2/25/22

Use of force

Use of force
● According to the international association of chiefs of police, use of force is “the amount
of effort required by police to compel compliance from an unwilling subject.”
● Physical force is considered legitimate only under the following conditions;
○ Self-defense
○ Specifically deputized people against some specifically named people
○ Police force
● Bittner
○ No one really knows what is meant by the “Lawful use of force” because each
incident is different, and it is impossible to cover all the circumstances in which
police may use force.
● Excessive use of force by the police is problematic in several ways;
○ Legal liability
○ Physical injury or death
○ Loss of citizen respect
○ Community reaction
● Strategies to evaluate and control police officers' use of force include:
○ Training
○ Identifying problem-prone officers
○ Ethics education
● Militarization of police
○ Police officers serve citizens and protect them from each other; the military is
responsible for protecting citizens from foreign threats.
○ Nothing prevents the police from using military-style tactics and equipment to
enforce the law. The Posse Comitatus Act contains no language addressing this
concern.
● Evolution of Police Militarication
○ The impetus for the increased militarization of policing was the September 11,
2001, terrorist attacks.
○ How militarization has affected the nature of law enforcement:
■ The relationship between the police and the community
■ Reorientation of the police identity
■ An increase in private policing
○ Police militarization often has the unintended consequences of alienating people
from their own police
○ The militarization of the police and the war-on-crime analogy is the most
apparent in the swat divisions of police agencies
● Stress and Burnout
○ Police and alcohol
■ The police subculture tends to exert a powerful influence on drinking
patterns
 ■ Police agencies are more attuned to the effects of intoxication now than
they have been in the past
■ Many public safety organizations have instituted drug and alcohol testing
to ensure that police officers are capable of performing their assignments.
○ Family problems and the police
○ Police and suicide
○ Dealing with the stress of policing
○ Police subculture
○ Police corruption