter, not just ‘black lives’, as true as this is, the movement started in response to the grotesque and obvious racism against black people, therefore the people who oppose this view are explicitly suggesting that they either do not fully understand the concept, or that they do not care, meaning they are racist themselves. This is another part of the problem because although all lives do matter this contrast defeats the purpose of the subject totally as it is a way of deflecting from the problem that Black Lives Matter is trying to highlight. Black Lives Matter and Amnesty International have both worked astoundingly hard to address the issue, and their works will be displayed later in the essay in chapter 3.

The aim of this dissertation is to explore the evidence regarding police brutality, to explore if police officers are held accountable for their actions and most importantly if there has been efforts and success in improving the current situation. Additionally, the problem with general racism in America is evident and there is always a new story on a white person calling the cops on a black person, or a black person being unfairly treated by the cops. The police are in society in order to protect and implement the law, as this is their job, however, with this power they also have the right to use reasonable force (this is supposed to be used responsibly). The use of ‘deadly force’ is also allowed to be used as stated by the U.S. Supreme Court, who established that that a police officer who has probable cause to believe a suspect poses a threat of serious harm to the officer or others may use deadly force to prevent escape (Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1 (1985). This might happen, for instance, if the suspect threatens the officer with a gun. The Court, however, indicated that officers should issue warnings when possible. It also held that deadly force is unjustified when the suspect poses no immediate threat to the officer and no threat to other, however, some police officers believe because they have a badge they are protected by law, and therefore they abuse their power and do anything that they want to do. This is the beginning of the problem.

No greater difference exists between blacks and whites than the extent to which racism exists in the administration of justice (Seltzer and Johnson, 2009). Blacks and Hispanics are far more likely than whites to believe that racism pervades the justice system from arrests to prosecutions to convictions to length and type of incarceration (Weitzer and Tuch, 1999). There have been many cases where a policeman has targeted an arrest towards a black person (as shown later in the essay in Ferguson), shot and killed or used excursive force in detaining a civilian, (Eric Garner) resulting in their death. Police use of force – particularly lethal force – is one of the most divisive issues of the twenty-first century. When an officer discharges a weapon, it’s a life changing event. A single bullet – which weighs about .02 pounds and is 10mm long – can end a life, erase a pension, or change the image of those who are sworn to serve and protect (Bergman, 2019). It is fair to say that some police officers act differently towards black people, and in particular, towards black males. There is a common stigma thought by many that black men are dangerous and a threat, however, this assumption is based on racist opinions and views, because it is impossible to gain this opinion by physical appearance. This was the case with 12 year old Tamir Rice, which will be further explores along with other cases.

Imagine hearing on the news where someone is being accused for not corruptating during an arrest. In most of these cases it is the polices’ word against theirs. How does anyone really know the truth? With police wearing body cameras there would be footage of the arrest taking place. Therefore helping to hopefully clear up the mis conception. Of course there are other circumstances to consider. There could always be an issue of blurry footage or unseen situations that was not in the camera range. Unfortunately that is something that could occur and the camera would not be very helpful. In Most cases the arrest is caught on camera and is beneficial to the police, police department, and citizens to the community.

Police wearing body cameras can be very beneficial for accountability for the criminal as well as the police officer. For the accused suspects, there will most likely be a trial date. Their attorneys will review the footage and figure out the best way to conduct their defence in the courtroom or decide if they want to plead guilty. Oftentimes criminals are arrested under the influence of drugs and or alcohol and do not fully remember all the details of their arrest. They sometimes believe the situation occurs differently then what they may remember or what they feel actually happened. It can be beneficial towards helping a criminal decide if he or she wanted to fight potential charges of resisting arrest. It may also be helpful for the judge to view the video and get a better idea of the situation that occured.

Body cameras can be beneficial to police officers when their character is being question and if protocol was being followed during the arrest. Unfortunately today there are many reports of unfair police reporting due to prejudice against race, religion, sex, etc. By having this footage, this can be disputed fairly because it is not one person’s word against the other but rather actual video proof, therefore eliminating any doubt about whether the crime actually occurred the way the police stated. This could potentially save the police officer from having to go through a lengthy trial to defend his character.

Cameras can also help police in the way of documentation. Accurate documentation is very important for police to have, because it can be very useful in helping to prove the guilt or innocence of a potential criminal. Sometimes during an arrest actions unfold quickly and when the officer is ready to write his or her report they may not quite remember it fully. The officer can then go back and watch the footage of the arrest and get the any forgotten information they needed to complete their report. Attorneys use this documentation in helping to outline their defense stagrities in the courtroom. By having the body cameras they can conduct an accurate report from viewing the footage showing them exactly how the situation occurred. The body camera shows how the criminal is behaving towards to the cop and also how the cop is handling the situation. The camera also provides complete media of the incident, so you will have all the proof you need..

With the presence body cameras, it can be very helpful with training new police. The Chief of police can use the film to help the new police in training. He can use the film to demonstrate to the police trainees how to handle the situation correctly. The videos can demonstrate protocols that are in place and how they are used in the field. They can potentially be used to show how not following protocol can result in a more dangerous situation. It can open up discussions in class about the correct way to react in certain situations, and therefore will insure their ability to perform their duties in the field with confidence that they are doing it accurately. This should also help to ensure their safety out in the real-world. The Police Academy can use this tool in classes to quiz trainnies on how they would handle the situation by viewing portions of the video and having discussion about what is being viewed. This can help the instructor to see potentially where his officer in training may need more instruction and training. They can be helpful in training situations where a crime is being simulated and the student is being tested on how they handle the situation. They can then view the video later in the classroom setting and discuss whether is was handled correctly or not. Once they have decided if they handled the simulation correctly they can feel confident on sending them out to patrol the real-world.

It can be speculated that body cameras could possibly help reduce the rate of instances where people are resisting arrest. If police are required to wear body cameras, people may be less likely to resist arrest knowing that they could not prove their innocence because it would be caught on camera. They might even show more respect to police officers knowing that they are being filmed.

One could assume that body cameras could help in the community by deterring criminals from breaking the law knowing they were on camera as well as exposing any police officers that demonstrate improper policies. Police officers would have to be accountable for their actions and they could potentially face criminal charges as well as being removed them from the force. If it showed the officer having negative behavior, using unnecessary force or discrimination this could result in serious consequences. By this being advent we could remove these officers that are the bad seeds and hopefully make the community a safer place and renew trust in the police force.

All and all it appears that body cameras would be very beneficial. Not only could it help out the suspect being arrested, as well as the officer. But it could also help with the community. It seems to be noticed that people will conduct themselves in a different manner when they know they are in the public eye. So between mandatory body cameras that police wear as well as cameras that are on public streets, businesses, and or homes, maybe the police body cameras would help eliminate the blame game that goes on between police officer and the suspect he or she is arresting. Over time body cameras could improve safety for our officers as well as the community which is never a bad thing.

In this essay I will focus on some of the problems with police officers. I will talk about homicide trends, drug overdose trends, and gun control trends. I will talk about my concerns. I will talk about the problem with racism in police departments. I will talk about crime and police conduct, race relations, gun control and drug abuse. I chose this topic because I felt as if there are many different things that are in need of change in this topic and it is a decently broad topic.

According to Crime and Police Conduct, they state “police treatment of blacks and other minorities, relations between citizens and police remain troubled,” (peter katel) homicide rates seem to be increasing mainly in larger cities. They want to look at the use of excessive force in officers. With the new era of cell phones and police body cameras. They are able to see interactions with officers and the general public. Homicide is increasing in larger cities. Which adds a new debate with police conduct toward minorities. They state “debate over police conduct toward minorities sparked by a series of deaths at police hands in recent years.” (peter katel) Violent crimes remain and are a danger to society, especially in a few minority communities. In 2015 the homicide rates increased by 16 percent. The reasons they believe are the cause states “easy access to guns by young men with few job prospects, gang feuds, disputes over social media postings, an enforcement pullback by police in response to heightened public scrutiny – or some combination of these factors.” according to the article “minorities see themselves at greatest risk of being victimized by crime, as well as by police misconduct.” In a study that was conducted about two thirds of African Americans stated that them or a family member suffered mistreatment by police because of their race.

I believe that is article is important to my topic because mistreatment of minorities has become a problem more recently. People are being mistreated because of their race. We’ve tried so hard to make sure that everyone has the same rights and that everyone is a person. But the fact that some officers are mistreating someone because of their race. It sets us back because if everyone is supposed to have the same rights then why are people being mistreated to begin with. I personally believe that officers should be trained to treat everyone with the same respect. If they expect us to respect them they need to respect everyone else the exact same. Minorities are terrified of officers because they feel like they’re going to be mistreated. We hear on the news all the time about officers firing their guns at an innocent person. I feel like that wasn’t really a thing before but now it feels as if that is a common thing. It’s wrong in my opinion for people to be scared of officers they should be seen as the people who are here to help us. When they actually are seen by some people as the enemy. Innocent people shouldn’t be scared or think of officers as the enemy. But it’s not their fault for thinking of them that way. I believe it’s the officers doing because they are the ones mistreating people. And it’s not all officers that mistreat people there are plenty of officers that do their job correctly but for the ones that we hear about on the news. The ones that make everyone unsafe are the ones that I feel need to be retrained to make everyone feel safe and protected.

According to Race Relations, two officers were shot in a protest. They have stated “That demonstration followed the resignation of the police chief and the release of a blistering Department of Justice report documenting a pattern of racist behavior by the police department and local courts.” There was an 18 year old African American who was unarmed and was shot and killed by a police officer. The officers left him lying in the street for hours after he was shot. Which made people upset. He was walking in the street and ended up arguing with an officer. The officer told the man to walk on the sidewalk. They ended up fighting each other and the officer said that he feared for his life which resulted in him shooting and killing the man. He left his body laying in the middle of the street for hours. The community was upset by this situation and they ended up protesting for days. “The march justice report said that ferguson’s police department singled out black people for arrest, routinely used force (including with police dogs) against them and issued an excessive number of tickets to African-Americans for traffic and other offenses to rake in revenue. And the report cited emails in which unnamed ‘police and court supervisors’ forwarded racist jokes. In announcing the report, then-attorney general eric holder said that although discriminatory policing issues ‘may be particularly acute in ferguson – they are not confined to any one city, state, or geographic region.’”

This is important because people are scared that they are going to be harmed by officers. There was a case where a guy died while he was in police custody. Innocent people are being shot for doing absolutely nothing. People believe that it is because of their race or beliefs. I just think that officers are being trained to be aggressive and use force on people even when it’s unnecessary. I think that they are threatening people over nothing. One guy was just walking in the street and it ended in an officer shooting and killing the guy and left him there for hours. The fact that an officer can do that and think it is ok is not ok. They are using unnecessary force on people that aren’t doing anything.

According to Gun Control, 26 states have adopted 55 different gun control measures. They are trying to stop gun violence. They have stated that “the new state gun-control laws have, among things, strengthened background checks for firearms purchases, banned bump stocks (which allow semi-automatic weapons to fire hundreds of rounds in a minute) and barred gun ownership for anyone convicted of domestic abuse. Some states also have passed ‘red-flag laws’ that allow police to seek court orders to seize guns from people deemed a threat to themselves or others.” There have been many school shootings. And people are in support for gun control because of it. A few states have passed laws because of school shootings on gun control. In 2018 by october 8th we experienced over 200 mass shootings. A mass shooting is defined as four or more people are injured or killed not counting the shooter. There was a shooting october 4th which resulted in six officers that were wounded and one that was killed. Oregon was the first state to expand their gun control laws after the parkland shooting. They have stated that “theSupreme Court declined to hear challenges to state gun restrictions brought by gun-rights groups.”

I believe that this article is important because it involves both officers and the general public. The shootings aren’t mainly focused on to one group of people. When people are apart of mass shootings they aren’t focusing on certain people that they want to harm. They aren’t just trying to shoot certain people so they will harm officers and the general public. It’s not just the general public that this concerns because it also involves officers and anyone. I think that it is important because more and more shootings are occuring. There have been about the same amount of school shootings this year as there has been school weeks. Which I personally think it’s ridiculous. I personally don’t understand why people want to harm another person. It’s just concerning that this has kinda become normalized. We’ve heard so much about these school shootings it doesn’t really affect us as much. When it wasn’t as common it would be very shocking but know whenever I hear about a school shooting I don’t really think much of it because of how normalized its become. People have become used to the fact that school shootings are happening and I feel as if we’re not really trying to stop it as much as before.

According to Drug Abuse, deaths because of overdoses have increased because of opioids. “State governments are working with federal authorities to address what they are calling public health crisis of addiction to opioid painkillers and heroin. New challenges abound: Pockets of the country are seeing a rise in overdoses of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid painkiller 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, and an even deadlier new drug cocktail called ‘gray death.’” There was a photo of two middle aged people that were passed out due to a heroin overdose. They were in the front seats of the car and her grandson was in the back seat of the car. Officers were able to revive the couple. According to the article they’ve stated that “Dangerous mixes of heroin laced with fentanyl or other synthetic drugs have fueled an increase in drug-overdose deaths even as overall abuse is declining.” The amount of people using hasn’t increased but the amount of deaths are increasing. People are using heroin rather than prescription drugs.

This is important because more and more people are dying because of this. It includes both the general public and officers. It doesn’t just include officers because they are charging more people of drug crimes or the fact that they have to try and help people that are dealing with this. Some officers are also using and overdosing on opioids. There have been recent cases of officers dying because of this. I believe that maybe we need to try and make it more difficult for people to get a hold of these substances. The amount of people using hasn’t increased but the amount of deaths have. It’s concerning that so many people are addicted to these substances.

In conclusion, I talked about trends in homicide, drug overdose, and gun control. I talked about my concerns. And I talked about the problems with racism in police departments. I talked about crime and police conduct, race relations, gun control, and drug abuse.

On October 2019, an African American was shot at his own apartment by a police officer because she thought that he was an intruder. She was charged with murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. For the past century, there has been a lot of cases in which police officers have acted out of instinct rather than analyzing the situation. Nowadays, we are experiencing a higher level of violent action by police officers that are seemingly not trained. I believe that police officers should have more well-prepared training physically and mentally and to prevent innocent fatalities and family mourning and have accountability.

Police officers should be well trained physically and mentally because of how they react toward a situation. Of course, police officers are going to be ready for anything and need to be alert and aware that they are in a dangerous situation when they are called in or need back-up. But, if they are in a place where they feel threatened, that doesn’t justify for them to shoot automatically. They should first identify themselves and do a “warning shoot” to warn them. For instance, on October of 2019, a woman was shot in her own house because she was mistaken by a robber or intruder. The police officer came in because of a call they received from a concerned neighbor. When he arrived at the house, he noticed that the doors were open and noticed a shadow with a gun by her window and shot the victim without identifying himself. ““I get it,” Chief Kraus said of the widespread public anger that followed the release of body camera video in the case. It showed that Ms. Jefferson had been given no warning that it was a police officer who had crept into her backyard, shined a light into her bedroom window and shouted, “Put your hands up! Show me your hands!” immediately before firing a single fatal shot.” (The New York Times). This case is also related to one that happened a year ago where a man was shot in his own apartment by a police officer because she mistakenly thought it was her apartment and thought that the man was an intruder. The woman was recently convicted this year for murder and was given 10 years of prison (Fox News). It’s understandable how police officers come from a long day and they’re tired. But they still have the responsibility to perform to their best ability at any time and to protect their community. “Criminal justice professor Maria Haberfeld argues that police officers in America are simply not getting enough training.” (Maria Haberfeld, Dudley William 64)

Over the years, there has been some complaints about how police officers abuse their use of weapons. They are believed to use forces without justification or for no reason. Of course, they have the authority to use weapons when needed. Although, if they use a weapon such as taser, CED, pepper spray, baton sticks, or just simply must take them down, they need to know how not to take things too excessively. For example, there was a time where a police officer was being investigated for excessively abusing his use of force by tackling and throwing down and African American (Dudley, William) “But in October 2015 the Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent New York City agency that handles complaints against police, concluded that while Frascatore may have had legal authority to temporarily detain and interrogate Blake, his use of force was excessive and constituted an abuse of that authority.” (Dudley, William) (Civilian Complaint Review Board). This has been one of many cases where police officers were seen as abusing their powers. It wasn’t necessary for the police officer to react in a violent way to tackle and throw the man down. Also, in some cases, there has been a belief that police officers tend to be more abusive and violent towards African Americans and minorities. For instance, there had been three incidents where they were all African Americans and were all shot by white police officers. This raised questions on how police officers mistreat minorities. The National Association for the Advancement of colored people (NAACP) and Black Lives Matter have concerns of the abuse of police officers against them. “According to their analysis, from 2010 to 2012 white males ages 15 to 19 were killed at a rate of 1.47 per million individuals. From 2010 to 2012 black males ages 15 to 19 were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million–a rate 21 times higher than for whites.” (ProPublica). This proves how African Americans tend to confront police officers and are killed more than white males. ‘African Americans are statistically more likely to be arrested than other groups, are more likely to have force used against them, and are more likely to be killed in confrontations with police.” (Dudley, William) There was a specific case where an eighteen-year-old was killed by a police officer in an unnecessary act of matter. In addition to this there has also been body camera footage and surveillance videos that prove and show us how police officers contradict their stories about how a crime scene happened or try to mix up their stories to what actually happened. For instance, a man was shot by a police officer because of a concern of a license plate (Dudley, William). “University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing shot and killed Samuel DuBose at a traffic stop concerning a missing license plate. Tensing initially claimed DuBose was threatening him with his vehicle; surveillance and body camera footage seemed to contradict his story. Tensing was indicted for murder and voluntary manslaughter and faces a possible prison sentence.” (Dudley, William). This adds up to the fact that police officers need to be more aware of how their actions are impacting the communities concern about their safety.

Another occurrence in which raised questions as to how police officers abuse their power is that they don’t hold accountability towards a crime that has been committed and which can result not having trust towards police officers. There have been many cases where police officers are investigated for a shooting but go unpunished or are on what they call administrative leave until the investigation is closed. On November 2015, Jason Van Dyke, was sentenced for the death of a 17-year-old African American. “Van Dyke, a white officer, had shot the seventeen-year-old African American sixteen times on October 20, 2014, in an incident that was captured by a video camera on another squad car. Many of the shots were fired after McDonald fell to the ground from the initial burst of gunfire.” (Dudley, William). Although he was convicted, many people were protesting and angry not only for the police officers’ actions, but because of how the police department act towards the crime and their actions. It had to come to that incident for the department to accuse him. There had already been many complaints on how the police officer acted inappropriately in other cases. And, the fact that they didn’t fire him in that moment but was assigned to desk duty made people realize how the department didn’t held accountability for the police officer’s actions. 84% of police officer reports that they’ve seen them use excessive force and only 61% admit that they don’t always report even serious crimes because they most likely curb it. (Dudley, William) ““There’s shockingly little accountability for police and other law enforcement…. Indictments for police homicides are rare, and convictions almost nonexistent,”(3) writes journalist Jamelle Bouie. Suggested reforms to increase police accountability include the use of independent investigators to address complaints of police abuse and greater civilian oversight of police departments.” (Dudley, William, Jamelle Bouie). Police officers go to work every day not knowing if they’ll come back. They should think about the victim’s family whenever they’re pointing a gun at somebody. All of these loses and cases where a victim dies out of a fatal shooting, their families are in pain and want justice to be served. That’s something that police officers and the department need to take in consideration.

Police officers must be responsible in what they do. Either it being preventing crimes, helping those who need protection or the community, and other services. We see police officers as our guardians who represent to protect us and make us feel safe. “Critics argue that police need more training on how to communicate and interact with people, how to avoid or de-escalate confrontations, and how police actions (such as use of force) may impact the department’s and officer’s relationship with the community.” (Dudley, William) Police officers should have more time for training, communicate more effectively, and improve in their use of force. Police officers set a role models to kids who look up to them and might want to be them one day. Not only is an innocent life taken but their family members are left behind. Wanting a “love you” from their loved one before their last breath or to at least be able to say goodbye to them.

There has been a lot of news and social media coverage on police brutality and shootings leading to a push for police retraining. The aftermath of events like Ferguson, Missouri, New York, Baltimore, and Cincinnati, Ohio. Has led to the development of many social activist groups such as Black Lives Matter, Cops Watch, and Cop Block.

Which has fueled the discussion on police training and how citizens have become proactive in patrolling their communities using technology with cameras as surveillance. Taken this approach versus reactively turning on their cameras when police enter their neighborhoods or when they happen to be around police activity.

Examining how police are being trained and continued training; in areas of approaching suspects, mentally health population, shooting of unarmed suspects, and mass shootings. Evaluating a variety of training polices in various police departments and partnerships to assess the differences in how police are trained to address issues. I will look at these cases to see if there is a difference in policies. Correlating these training policies against the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) guide to examine if various competencies are being meet. This will help in identifying gaps in training and the need for further evaluations, amendments, and recommendations.

Police Training

All police officers go to training. Receiving an offer of employment is not immediately accompanied by a badge, uniform, and set of keys to your new cruiser. Completion of an academy and field training program will be the final step to becoming a full-fledged officer.

Each state and jurisdiction have different training requirements. Training can be gained at such places like community college, state sponsored institutions, in house training programs after the hiring process or sponsorship to attend an academy somewhere else. Whichever route a potential officer take, rest assured, they will receive extensive training prior to been put on the streets.

There is no standard national curriculum, but the state may guide agencies in developing training programs. Each state has a Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) or similar entity which establishes minimum selection standards for law enforcement officers, sets minimum education and training standards, and serves as the certification or licensing authority for sworn personnel (1). These agencies may be helpful in getting an idea of your state’s approach to law enforcement training.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Training Agencies (CSLLEA) (2011) From 2004 to 2008, the total number of full-time local police employees increased by 20,000 (3.5%) to about 593,000 (Table1).

The 2008 CSLLEA included 17,985 state and local law enforcement agencies employing at least one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time officers. The total included:

• 12,501 local police departments
• 3,063 sheriffs’ offices
• 50 primary state law enforcement agencies
• 1,733 special jurisdiction agencies
• 638 other agencies, primarily county constable offices in Texas.

Increasing hiring police offices, agencies must be equipped to handle the needs and requirements of this highly active public sector job. Although, recruitment increased, there was a net decrease in full time sworn personal, employed by state and local law enforcement agencies in 2002-2004.

There is an apparent need for training and many police officer’s organizations have stepped up to fulfill that need in conjunction with officers. For instance, to meet the needs of police officers serving rural communities, Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) worked in collaboration with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and numerous rural Indian tribal police agencies to develop a basic training program that would focus on training officers to respond to police calls in which they have little or no backup. In 2011, FLETC and its BIA and Indian tribal police partners began to make the training need become reality. For two years, they held numerous working group meetings to discuss every aspect of law enforcement training to determine the curriculum for the Rural Police Officer Training Program (Smoot, 2016).

Community policing is an organizational philosophy that promotes community and police partnerships, and focuses on proactive problem solving and community engagement to address the causes of crime, fear of crime or being a victim of crime, and other community issues. By effectively training officers to address the people and issues that they were sworn to sever gives each party a stronger sense of community. It also, shows that the police officer is part of the community and should not be seen as threat. As Block (2011) mentions, effective leadership is the building blocks to a continued relationship building.

To define the role of a police officer one must understand completely the role of the police in today’s world and to ensure that cognate basic recruit training programs are the rule rather than the exception. A framework has always been necessary for viewing the police function. So that training planners include within any given training program all of the actual activities in which police become involved during their daily tours of duty, based on the realities of police work. As such, officers all across the law enforcement community embarked on their respective job task analysis efforts in agencies’ attempts to define exactly what basic training was important and how much of it was needed in any given area of the job. For many peace officer standards and training (POST) units, this has proved to be a very fluid process, which means that job task analyses must be reevaluated to stay up to date with what is happening in the society at large at any given time (John, 2016).

While police officers remain our primary first responders to active shooter incidents and mass-casualty events. Responding officers can prevent unnecessary deaths by addressing immediate threats, and then providing emergency care including the application of tourniquets and pressure dressings to prevent hemorrhage, triaging casualties, establishing secure casualty collection points, and coordinating care with existing EMS responders.

The time has come to provide officers with basic Tactical Emergency Medical Support (TEMS) training and equipment in order to potentially save the lives of victims, bystanders, police officers and suspects in the event they are wounded. TEMS is not intended as a replacement for EMS services; rather, it’s an operational medical element that complements these resources in order to promote the success and safety of the law enforcement mission. Federal, state and local governments should recognize this need and provide the necessary funding to train and equip police officers for an effective response to mass casualties (Gerold, 2013).

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) partnered with the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) to create a one of kind cultural awareness training program tailored to the needs of Las Vegas law enforcement. The online training module was released in September 2011. The module is based on the Law Enforcement Partnership Program training program SALDEF developed in conjunction with national law enforcement professionals in 1999. The training program includes “On Common Ground”, a training video developed by SALDEF and the United States Department of Justice. The training program has been used by numerous federal, state, and local law enforcement departments, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Washington Metropolitan Police Department (Singh, 2012).

In U.S. police department budgets, most funding goes to salaries and equipment, and virtually nothing to training. It is a deadly formula, says Maria Haberfeld of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice (Waldman. 2014).

Police departments can repair and strengthen community relationships by understanding and training officers on three key concepts: procedural justice, bias reduction, and racial reconciliation. Together and when implemented, these concepts create an environment in which effective partnerships between the police and citizens can flourish. The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office seeks to provide these critical resources to ensure integrity and ethics are well-understood and embedded in the culture of policing.

With the help of COPS Boston Police Department has developed an Enhancing Cultures of Integrity Technical Assistance Guide (2010). This guide has 7 Strategies for project development and implementation; 1) Self-Assessment Techniques for Internal Monitoring, 2) Improving Citizen Complaint Processes, 3) Ensuring Accountability to the Community on Special Events Planning and Intelligence Collection, 4) Adaptation of Command Staff Integrity Training, 5) Review and Enhancement of Use of Force Policy and Training, 6) Recruitment Initiative, 7) Transition Team Focus Groups.

This technical guide is similar to SHM Competencies by outlining specific strategies. For example, Strategy 5: Review and Enhancement of Use of Force Policy and Training. The BPD planned to deliver 1-day training sessions to police chiefs and senior managers on the complexities and responsibilities associated with using force in the line of duty. The proposed training model would employ case studies to help participants:

• Engage their beliefs and experiences about using force
• Examine and discuss police accountability in the field
• Study the impact of using force on community/police relations
• Consider the relationship between use of force issues and police integrity/leadership

This is the type of framework that every police agency needs to be effective in address those components that are relevant to the neighborhoods that they serve as well as standard in force, communication, community building, and interviewing.

In conclusion, there must be ways to provide necessary basic recruit academy training and continued training. Allowing recruits to have hands on training and current officers continued training while serving the public, at the same time. One means of striking this balance is to utilize a staggered agenda, along with mandated step-by-step certification levels. States like Texas, over the past decade, has developed personnel expertise. Satisfying the interests of specialized interest groups and legislated training mandates.

Input from all levels of personnel; Chiefs, Academy Directors, and POST commissions can and should provide recommendations regarding line personnel training issues as well as a supervisory curriculum. In house training styles should reflects a step-by-step, progressive education program. Offering both mandated training topics as well as discretionary training preferences within defined timelines.

Reference

1. Block, P., 2011. Flawless consulting: A guide to getting your expertise used. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.
2. Bernd, C., 2014. Police Departments Retaliate Against Organized” Cops Watch” Groups Across the US. Retrieved from http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/26527-police-departments-retaliate-against-organized-cop-watch-groups-across-the-us September 23, 2016
3. Connolly, J., September 2016. Rethinking Police. The PoliceChief Retrieved from http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=1667&issue_id=112008#2 September 15, 2016
4. Georold, K., 2013. National Tactical Officers Association Calls for Increased Emergency Medical Training for Police. Law Officer. Retrieved from http://lawofficer.com/2013/10/national-tactical-officers-association-calls-for-increased-emergency-medical-training-for-police-officers/ September 21, 2016
5. Grossi, D., 2011. Police firearms training: How often should you be shooting? PoliceOne. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/shooting-deaf-man-inadequate-police-training.aspx September 16, 2016
6. Singh, K., 2012. Las Vegas Police Department Develops Cultural Awareness Training Program. Law Officer. Retrieved from http://lawofficer.com/2012/01/las-vegas-police-department-develops-cultural-awareness-training-program/ September 21, 2016
7. Smith, A., 2016. Fatal Shooting of Deaf Man Raises Concerns About Police Training.
8. SHRM. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/shooting-deaf-man-inadequate-police-training.aspx September 13, 2016
9. Smoot, R., 2016. Rural Police Officer Training. Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers Journal. Retrieved from https://www.fletc.gov/fletc-journal September 14,2016
10. Unknown Author, July 2011 Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Training Agencies. Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/csllea08.pdfSeptember 14, 2016
11. Unknown Author, 2010. Boston Police Department Enhancing Cultures of Integrity and Technical Assistance Guide. COPS. Retrieved September 16, 2016 from http://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-p184-pub.pdf
12. Unknown Author, 2016 International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training, Model Minimum State Standards For Post Administration, on the Retrieved from http://www.iadlest.org/standards September 12, 2016.
13. Waldman, P., 2014. Expert: U.S. Police Training in Use of Deadly Force Woefully Inadequate. The American Prospect. http://prospect.org/article/expert-us-police-training-use-deadly-force-woefully-inadequate September 23, 2016

The consensus of most people is that people who are facing police brutality are the ones who are “committing the crime” that deserve the punishment. Where does the law stand with what is police brutality and what is not? How does everyone figure out what punishments deserve this?

Well, in America, there are several different categories that fall under the word of “police brutality”, some are: false arrest, intimidation, racial profiling, sexual abuse, etc. Since the definition of police brutality is so broad, it is hard to determine what is and isn’t under that terminology. The most notoriously known category for police brutality are racial profiling. Most of the victims that falls under this category are African-Americans. The most famous event of this was the Rodney King incident where an African-American man fell victim to police brutality that resulted in him getting pulled over during a high-speed chase and beaten. This incident sparked a riot in Los Angeles (1992 Los Angeles riots). Police brutalities are more likely to happen in urban areas because areas like these are filled with more people and activities which can be more likely for crimes to happen. However, this can depend on the city that you live in. Some cities can be well-developed but houses poor and ghetto suburban residents that are riddled with criminal activities. Ghetto areas are a hotspot to gang-related activities, violence, vandalism, and drug-dealing. The laws are of course, are against police brutality and any conduct that the police acts against. Cops, as well as any other members of society are instructed to obey the laws or else face punishment. However, some of those police officers do get away with their crimes unpunished. The police have to be aware of others’ rights and use the necessary level of use of force appropriate to what the situation requires. Some police officers happen to jump the gun or being too trigger-happy and end up over-escalating the situation themselves which results in what we know as, “police brutality”.

Another question a lot of people consider is if the brutality was truly racially motivated, some cases of seemingly racially motivated situations were deemed to be undecided on who was in the right. The problem with that is that there is no solution to the issue of police brutality, police barely ever get convicted of their crimes, as most citizens would. Considering the statistics, it is more likely for a minority who is unarmed to be killed than an unarmed white-person. This is a major threat to minorities and it goes to show that it still has not resolved, considering the methodology of the police force is not working. The issue is not only that there is nothing being done to punish some of those police officers who have done wrong, but also that there is footage and they still do not get punished a lot of times. Some argue that police officers need to spend more time training and demand every department to require passing college before becoming a certified police officer. Eric Garner, a father of six, was arrested for “selling cigarettes without tax stamps”, but Eric argued that he was sick of being harassed and he was not selling cigarettes. The NYPD police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, put Garner in an illegal chokehold, which goes against the policy of the NYPD. This is an example of excessive force; since Daniel denied it, but there was evidence stacking against him, the general consensus would be that he would be indicted for his crime, yet the jury did not, and he got away with the murder of Eric Garner. This is one of many examples of the use of excessive force, and white on black crime. The question of motivation will never be answered, but the general assumption would be that there could have been certain racism involved in the homicide.

The one interesting aspect of this conversation is that cops who target and racially profile African-Americans with the use of excessive force are most likely white, it is hard to find evidence stacking against any other race of police officer, but sadly, it is so frequent that a police officer will kill a U.S. citizen, that it seems to become such a common topic that is discussed in politics. The reasoning behind the amount of killings is that the police usually get off with less than they should, since a lot of the crimes they commit are completely unjustified, but it is so hard to pinpoint a way to make them pay for their actions.

All in all, the examples of police brutality are absolutely riveting and the statistics really go against African-Americans, since police usually kill more unarmed black males than they do white males. The facts are absolutely shocking and it is hard not to look at it from a hard standpoint to try to figure out what the country is not doing right for these circumstances. The main point is that the ideology of America is skewed so the ones with more power have it easier and the facts do not go against that statement.

State police have always been a central part of this country, and their mission has remained the same since there conception in 1751. They’re Given their power by the state for which they serve, and are to uphold the constitution of the United States as well as the laws in place at the federal and state level. Police are public servants in the United States meaning their funding comes from taxes. It would be safe to say they have become a universal standard in the modern world. Police, at the beginning of their career, will take the law enforcement oath of honor.

“On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character, or the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I will always uphold the constitution, my community, and the agency I serve.”

The police badge is a symbol of power and is meant to be a symbol of their respect and hard work for that power. That’s also why their character and integrity is mentioned. In Criminal Justice they teach and warn about The Oath of Silence, which is an unwritten rule that some police will follow, it is defined as the following… “They do not report on a colleague’s errors, misconducts, or crimes, including police brutality. If questioned about an incident of alleged misconduct involving another officer, the officer being questioned would claim ignorance of another officer’s wrongdoing or claim to have not seen anything.” This is where the more human part comes into play, not every man and woman in policing is very principled, letter of the law kind of individual. Which is why Law enforcement comes with a certain degree of controversy because of corruption and brutality that always makes it to the news. This isn’t to say they aren’t passionate or bad at their job; that they don’t take it seriously, it’s just there is a human element. So, the research question for this paper is where do police draw the line, from considering something to be a professional courtesy to it being something they have to report, and at what point is it considered an unethical use of their position.

Background Information

The United States has a very different system for law enforcement, compared to foreign counter parts. In Rise of the Warrior Cop, written by Radley Balko an investigative Journalist, found the US had more than 16000 Law enforcement agencies. Which includes the City police, County Police, state police and federal agencies. The Supreme Court has consistently ruled that police officers do not have a duty to protect any one individual, in fact their only job legally speaking is to enforce the law in general. When the use of force considered appropriate as a response to the behavior of a perp. It is well within their means to do so, this is why generally speaking if the officer doesn’t have a history with on the job accidents, they are usually overlooked. Police brutality was used in the American News as early as 1872, it was reported the police beat of a civilian under arrest at the Police Station. What we know as police today is believed to be developed from the model the French used, dating back to the 17th century. In fact, by around 1910 most countries had adapted to this model of “Modern Policing”.

Sources that will be used are as follows. First, Breaking the blue Wall, it is a personal account of the Hopson vs New Jersey case Witten by Justin Hopson. Hopson refuses to turn a blind eye to a colleague’s unlawful misconduct and is relentlessly harassed, beaten, and threatened by the people he exposed. Rise of the Warrior Cop written by Investigative Journalist Radley Balko talks about how, in recent years, have evolved into something he classifies as grossly Unconstitutional. The War on Cops by Heather MacDonald is about the alienation of police and how these very broad stroke solutions to solve police corruption can effectively do the opposite of what they are supposed to do. To Protect and Serve was written by Norm Stamper, a retired police chief. He discusses the problems with policing and how he would fix them.

The Blue Wall

Blue walls can exist in many forms, all it is referring to is when police choose not to disclose information. Whether or not it is illegal (typically is), it doesn’t matter from a definition standpoint. The author of The Blue Wall of Silence, Alex Quinn, defined it as “The Blue wall around police only when a police officer is the offender. It will be revealed what tactics are used by police to ensure they or a colleague is not arrested. Police officers who abuse their power will often engage in creative report writing, in order to get someone falsely arrested or discredited. These reports are read to attorneys and judges before arraignments, pretrial, trials, and sentencing. The Words written in police reports provide a preconceived notion about the defendant.” (Quinn 7). However, both civilians and other police can encounter walls, even federal agencies. Some law enforcement may slowly develop an arrogance for the position they hold, and can in some cases can think they are above the law. This is why police have Ethical Obligations in a professional setting. With that being said, many law enforcement professionals feel as though the current framework is relatively primitive. With one of them being ex-state trooper, Justin Hopson, who was assaulted and repeatedly harassed for reporting his partner for an illegal arrest. There can be many possibilities as to why officers get this aggressive. What you typically see the Police say on the causes of misconduct in policing, call it a naive explanation that includes psychological, behavioral and background factors. Hopson says that what actually causes people to crack is the unbelievable pressure to conform to the police culture, part of that being the “Code of Silence”. You can see why putting crime on a pedestal when cops do it, could warp their code of ethics. Hopson goes on to say,” I had a romantic idea of law enforcement when I was growing up. I realize that all to clearly now. It was a combination of the good guys I saw on TV, and my father’s own occupational adventures, which cast my perception of the police. I had seen a movie or two featuring ‘police corruption,’ and I figured that kind of thing existed in New York or L.A. but it seemed to awfully melodramatic. Surely police corruption didn’t occur Nationwide.” (Hopson 57). Meaning police, Hopson included, start to think became a cop was naïve. The only difference with Hopson is he was able to get out, according to him most just get pull in further.

Blue Wall Effect on Law Enforcement

Interdepartmental cooperation is required in law enforcement quite often, we have many examples for this in history. In the late 19th century European police agencies undertook cross-border surveillance because of concerns political radicals. Much like when the Prussian police surveilled Marx when he lived in London. The interests of public law enforcement agencies in cross border cooperation in the control of political extremists and ordinary crime were primarily started in Europe, which ultimately led to the establishment of Interpol just before World War 2. There are many examples of cross border policing under private supporters and by public police forces dating back to the 19th century.

Due to a long-term deterioration of the public’s confidence for law enforcement in the United States, body cams started becoming more and more standard issue. Even so the police are permitted to protect private rights in some jurisdictions. To guarantee that the police wouldn’t restrict in the regular capabilities of the courts, some police acts require that the police may only interfere in the cases where defense from courts can’t be attained in time, and where, without interference of the police, the realization of the private rights could be obstructed. Investigative Journalist Radley Balko, believes there is a strong correlation between educated Cops and Ethically challenged ones. “It has become clear that only the educated Law Enforcement are able to competently respond ethical dilemmas. Officers who can efficiently and appropriately work through these dilemmas can be valuable to their community. He can’t rely of his instincts alone, he must also must be knowledgeable in police ethics, moral reasoning, and a clear expectation for conduct in their profession.” (Balko 141). Balko noticed this from his travels all over the US Speaking with numerous police captains, that officer’s physical environment is less to blame compared to their social environment. The implication of ethics is that they should account for each other in all actions, they have commitments to the group. What reflects poorly on one reflects on the rest.

Alienation of Police/Civilians

Law enforcement finds themselves under scrutiny for their uses of power, especially if it is lethal force. Especially, when a cop of one ethnic group injures or kills a suspect of a different ethnic group. In the United States, such occasions sometimes instigate fights and allegations of bigotry against police and accusations that police participate in racial profile. This is further explained in Heather MacDonald in her book The War on Cops and Jeff Roorda’s The War on Police, MacDonald is a bestselling Political Scientist and Roorda is a retired Police chief. Roorda and MacDonald seem to agree the Ferguson Missouri was a turning point. The police department in Ferguson had a history with Racial bias and the shooting of Michael Brown sent the town into civil unrest. The people were afraid to have any kind of encounter for law enforcement because it could get very violent very quick when the individual being addressed by police.

During the pursuit of a suspect, officers can become enraged with adrenaline, which can ultimately affect their judgment in turn, leading to aggravated assault. When in this emotional state it can safely be considered an inappropriate use of force. While Officers have the legal right to decide how they respond/ treat suspects, they may justifiably escalate the situation verbally. However, these efforts to enhance police accountability only reveals that they relied on rules and punishment. Meaning the rule-based systems of accountability seem insufficient if officers hold different values or there is a subculture which nurture values different from the ideals of democratic policing.

The Militarization of Police

Most larger jurisdictions also utilize specially selected and trained seemingly military units armed with military-grade weaponry for dealing with predominantly violent situations beyond the capabilities of a standard patrol officer, this may include serving warrants to dangerous suspects. In the US these units are usually known as SWAT teams. The Constitution of the US states that law enforcement personnel are legally allowed to shoot in any instance that they feel the need to protect their own lives or the life of a civilian or to prevent the suspect from fleeing arrest or a crime scene. In the case, Tennessee v. Garner, it legal to shoot a fleeing suspect only if they could cause injury to civilians, this was to make sure law enforcement couldn’t shoot every suspect that tries to flee custody. Law enforcement should always focus on removing civilians from dangerous people and/or situations, to do this they are equipped with various non-lethal weaponry. Such as chemical agents, concussion grenades and rubber/beanbag ammo.

Criminal Justice Ethics

Criminal procedure law has been developed to control officers’ discretion, so that they do not randomly or unjustly exercise their powers of arrest, search and seizure, and use of force. In the United States, Miranda v. Arizona prompted the use of Miranda/constitutional warnings. In Miranda the court created safeguards against people making self-incriminating statements made after an arrest. The court held that the prosecution can’t use statements, whether exculpatory or inculpatory, all coming from questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way, unless it establishes the use of procedural safeguards effective to secure the Fifth Amendment’s right against self-incrimination. Police in the United States are also prohibited from holding criminal suspects for more than a sensible amount of time before arraignment, the use of torture or physical intimidation to extract confessions, using excessive force to get an arrest, and searching suspects’ bodies or their homes without a warrant obtained upon a proof of probable cause. The four exemptions to the constitutional requirement of a search warrant are: Consent, Search incident to arrest, Motor vehicle searches, Urgent circumstances. The large majority of police agencies have adopted the code of police ethics, in a more or less spoken form. But, as I have already mentioned, police ethics is still at relatively still in the beginning of its development.

When you compare law enforcement ethics to medical or business ethics, police ethics is relatively Primitive. There are a few reasons for this, the big one being the misunderstanding of the need for police ethics. The intrinsic value of police officers within this framework is loyalty. Whereas Leadership is either not accountable to anyone or they are accountable only to which ever party in power. It isn’t surprising that police ethics does not have this much given context. Some experts are misled by a notion that as long as police perform their work strictly by the book, they need no police ethics. Advocates of this view also deny police officers the right of discretion. Unfortunately, when one is faced with an ethical dilemma, the laws prove themselves to be insufficient. A lot of effort needs to be put into education and training in ethics, before police officers can be faced with a moral problem or ethical dilemma and make a thought-out decision in an efficient amount of time. It takes time to not make quick decisions based on prejudice or impulsively alone even the mastery of the process of moral reasoning and decision-making does not, by itself, guarantee ethical conduct, nor do all of the situations require moral reasoning and discussion. If police officer experience inconsistent behavior from their supervisors, preferential treatment of some officers and/or citizens, solidarity with, and cover-ups for, the officers who violate standards of their profession. Integrity in Law Enforcement, then, means that a police officer genuinely accepts values and moral standards of policing and possesses the virtues of his profession. That he can consistently act out of his own will, in accordance with the values, standards, and virtues, even in the face of external pressures. Of course, not all police officers have integrity. The argument is that rotating officers helps the detectives to better understand the uniformed officers’ work, to encourage cross-training in a wider variety of skills, and prevent Inner circles from being formed because it can contribute to corruption or other unethical behavior. With technology now civilians can do a whole lot with watching and recording police when necessary.

Introduction

The term “Encounter Killing” is a word used in India since late 20Th century to describe alleged extra-judicial killings by police or armed forces, supposedly in self defence when they encounter suspected gangsters or terrorists. At that time, police used to attack the city’s underworld, and the practice spread to other large cities. Some cities like Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata were at a very high frequency of encounter killings by police. Some of the killings have been controversial and people have alleged that Police created fake encounters as opportunities to kill suspects.

Meaning

Police encounters generally means extra-judicial killing of person who are usually in custody of police by the policeman without following the rule of law. As such in Indian penal code and Criminal Procedure Code, the term police encounter is not defined specifically but there are other provision which states the meaning of police encounter.

Laws relating to encounter

So, in India not only police but every citizen of India has a right of private defence i.e., A man is justified in repelling force by force in defence of his person, habitation or property against one who manifestly intends and endeavours by violence or surprise to commit a felony upon either. The right is recognised in every system of law.

Section 96 & 100 of Indian Penal Code, provide with right to private defence. As per Section 96, no offence is made out if any act is done in self-defence. But it needs to pass the test of Section 99 of Indian Penal Code, which provides that the act should not extend to causing more harm than that is required for the purpose of self-defence. Section 100 provides when the right of self-defence extends to causing death. For an act to fall under this defence, certain conditions need to be satisfied:

1. The accused should be innocent while committing that act;
2. There should be absence of any safe/ reasonable mode of escaping by retreat;
3. There must be apprehension of death/ severe bodily injury; and
4. There should be the necessity of taking life.

Clause 3 of Section 300 of IPC, comes into light which provides that if any public servant/ any person authorized by public servant, exceeds their power to causing death while acting for advancement of justice and which they believe as lawful and mandatory for discharging his duty without any ill intention, then they will not be liable for murder. Section 46(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure; provides a wider power to the person making arrest. It provides that if any person tries to escape arrest, the person making the arrest has power to use all necessary force required for making the arrest.

At the time of arrest, if a person accused of heinous crimes, where the punishment is life imprisonment or death penalty, in such cases, if that person tries to escape from the arrest, police may also kill that accused person if it has no other option of taking him into custody. But, say a person is accused of theft, where According to Section-379, the imprisonment may extend upto three years and not life imprisonment, so in such a case if he tries to escape from police custody, police cannot shoot a person or kill him.

Police encounters when legal and when not?

When the life of the police is in danger and the police have no other option of arrest, they may also kill an accused if he is alleged of heinous crimes and trying to escape from its custody, in such cases police encounter is legal.

Also, if during a police encounter, an innocent person in a mob dies, police is not liable for the same if it has taken all the sufficient precautions during that encounter. Sadly, even if it happens, it gives permission to not only police but every citizen of India that while practicing right to private defence, if a person shoots and if there is no other person besides saving his life, then even if the innocent person dies, law protects that situation.

But at the same time law also protects the right of alleged criminals and prohibits the police from encounter killings. Encounter killings are general exceptions that deal with general conditions of non-imputability or general grounds of exemption from criminal liability.

The legal functions of police authorities are to investigate the case and arrest the offenders of the crime in their legal capacity. In cases where there is extrajudicial killing of persons who are usually in custody, by the policeman without following the rule of law, are said to be police encounters that are not legal or fake encounters. It is staged in such a way, that it appears to be crossfire by the policemen. But law protects such persons from the act of police.

Article 6(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provides: “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.” Article 14(2) of the ICCPR, provides everyone accused of a crime to be considered as innocent until otherwise.

The staged/ fake encounters (referred to as instant justice by masses) are against the key constitutional provisions Article 14 and 21 of the Indian Constitution. Article 14 provides us with Rule of Law which states that Law is supreme. Article 21 provides that every person has the right to life and personal liberty in accordance with the procedure established by law. Right to fair trial is the heart of criminal jurisprudence and the same flows from Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

Consequences of Encounters

Police encounters are a blot on the judiciary system of our country. There are a lot of incidents in India where these killings are happening and are against the basic principle of human rights in India. The problem with encounters is that, say a criminal was “encountered” today, it was right; everyone applauded the police for doing so. The police might do even more encounters tomorrow, in a streak of more and more encounters, an innocent person will get killed one day. In fact, this has already happened in many cities.

The reporters of India Today went undercover as businessman to the police officers and said that they wanted to get a case of a bank robbery filed against their competitor, so they asked the police to nab an innocent man and “encounter” him in order to trap the competitor in a case and some police officers were ready to gun down an innocent civilian in an encounter for 8 lakh rupees.

It is extremely easy to conduct encounters of innocent people for money, promotion or publicity and this is already happening. Questions have been raised on so many encounters across the country. There are more than 800 cases where the police probably murdered an innocent person, talking about only one state.

This is the reason why the people who formed our constitution, put three pillars in place – Legislative, Executive and Judiciary. If only two pillars would carry out all the work, then they would not have made the third one. All the three pillars keep each other in check and could be called a system of checks and balances. The entire building would crumble even if just one pillar becomes more powerful.

Leading encounter cases in India

The recent case of Vikas Dubey’s Encounter, 2020 made questioned the veracity of the encounter again like many other cases. The incident took place in the early morning of July 10, 2020, where a hardcore criminal accused in recent murder of eight policemen in Kanpur on July 2, 2020 was being taken away to Kanpur from Ujjain by Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force. On the way to Kanpur, a vehicle carrying the accused is said to have been met with an accident wherein the accused tried to flee away after snatching the pistol of the policemen. It is further said that the policemen surrounded him from all the sides and requested him to surrender but he fired. In counterattack, the policemen also fired in which the accused got injured. After being taken to the hospital, he was declared dead. Apart from Dubey, five of his associates have also been killed by the police in reported encounters over the last week.

This encounter under mysterious circumstances have raised many questions on the authenticity of the Uttar Pradesh police’s claims, a lot of people on social media have also alleged that this encounter was faux. But we cannot pass any judgement till the investigation is not completed.

Some of the cases of Real Encounters

1. Bhopal jail encounter,2018

In October 2016, eight people associated with the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) allegedly escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail and were subsequently shot dead by the state police.

The probe report stated that the deceased persons were asked to surrender, but, instead, began firing at the police and public. Therefore, the police had to open fire and even after that they showed no intention to surrender, sustained injuries and died on the spot.

At the time, many videos surfaced suggest the encounter was staged.

In June 2018, a one-man judicial commission headed by S.K. Pandey, retired judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, gave the police a clean chit.

2. Batla House case, 2008

The Batla House encounter took place in Delhi in 2008.On 19 September 2008, a Delhi Police special team carried out an encounter in Batla House in Jamia Nagar, where two suspected Indian Mujahedeen terrorists were killed along with inspector Mohan Chand Sharma.

The operation led by Sharma, an encounter specialist, was supposed to only gather information from residents of the area after the 2008 September blasts in Delhi. However, it escalated into a 20-minute shootout.

Many questioned the veracity of the encounter, and claimed it was staged. The National Human Rights Commission also conducted an investigation into the encounter, on a plea filed by People’s Union for Democratic Rights, and eventually gave a clean chit to the Delhi Police.

3. Veerappan Case, 2004

In October 2004, the notorious Veerappan, infamous for kidnapping, elephant poaching and sandalwood smuggling, was shot dead in an encounter by the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force. He had been on the run for a decade was tricked into getting into an ambulance as he needed to visit a hospital in Salem for his eye.

The STF fired 338 bullets at the ambulance, out of which three hit Veerappan. However, it was questioned at the time whether his encounter was staged and actually a cover-up job. But nothing was found out.

Some of the cases of Fake Encounters

1. Manipur extrajudicial killings, 2010

In February 2020, four Manipur policemen, including an inspector, surrendered before the Imphal West chief judicial magistrate in connection with the alleged fake encounter of Irengbam Ratankumar on 1 September 2010.

The case was among more than 1,500 extrajudicial killing by the Manipur Police and security forces. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CBI, which was investigating the case, submitted a charge sheet against the police personnel in May 2019.

2. Ram Narayan Gupta, 2006

Ram Narayan Gupta alias ‘Lakhan Bhaiya’, who was apparently an aide to gangster Chhota Rajan, was shot dead in 2006 by the Mumbai Police when he was picked up from Vashi and killed in an allegedly staged encounter in Versova.

Following the encounter, a Mumbai sessions court in 2013 sentenced 21 people, including 13 policemen, to life imprisonment for killing Gupta. It also held them guilty of conspiring and kidnapping him. However, the prime accused, encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma, was acquitted.

3. Sadiq Jamal, 2003

In 2003, the Gujarat Police shot dead Sadiq Jamal, claiming to have information that he was planning an attack on Narendra Modi and other top BJP leaders. According to an investigation by the CBI, not only was Jamal shot dead by the police in a fake encounter, but also that the Intelligence Bureau played a role in it.

According to the CBI, Jamal did not match the profile of reports of a plan to kill Modi and others, and his past criminal record only included an altercation in 1996 and arrest for gambling in 2002. Many police inspectors and top IB officials were questioned and later accused in the case of his ‘encounter’.

In 2017, Jamal’s father filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court seeking compensation of Rs 50 lakhs from the state government.

Conclusion

Exercise of power needs to be within the rule of law. Fake encounters are nothing more than mockery of rule of law. It affects administration of the criminal justice system and credibility of the rule of law. In a civilized society, staged encounters can never be an alternative to the process of conviction through trial. Three different branches: legislature, executive and judiciary have been made for different purposes. The existing police officers are extremely overworked, “ The Police in India Report,2019” released by the CSDS, tells us that on an average, a police officer in our country works for fourteen hours a day and 50% of them do not even get a day off the entire week. There should be 2.8 million police officers in our country, but there are merely 1.9 million of them, which means 30% of the posts are still vacant. Speedy trial for a person convicted of serious offences is the need of the hour. People are losing their utmost faith in the judiciary due to several reasons like: years and years taken in conviction of an accused. . Our criminal justice system and police need to go through major changes.

References

1. The Indian Kanoon
2. 2. The Indian Penal Code book by Prof. S.N.Misra
3. The Constitution of India book by Dr. Narinder Kumar
4. The Code of Criminal Procedure book by Prof. S.N.Misra
5. The Policing in India report,2019 by the Centre for the study of developing societies (CSDS)

Abstract

This paper talks about police brutality and excessive force and how it is affecting people perspectives and attitude toward police officer. Police brutality and excessive force has and is a big issue around the United States. Innocent people are being killed or mistreated by officers who don’t respect protocol and who take advantage of their power. This paper also explains body cameras and how they are useful and how race and ethnicity is being targeted at times. The article also explores solutions towards this issue.

Literature Review: Police Brutality and Excessive Force

Police Brutality and Excessive Force has been an issue in the United States that seems like there has been no solution too. The killing of people in this country has become a routine something normal (Francis-Santiago,2016). A police officer should be protecting the people of a city or town and at times it seems like they are doing the opposite of their job. According to Francis-Santiago (2016), In the united states the police kills two people every day. Things like race and ethnicity are a big factor of the choices a police officer make and use their power the wrong way and end up hurting people who are innocent.

Data collected for this research has helped to make this essay and assemble. The research will help understand the reader of what police brutality and excessive force is, and some subtopics that may influence or may help this issue. Question will be answered throughout the essay that help backup what the research. There is a total of four questions that will help the reader understand more about police brutality and excessive force. The questions for this research include:

Question 1

What is Police Brutality and Excessive Force?

Question 2

Are certain race/ethnic being targeted?

Question 3

Are body cameras useful?

Question 4

What can be done to stop this?

What is Police Brutality and Excessive Force?

Police Brutality and Excessive Force is something you hear about almost everywhere. It is a big issue where there is always a story, but what exactly is it? According to Law Enforcement Use of Force (n.d.) excessive force is the application of force beyond what is reasonably believed to be necessary to gain compliance from a subject in any given incident. Lyman, (2016) states that police brutality is extra-legal violence that is willfully conducted by officers who knowingly exceed the bounds of their office. Police brutality happens because of excessive force when a police officer exceeds the force needed to control a person it leads to police brutality where the officer can’t take control of the situation and abuses its power. A police officer is trained and told to only use the amount of force necessary to mitigate an incident, make an arrest, or protect themselves or others from harm (Police Use of Force, n.d.).

In order to know if a police officer was using the correct amount of force the case of Graham V. Conner created a few guidelines to set and end point of what is excessive force and what is not which are known as the Graham factors. The supreme court decided that these are the best things to not second guess an officer’s decision and to see if they exceeded the force that was needed for a certain person. Excessive force cases against the police (2017) states:

In judging whether an officer used excessive force, one must consider, “the severity of the crime at issue, whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety of officers or others, and whether he is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight.”

To see if an officer follows the Graham factors knowing the officer’s safety is important to see and understand if he or she reacted the right way. As an officer knowing background information on a suspect is important to understand the severity of the situation. It is also important to know if a suspect is a threat to others who are around, the police officer, or himself (Excessive force cases against the police, 2017).

Are Certain Race/Ethnics Being Targeted?

Police officers are criticized to attacking minorities and it looks like it might be a factor to their decisions, and it seems like African Americans are being targeted more. There is anecdotal evidence showing that African Americans are more likely to be subjected to excessive use of force by police than are people of other races (Ajilore & Shirey, 2017). African Americans are what people think of for incidents of police brutality and excessive force. People, who are African-American/Black are twice as likely to be killed by a police officer while being unarmed compared to a Caucasian/White individual. (Lombardo, 2017). There is a high number of African Americans being killed by police. In an interview to an African American male he states, I’m actually afraid too call them why am I calling them for if it’s going to be backfired on me (Francis-Santiago, 2016, Personal Interview). People no matter who they are should be afraid to reach out to police officers who are supposed to be there to help you.

African Americans aren’t the only once being affected by police brutality and excessive force, but according to Downs (2016), among minorities, the rate of police killings for Latinos is second to those of African-Americans. People don’t always talk about other race and ethnicities being targeted. The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice noted that the number of Latino victims of police killings is 30% above average, and at 1.9 times the rate of whites (Reyes, 2015). Latinos and Hispanics don’t get as much as much attention from the media and people like African Americans, but Hispanics deserve to live and work in communities where the police treat them with fairness and respect. Latino lives do matter and ought to matter just as much as those of other Americans (Reyes, 2015).

Figure 1: https://necpluribusimpar.net/reality-police-violence-us/

The graph shown above show the probability of force being used from a police officer offer towards a race. The audience can see how African Americans/Blacks and Hispanics/Latinos are being targeted more than Whites/Caucasian.

Figure 2: https://thesocietypages.org/toolbox/police-killing-of-blacks/

The image above shows a graph of the percentage of kills by police officers that each race White, Blacks, and Hispanics from the year 2015-2017. The audience can see how from the years given the numbers of African Americans/Blacks were being targeted the most and then Hispanics/Latinos and finally White/Caucasian.

Are Body Cameras Useful?

Police officers have been accused of doing the wrong thing and not doing their job right and lately police have been using body cameras, but are they useful and necessary? In an interview to Lawyer Scott Rynecki says, that citizens have a powerful weapon that is not a gun, but a cellphone and a voice and because of the cellphone camera police brutality cases have raised. (Francis-Santiago, 2016). Before cameras people couldn’t see thing to believe them, but as simple as a camera is it can be so useful for this problem. From 2007 to 2013, the percentage of local police departments using in-car video cameras increased from 61% to 68% (Local Police Departments, 2013: Equipment And Technology, n.d).

The increase of body cameras on police officers has been a good thing for the safety of citizens around the United States. Report Show Body Cameras Reduce Excessive Force By Police (2017) states:

“Officers wearing cameras were slightly more likely, by about five to seven percent, to make an arrest or issue a citation based on a call for service. So, they were actually more productive than officers not wearing cameras,” says Dr. Coldren.

Wearing cameras has a lot of potential benefits that can help people and officers both in their own way. Body cameras on an officer can be useful and beneficial for increase civility, quicker resolution, corroborating evidence, and more (Body-Worn Cameras: What the Evidence Tells Us, n.d.).

What Can be Done to Stop This?

Police brutality and excessive force has always been an issue, but its been recently heard of more, but why has this problem gotten bigger and what can be done to stop it? Although the researcher may not have the answer to this completely there is somethings that can be done to decline the numbers for police brutality and excessive force. First Starting with teaching respect to people. Not every cop is doing the wrong thing and if they feel threatened, they have probable cause to use force. Also, have penalizations or consequences towards police officers that are doing wrong to citizens. Not every person that has been killed is a threat to society. Finally, supporting movements that bring awareness. Movements like Black Lives Matter have made a difference and have helped people become more aware of their surrounding and of events that are happening (Alang & Contributor, 2017).

Conclusion

In conclusion, police brutality and excessive force has been a big issue that together as the people of this country can try to make the rate of it slow down. By reading this, the readers, can understand more about this issue and get informed more. The reader can also look at the police officer point of view by an understanding of the procedures that go in to taking action, but without exceeding force. People in general can get more involved in movements like Communities United against Police Brutality or get involved within their own community.

To get more information and a better understanding on police brutality and excessive the researcher conducted a survey to see what other people in the community think about this issue. The audience that was targeted to take this survey were college students of any age. The survey was done via the website Survey Monkey and given to multiple UTEP students from different locations found in the university. The survey included multiple choice and free response question to get a further understanding and see what others though about the issue police brutality and excessive force. Here are some of the questions give un the survey:

Q1. What is Police Brutality and Excessive Force?

________________________________________________________________________

Q2. Are certain race/ethnic being targeted?

___Yes, If so which ones

___No

___Hispanics

___African American

___White

___Other

Q3.Are body cameras useful?

___Yes

___No

Q4.What can be done to stop this?

________________________________________________________________________

Even though the survey targeted different people the results for the survey were almost all the same. Everyone that took the survey agreed that Police brutality and excessive force is when an officer takes advantage of their power or authority. Although they were all explained differently, they all ended up getting to the same. For the second question, multiple choice was given 76.3% of the audience given the survey though that race, or ethnicity are being targeted. 7.8% of the audience said no. They were also asked what race or ethnicity they though were being targeted and the results are as followed 81.5% African Americans, 2.6% White, 76.3% Hispanics, and 13.6% for other. For the third question, people were asked if they though body cameras were useful 86.8% said yes and 13.1% said no. For the final question people were asked what they think can be done. People who took the survey had the same ideas of consequences for the police officers and to bring more awareness.

Reference Page

1. Ajilore, O., & Shirey, S. (2017). Do pass: [#]AllLivesMatter? An Evaluation of Race Excessive Use of Force by Police. Atlantic Economic Journal, 45(2), 201. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s11293-017-9538-6
2. Alang, S., & Contributor, O. (2017, May 12). How to dismantle racism and prevent police brutality. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/2017/05/12/how-dismantle-racism-and-prevent-police-brutality/101481438/
3. Body-Worn Cameras: What the Evidence Tells Us. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nij.gov/journals/280/Pages/body-worn-cameras-what-evidence-tells-us.aspx
4. Documentary, R. (2016, February 26). Retrieved November 07, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNuDHJEmNlY
5. Excessive force cases against the police. (2017, December 21). Retrieved from https://mccreadylaw.com/blog/excessive-force-cases-police/
6. Law Enforcement Use of Force. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=84
7. Lemoine, P. (2017, December 09). The reality of police violence in the US. Retrieved from https://necpluribusimpar.net/reality-police-violence-us/
8. Lombardo, C. (2017, February 22). Retrieved November 08, 2018, from https://vittana.org/42-shocking-police-brutality-statistics
9. Local Police Departments, 2013: Equipment and Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5321
10. Lyman, M. D. (2016). Police Brutality/Excessive Force. Encyclopedia of Street Crime in America. doi:10.4135/9781452274461.n135 https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-excessive-force-and-police-brutality
11. Pages, T. S. (n.d.). POLICE KILLING OF BLACKS: Data for 2015, 2016, 2017, and first half of 2018 – Sociology Toolbox. Retrieved from https://thesocietypages.org/toolbox/police-killing-of-blacks/
12. Police Use of Force. (n.d). Retrieved from https://www.nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/officer-safety/use-of-force/pages/welcome.aspx
13. Report Show Body Cameras Reduce Excessive Force By Police. (2017, December 19). Retrieved from https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2017/12/19/257460/report-show-body-cameras-reduce-excessive-force-by-police/
14. Reyes, R. A. (2015, June 09). Police brutality toward Latinos unacceptable (Opinion). Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/09/opinions/reyes-police-brutality-latinos/index.html

It is apparent that the relationship between the police and BAME communities is vastly damaged and this is due to the ill-judged use of policing powers. Police powers remain among the most controversial components of British police force to stop and search individuals in public. The Police and Criminal Evidence Act was first introduced in 1984 as a reform against the perception that the public had lost equity in the English justice system. What was meant to be a legislation to unify police powers and enforce balanced rights of the public has developed into a voluntary power-using system. Police stop and search powers were first introduced in the 1830’s but were not used efficiently until 1984 which came under Section (1) of the Police and Evidence Act (PACE) 1984. The increase use of police stops, and searches was firstly used as an aid to the ‘Swamp 81’ operation which was organised in response to increased reported street robbery at the time.

The use of these powers was disproportionately used on young black men which ultimately contributed to outrage leading to the beginning of the Brixton riots that took place in 1981. Later that year Lord Scarman released his report identifying the Brixton riots as an outburst of frustration and resentment against the police in a sense of social and economic injustice. The Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Code of Practice specifies that the primary objective of the power is ‘‘to enable officers to allay or confirm suspicions about individuals without exercising their power of arrest.” The most commonly used powers under Section (1) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 are Section 23 of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act, section 60 of the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, section 47 of the 1968 Firearms Act, and section 44(1) and (2) of the 2000 Terrorism Act. These powers require that the officer be given reasonable grounds for suspicion. The power is indeed an investigative power and should only be used for the identification and prevention of crime however, it is evident that the practice is often misused on individuals who are suspiciously “known” to the police. This is highly significant as this reinforces pervasive stereotypes and racial discrimination.

The core duty of the police is to protect and serve the public by combating crime. The use of police powers must be compatible with legislations on human rights and equality. However, it has become apparent that this often overlooked with certain individuals of the public such as BAME groups. The Metropolitan Police Service had recorded 43,644 searches in May 2020 alone which was 50% more than the previous year, a Scotland Yard official had argued that the increase of searches supported frontline officers tackling violent crime however, it was found that 66.9% of searches conducted were for drugs. This is very important as this addresses the use of police powers that continue to disproportionately affect BAME groups that systematically positions them into the criminal justice system.

The 2018 Youth Violence Commission reported: ‘There is a damaging lack of trust between the police and some communities. This has become a serious barrier to change, including via a “wall of silence” when crimes are committed, and communities do not share information with the police.’ It is arguable that the over-policing of BAME groups is essentially the root of the violence to follow, the heavy handed tactics used to ‘sanction’ BAME groups inevitably make them see the police as lacking in authority and therefore are more likely to participate in self-defence which is often seen as ‘resisting.’ Moreover, the Metropolitan Police recorded a stagering 98,280 stop and searches over the three-month lockdown period of which 79% resulted in ‘no further action’ and only 10% led to an arrest. This included searches mainly focused on BAME communities who were 4 times more likely to be stopped. This is extremely concerning as the excessive use of powers is evidently resulting in unsuccessful outcomes but continues to threaten overall police effectiveness.

Furthermore, there is no doubt that the policing system needs change and that it needs to be a major cultural shift. There have been several debates brought to the government’s awareness and although, there has been a willingness to recognise such concerns, there has not been enough reform action. Interviews conducted by the Criminal Justice Alliance group pointed out that young BAME groups felt “violated” and “assaulted” during their experiences of stops and searches, also describing the police as “jump out gangs.” Many stated that poor communication and taunting attitudes from the police made them feel belittled, confused and upset which ultimately led to distrust in the service.

The government introduced the Best Use of Stop and Search (BUSS) scheme in 2014 to encourage police forces to carry out productive stops and searches for example, collecting more detailed information of searches to establish whether the initial reason for the stop and search has been accurately conducted. The scheme laid out five performance measures – recording outcomes, lay observation, community complaint triggers, reducing the number of Section 60 stops and monitoring the impact of stops. According to HMIC’S annual report on police legitimacy, it was discovered that only 11 out of 43 police forces were complying with all five measures of the BUSS scheme. However, by 2016 the overall number of stops and searches used was 380,000 times in the year which was steady decrease compared to previous years, with over 1.2 million stops and searches in figures.

In conclusion, it is evident that there is a systematic void that needs to be reformed. Without such improvements the increase of police brutality will continue as well as the increase of crime within the BAME community.