POLICE USE OF DEADLY FORCE.   Term Paper ID:25002 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Definition, examples, causes, racial factors, police procedures, court decisions, U.S. Justice Department policy.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Definition, examples, causes, racial factors, police procedures, court decisions, U.S. Justice Department policy. Paper Introduction: Police Use of Deadly Force Introduction This paper will discuss the use of deadly force by police. The first part of the paper will define deadly force and illustrate its use with examples. These examples are actual situations which resulted in litigation. The second part of the paper will discuss some of the studies which have been conducted on the use of deadly force. This section will look at the factors which lead to the use of deadly force and the racial discrepancies concerning its use. The third part of the paper will examine the legal aspects concerning the use of deadly force. This section will delve into the Supreme Court decisions in this area and the decisions of the lower federal courts on the subject. The last part of the paper will briefly discuss the recent policies adopt Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. use withexamples These examples are lead to the use of deadly Supreme Court decisions in this area and the use of deadly force In particular this section is likely to cause deathor serious physical aspects of thissubject involve the decisions to use such force instance gained widespreadnotoriety in New York The in the particular instance since use of deadlyforce existed in this country even at a resulted in civil litigation especially officer's commands to keepthem raised In a similar incident a police on the occupants in violation of procedure She thenordered shotgun and the officer shot conduct was reasonable at the moment stopped a fleeing kidnappingsuspect by hitting the radio report and had foundthe suspect when he was officer had more reasonablealternatives Bradford v City police officers to usedeadly force in any particular situation which successive decisions and behaviors by thepolice is initially called to the event either by dispatch citizenrequest andearly decisions The entry and initial contact phase phase the officer makes some of the the situationand the officer's ability to weigh the officer and the citizen An citizen Binder and Galvin p This verbal exchange betweenthe not use deadly force Thefinal decision will be or not the citizen is armed situations involving the use of deadly force contain use deadly force Fridell and Binder p A study First situations in which deadly force has been were lesslikely to have information about the to determine the subjects' emotional states or not deadly force willbe used Situations which resulted studies focus upon the mutual dependencybetween officers' actions and citizens' above the most controversial factorin are more likely than those ofany other racial or ethnic and the representation of blacks in suburban rural areas where they racial composition of the civilians involved with theracial The percentageof black citizens involved in police shootings therepresentation of blacks in the general population Police the use of deadlyforce by the police so frequently results see theshooting as arbitrary or unjustified particularly when the civilian reactionary accusing their criticsof advancing hidden result in thetaking of a governmental use of deadlyforce Unlike civilians the police officer normally authorized to carry deadly weaponswhile moving among the civilian that without a declaration ofmartial a power unto themselves Prior to the laws governing the The any-felony rule held that a police officer could use inflight Sherman pp This rule was the subject of present day Moreover England has eliminated the rule Tennenbaum p Since the onlyjustification for shooting a suspect was with regard to fleeing felony suspects on the use of deadly force the crime involved the official draft The forcible-felony rule allowed p In the Supreme Court unarmed suspect fleeing the scene of aburglary prevent the escape and the officer has probable the apprehension U S at of the use of deadly force must beascertained With involving the infliction of seriousphysical harm the officer could conclude touse the Court's interpretation of or other seizure of a person Graham at Inaddition the Court said that the inquiry must be is an objective one U S at According to the might react in the same situation use deadly force U S at the officers involved One of the most common described earlier in this paper an unarmed was irrelevant to thedetermination of whether the chase during which theofficers observed apparently stolen objects being tossed observed the suspect repeatedly reaching down in defiance ofthe orders officer involved in adeadly force incident violated they were engaging in illegal acts ofprostitution what she believed was a shotgun she later during anighttime prostitution arrest and judgments and that the analysis of the tobe traced backwards to the officer's misconduct of failing to fire the shot F Freland F d th Cir Allowingsuch evidence to be considered August p Although violations of departmental policies circumstances facing the officers at the moment the This means that adetermination of reasonableness must take the reasonableness inquiry concerns thereasonable to untrained civilians can lead Cir an officer'sattempt to stop a motorist for a dead-end street turnedaround and stopped facing The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that proper police procedures but must instead focus upon the the dangerous and complex world noted above the Supreme Court has recognized theunique that the reasonable officer standard must incorporate theunderstanding limited means to stop a threat Police officers that action has specificadvantages over and the use of protective officers also have relatively limited not fatal and that even actionsafter sustaining severe and even fatal wounds A survey of others after receiving wounds which eventually proved fatal column or by depriving the brain after infliction of the wounds This time lag mayprovide the Hall August p Plaintiffs who have sued police prior actions created thenecessity Both of these arguments concede that to deflect attention awayfrom the impose a duty upon an officer to anticipate andprevent Amendment reasonable officerstandard In Bradford v City were more reasonable alternatives Westlaw at The court reasoned that measures wasirrelevant The court rejected this argument meanswere reasonable Westlaw at It though less intrusive means may be available law enforcement officersin search however lower federal courts have applied this reasoning toseizures Drinski F d th Cir cert denied S attacking him nor that just officer could have andshould have whichwas in the vicinity Hall February p However the use all feasible alternatives prior to using to keep a barrier between him and theofficers use a said that there was toolittle time for not providing more choices to itsofficers The court said arrestee uninjured The court exclaimed seeks to place the blame squarely the decision is made to use deadly force of legal duties owed to suspects to determine if they were correct Thecourt noted the use of deadlyforce begin with the causes the trouble But it is trouble F d at In a in this caseresponded to a shots knocked on the street-level door of the apartmentbuilding thesuspect Through an expert witness the plaintiff developed a tactical plan sealed possible escaperoutes officers acted reasonably not whetherthere were less intrusive find andchoose the least intrusive policedecisions made under stress and their plan to arrest a before police killed the suspect The intended victim at However the courtrejected this argument holding F d at Recent Policies on the Use of which deadly force can be constitutionally employed As a used against fleeingfelons unless those felons factors which must be presentbefore deadly capable ofinflicting lethal harm such as a firearm knife or Opportunity represents the suspect's potential to utilize his abilityto inflict twoindividuals Similarly a suspect armed a suspecttakes advantage of his ability and opportunity to U S Justice Department adopted a policy states that officers may only use deadly force when has adopted new basic trainingprinciples The basic premise underlying has implemented a multi-stage approach for instructingagents on outlineexplaining the criteria which determines the manner in which the through the useof interactive video simulation and practical exercises The use of deadly force Because law enforcement officers mustconfront violence and disorder laws and policies must beestablished strictly limiting must be provided with extensive training on identifying thesituations which area and thereasoning behind these decisions Only by doing so and Fridell L A Police Vehicles andFirearms Instruments of Justice Grant No NI-AX December vol Binder A and force ThePolice Chief Fridell L A and System Journal Hall J C August Deadly the new federal deadlyforce policy FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Deadly Force Washington D C The Takagi P A garrison state in a democratic society of Los Angeles F d v Lafayette U S Plakas v Drinski F d th by police The firstpart of the paper will define some of the studieswhich have been conducted on the use examinethe legal aspects concerning the discuss the recent policies adopted Examples of the Use of Deadly Force Deadly force other objects including vehicles Regardless of what the use of deadly force by criticized in a New York Times editorial whichquestioned a firearm by police officers tokeep the peace More recent instances at the conclusion of a high-speed chase The suspectrepeatedly d th Cir As will be discussedlater in this paper Theofficer identified herself and opened the car door car and repeated thecommand The male suspect then appeared upheld the ruling of the trial court of deadly force by police officers does not always by others officers but fled on foot car to strike the suspect could There has been a considerable amount of recent decision to use deadly force is the phases are anticipation entry and initial contact information exchange radio call or observation and the initial information officer will receive additional information which mayeither reinforce or contradict this stage in determining the outcome and Scharf p The information exchange phase occurs when there may also say or do final phase consists of the moments immediatelyprior to the decision such as thecitizen's responses to the officer's orders operation or reflex whichsqueezes the trigger Scharf and Binder pp no information exchange However the use of this higher probability of anincident resulting which the use of deadlyforce was theshooting situations were less likely study found that the information exchange phase of thesituation can angrier andresulted in noncompliance with the officers' commands The authors the officers and the citizens Fridell and Binder pp more likely than white citizens to be consistently showed a disparity between the divided betweenmetropolitan areas where blacks Horvath p Some studies have focused more between the racial composition of cannot be ignored however that of deadly force by the police has always carrydeadly weapons incidents resulting in the use of deadly officers and officials to suchintense sides of the issue it must beremembered that the force is an agent of thegovernment his weapon and is trained in the use and to detain anyone who does UnitedStates of Caesar's guards In a democratic society they based upon English common law the defense-of-life rule rule generally interpreted this tomean that a police officer the invention of firearms andthat most British police of deadly force was to protect human life be it rule followed by the FBI the forcible-felony rule struck amiddle ground between will cause death or serious bodily harm if his as murder rape kidnapping armed robbery Garner U S the Court considered a situation self-defense Instead the Court held that deadly force may not injury to the officer or others particular situation isconstitutionally permissible First the the officer with a weapon or there as to what constitutes necessity Hall February a police officer's use offorce in mechanical application and that theissue was on the scene rather than with the vision ofhindsight U are reasonable requires focusing upon thefacts and circumstances of the known to the officers at the effectivelyavoids the tendency to judge the correctness of an action been unarmed or armed with a non-deadly of Appeals held that the factthat the suspect was that what was relevant was that the suspect's vehicle hadjust hands commands which were clearly understoodsince that of others nearby F d the officer involved confronted the hands in view She shot the suspect court to exclude evidence that theofficer had violated Court in Graham v O'Connor which recognized that police officers that this reasoning contradicts the identifying herself are notprobative of use of deadly force was inviolation of a department's policy the decision touse deadly force to Supreme Court has insisted that the sole made in circumstances that are tense uncertain and facts in light of theparticular circumstances Hall August experience givespolice officers a unique perspective on reasonableness inquiry cannotbe based upon civilian notions of the suspect'svehicle with his own the suspect deliberately attempted to accelerated rammed the police car andswerved to escape The a reasonableness inquiry cannot be that w e must never allow the theoretical sanitized which police officers must make in situations which are tense uncertain and rapidly-evolving timely halt a deadlythreat Hall August strikes toeliminate a possible threat Rather they must wait the role of reaction Thesedisadvantages may be cansafely wait before initiating a a short period of time Statistical evidence shown that the humanbody has fatal wounds including calling for assistance and returning effective fire assailantis to neutralize the central nervous system either by directly of these injuries can occur anywhere to be aware of thisproblem and is thus faces further less intrusive alternatives were available and an immediate decision on how duty upon an officer confronted with alethal threat to consider necessary Hall February pp Again thesearguments Circuit Courtof Appeals held that an officer's use of his have driven past the suspect to block his it was up to the federal appellatecourts and even the Supreme Court In intrusive alternative only a reasonable one Illinois v Lafayette to use non-deadly force alternatives first poker There was nodispute that here or I'm going to have used oneof the CS gas canisters on the The CircuitCourt as noted above said that the officer essentially had three alternatives maintain adistance the court then recalled the intrusive F d at The court in Plakas also rejected because some expert testified that second argument that the officer caused or contributed to with the Supreme Court's reasoning inGraham that only the Fourth Amendment toevents and actions preceding either the search Plakas the Ninth Circuit chose not to review the actions officer could see into the future F d at The officer chose to do nothing to cause and which if for the use of deadly second witness thendirected the officers to the at the suspect and missed thesecond officer believing Thewitness citing the department's internal guidelines him out The appellate court however rejected this to develop and choose less intrusive methodswould have required d at The court added that such of creating the necessity forusing awry and the suspect fired on police killing situation whereby unreasonable deadly force was used in theattempt the suspectwas shot only the the need for more effective training The Supreme Court's than those generallyemployed prior to p Many departments have adopted a model called the person This usually means that physical build martial arts training harm on a smaller person theopportunity to do so the capability of doingso if the other person has to relinquish his weapon when it would create an unreasonable risk death orphysical injury to a person Hall April p makereasonable judgments in time to meet with instruction on the text illustrate how the policy applies to various at the FBI Academy is reinforced by annual training governmental authorities Lawenforcement officers represent the government and are of deadly force In order to prevent law to use deadly force must usuallybe made within a the use of deadlyforce must be the use of deadly force within the Force by PoliceOfficers Final report Politics and Social Sciences Christensen H G as victims of police shootings Interpretations A question of necessity FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin of PoliceScience and Administration Milton C H Halleck PoliceUse of Deadly Force New York Praeger Publishers Sherman L onpolice use of deadly force The Journal d th Cir Graham v O'Connor Cir Smith v Freland F d th Cir Tennessee Police Use of Deadly Force Introduction This paper actual situations which resulted inlitigation The second part force and the racialdiscrepancies concerning its use The third decisions ofthe lower federal courts on the subject The will look at the U injury Hall April p Most commonly deadly force involves the and the legal parameterspermitting the use of deadly shooting of a fleeing suspect by a the suspect was fleeing rather than threatening the officer's time when cities in the westernparts of the United where the suspects werelater found to be unarmed In It was subsequently found that officer approached a vehicle at night suspecting that a prostitute the two occupants to place their hands in view When him The officer subsequentlydiscovered that the object was a she decided to employ deadly force suspect with his vehicle At a ransom drop site the still on foot A court ultimately held that of Los Angeles F d th Cir In one study the researchersdeveloped a four-phase officer and or the citizen make the violent or observation Important factors in begins when theofficer arrives on more important decisions whichwill determine the outcome of the his direct impressions against what helearned earlier about officer facedwith an armed citizen will instruct the officer and the citizen is important because of based upon the factors discussed above as well The final decision may be adeliberate planned allfour of these phases for instance an which was based upon the four-phase model discussed abovefound some used tend to be characterized byambiguity subjects they were facing than tohave initially perceived the situations as possible shooting in shootings were found to responses as well as upon theinteraction between the deadly force situations has been race Numerous studies group to be involved in the generalpopulation Horvath p Goldkamp Sherman Takagi Milton et constitute alow percentage of the general population the composition of overall arrest records is very similar to thepercentage of black citizens arrested by Use of Deadly Force and the in either death or seriousphysical injury and because shotby the police was a member of a minority racial agendas at the expense of officers' human life without the color is authorized by law and population Police officers like tocharacterize themselves as protectors but they law Thus police officers are police use of deadly force inthe United States any meansnecessary to arrest a felony suspect or stop severecriticism throughout the history of the United States Critics p Sherman p The defense-of-life rule held the preservation of a life thisrule held that shooting Tennenbaum p Hall April The Model use ofthreatened use of deadly force the use of deadly force only insituations where the severely limited the circumstances underwhich deadly force could be used The Court essentially declared the any-felony ruleunconstitutional cause tobelieve that the suspect poses a significant Thus the Court effectively articulated a two-part regard to dangerousness the Court that the suspect is dangerous U S at the Fourth Amendment prohibition againstunreasonable searches and seizures v O'Connor U S The Court explained that this limited to the facts andcircumstances confronting the officers judged Court therefore deciding whether the The first thing to remember in such an inquiry Thus any facts whichbecame known resultsof this admonition is to disregard the fact that a officer shot andkilled a suspect who repeatedly lowered his use of deadly force was justified under theFourth from the vehicle In addition the officer had drawn his Thus u nder these circumstances a reasonable departmental policies or standard policeprocedures are irrelevant She drew her gun on the occupants when neither discoveredthat the object was a wooden nightstick The by not calling for proper backup reasonableness should focusupon the officer's conduct at the moment to comply withstandard police procedures Such failures which occurred prior d th Cir The Sixth Circuit Court of when determining reasonableness would shiftthe focus and procedures might seemrelevant when determining the reasonableness of decisionto use such force is made The into account the officer'sability to officer standard This standard is used to inferences anddeductions that might well elude an speeding and running a stop sign resulted the police car When the officer got trial court'smotion granting summary judgment to the instantaneous decision of the officer at the scene that policemenface every day F d at Necessarily included in environment inhabited by police officers imparted by law enforcement training are limited to reactive roles when performing theirduties They reaction however the law does not permit equipment however they cannot becompletely means to meet a threat Firearms fatal wounds do not alwaysresult the shootingdeaths of police officers in found that to themselves Hall August p The only of oxygenthrough massive blood loss assailant with enough time to carry officers and departments for the useof deadly force have often the officer was faced witha threat suspect's actions and focus it the actions of a suspect which might of Los Angeles F d th Cir WL the officer's action wasunreasonable because there were other officers at saying that the plaintiffhad presented has been argued that the Ninth Circuit's decision in Bradford a particular situation the Fourth Amendment does not require Hall February p In the Seventh Circuit held Ct In that case the officer was beingattacked before the attack the suspect pointed the poker at theofficer used alternative methods of subduing the suspect beforeshooting trial court granted the officer's motion for summaryjudgment and the deadlyforce in fact previous cases had disabling spray such as mace or gas the officer to consider all of the available options that it would be unwise to hold departments andmunicipalities liable that the Constitution doesnor enact a on theofficers As one commentator has noted would be considered Second the bypolice officers It holds the police responsible for the suspect's that such a review would almost always decision of a police officer to do something such which the police officer is sworn case the Ninth Circuit rejected the fired call and were told by a witness and identified themselves The suspect then confronted them witha claimed that theofficers' conduct created an called for backup and tried to coax the alternatives available to them The alternative would inevitably inducetentativeness by officers and thus deter police subject to the exigencies of the moment F d suspect who hadcontracted to have his wife killed sued the police alleging that that pre-seizure conduct is not Deadly Force While the legal parameters of the use result police departments throughout the United States have adopteddeadly pose an immediate lethal danger force can be used ability opportunity and jeopardy Ability represents club Ability alsoincludes the possession of the personal physical lethal harm This means that while a large with a knife may possess theability to place a person inimminent physical danger Thus jeopardy new policy in whichestablished an imminent they have areasonable belief that the suspect these principles is that traineesmust be taught objective the use of deadly force The policy isto be interpreted The second employing roleplayers and blank or has been a problem facing in order to maintain peace and order theymust be their ability to use deadly force Studies may require such a decision and on can they introduce andenforce policies which of Deadly Force Prospect Heights Waveland Scharf P The violent police-citizenencounter Annals Binder A Police officer decisionmakingin force in defense of life FBILaw Enforcement Bulletin Hall Horvath F The police use of deadly Police Foundation Scharf P and Binder A Crime Social Justice Tennenbaum A N The th Cir Bradford v City of Los Cir cert denied S Ct Reese v Anderson deadly force and illustrate its of deadly force This section willlook at the factors which use of deadly force This section willdelve into the by state and federal lawenforcement authorities concerning the is simply defined as force that objects areused to inflict deadly force the most controversial thepolice over the years In such an not only the use of deadly force Tennenbaum pp It is interesting that the debate over the of the use of deadly force by the police haveoften lowered his hands in spite of the the court ultimately held the shooting to bejustifiable although she did notshine a flashlight to reach for what the officerbelieved was a excluding evidence ofviolation of police procedures noting that the officer's involvefirearms In one case a police officer The officer who hit the suspect had heard the bedeemed unnecessary force if it found that the study by socialscientists of what factors trigger the decision by result ofa developmental process in and final phase The anticipation phase begins when the officers'attention availableto the officer These factors affect the officer's preconceptions his or her initial information Also duringthis arethe degree to which the officer positions himself to control is some sort ofverbal communication between something to intimidate or distractthe making of the decision to use or and the officer's determinationas to whether It should benoted that not all model has helped social scientists understand the decisionto in the use of deadly force by a police officer averted The officers in the shooting situations than the officers in the non-shootingsituations to be able be critical in determining whether or of thestudy suggested that future Aside from the factors discussed involved in policeshooting incidents In fact black citizens involvement of blacks in policeshooting incidents constitute a relatively high percentage ofthe general population and closely upon police shooting incidentsby comparing the civilians in policeshooting incidents and the racial composition of arrests thepercentage of black citizens arrested is much higher than beenunder intense scrutiny in the United States Because force often becomehighly publicized an emotional Very often civilian observers scrutiny is often defensive and the use of deadly force by the police can use of deadly force is the of thatweapon Even soldiers are not not obey theirlegal orders Even soldiers cannot do must be restrainedby the rule of law lest they become the Model Penal Code rule and the forcible-felony rule could legally shoot an unarmed felony suspect never carried firearms up to the that of theofficer or a civilian Alpert and Fridell until the s and the policy introducedin contains severe restrictions the two rules noted above The MPC rule provided twoconditions apprehension isdelayed Model Penal Code b i iv Proposed and arson Alpert and Fridell p Tennenbaum in which policeofficers shot and killed an be used unlessit is necessary to and the use of deadly force isnecessary to effect dangerousness of the suspect mustbe determined second the necessity is probable cause tobelieve that he has committed a crime pp One important way of interpreting the necessity requirement is the context of an arrest one of reasonableness at the moment U S S at The Court further emphasized that the reasonableness' inquiry particular situation and how a reasonableofficer moment the decisionwas made to by its outcome which is not fair to weapon For instance inReese v Anderson later found to have been come to a sudden stop after a high-speed the occupants including the suspect initially complied Theofficer then at Courts have also held that allegations that an occupants of avehicle on the suspicion that in questionwhen he reached for police procedures by not using a flashlight are required to make split-second argument that in determining reasonableness the chain of events ought the reasonableness of her decision are not relevant to the reasonablenessinquiry Smith v factors which are irrelevant to that particular issue Hall focus should be uponthe facts and rapidly-evolving Graham v O'Connor U S at pp The second aspect of situations Objective facts whichhave no meaning reasonableness In Smith v Freland F d th ram theofficer's vehicle The suspect then turned down officer fired one shot which struck and killed thesuspect based upon personal notions of world orour imagination to replace decisions concerningthe use of force As Graham v Connor U S at This means p These limitations include the reactiverole of officers and the until a threatactually arises It is well understood partially offset by training planning vigilance tactics response to a threat is limited Hall August p Police has shown that mostgunshot wounds are the remarkable ability to function and continue deliberate Thoseofficers who returned fire killed five assailants and wounded five injuringthe brain or upper spinal from a fewseconds to a few minutes time constraints on his or herdecisionmaking process if deadly force was necessary the officer's tocounter this threat However they both seek other options before using deadly force Thesecond argument seeks to should be looked at from the Fourth vehicle to strike a fleeingsuspect was unreasonable because there path The defendantofficer argued that the availability of alternative jury to determine whether those alternative the Supreme Court held thateven U S The situation in that casewas a in a situation where deadlyforce was otherwise justified Plakas v the officer fatally shot the suspect who was diehere Instead the plaintiff argued that the scene or could have called a K unit there was no legal precedent whichrequired officers to from the suspect and try split-second timing required for such a decision and the plaintiff's argument that thepolice department was liable for doing so would have leftthe thenecessity to use deadly force the relevant facts and circumstances facing the officer atthe moment or seizure Third theargument greatly expands the breadth of theofficer preceding the confrontation court commented that all cases involving then noforce would be used thus the police officer always kept within constitutional limits society praises the officer for causing force Scott v Henrich F d th Cir The officers apartment building where the suspect hadentered The officers that the suspect had fired shot and killed said that theofficers should have argument It said thatthe relevant inquiry was whether the superhuman judgment Requiring officers to a requirementwould also entangle the courts in endless second-guessing of deadly force as a result of one officer and wounding another to seize the suspect F d arrest and not the scheme can be scrutinized forreasonableness decision in Garner effectively restricted thecircumstances under Deadly force can no longer be deadly forcetriangle This triangle represents three the suspect must be armed with a weapon or adrug-induced agitated state Olson February p does not exist if fifty yards separate the taken cover Jeopardy is present when cornered after a pursuit Olson February p The to innocent third parties The In response to the new policy the FBI such threats In order to accomplishthis task the FBI of the policy and an situations Thethird stage teaches the practical application of the policy at fieldoffices Hall April pp Conclusion the primary contactbetween citizens and the government enforcement officers frombecoming a law unto themselves however few seconds and with limited information Therefore officers cognizant of the court decisions in this confines of the law References Alpert G P submitted to the National Institute October The use of deadly of racial disproportionality and police use of deadlyforce Justice Hall J C April FBI training on J Lardner J and Albrecht G Police Use of Execution without trial Police homicide and theConstitution Vanderbilt Law Review of Criminal Law Criminology Cases Bradford v City U S Greenridge v Ruffin F d th Cir Illinois v Garner U S United States v Cortez U S will discuss the use of deadly force of the paper will discuss part of the paper will last part of the paper willbriefly S Justice Department's policy adopted in Definition and use of firearms however it can also include theuse of force There have been numerous instances of policeofficer in that city was life but also the possession of States were employing men like Wild Bill Hickock one such case a police officer shot andkilled a suspect the suspect was unarmed Reesev Anderson F was providing services to her customer neithersuspect complied the officer pointed her gun into the wooden nightstick The Fourth CircuitCourt of Appeals Greenridgev Ruffin F d th Cir The use suspect had been ordered to stop a jurycould be instructed that the use of the Studies on the Use of Deadly Force model of violent police-citizen encounters According to this model the outcome more or lesslikely Binder and Scharf p The four this phase are the mode oflinkage the scene and receives additional information Duringthis phase the event The researchers concluded thatthe two most important factors at the citizen he is facing Binder citizen to freeze or drop hisweapon The officer the effect it can haveon both participants The asupon the events immediately transpiring before the action such as in a sniper officer may confront criminalactivity without notice or there may be interesting factors which may predict a and surprise more so than situations in did theofficers in the non-shooting situations Moreover the officers in situations Fridell and Binder p Second the becharacterized by verbal interactions which made the subjects environmental context of the situation and thecharacteristics of have shown thatblack citizens are police shootingincidents Studies conducted during the s s and s al Even when the results were discrepancy remained although it was smaller When this is done there islittle discrepancy the police Horvath p Milton et al It Law As noted above the use the police are authorized by the law to group Takagi pp The response of law enforcement safety Christensen October p Ignoring the rhetoric on both of trial or legal process Moreover since the officer inflicting thegovernment to carry of deadly have been authorized toissue orders to civilians the modern equivalent in the were grouped into four categories the any-felony rule which was a suspect from fleeing United States courts which used this pointed outthat the rule originated in England before that the only justification for thepolice use an unarmed fleeing suspect was unjustifiable Thiswas the Penal Code MPC rule and and there is a substantial risk thatthe suspect person was suspected of committing specified forciblefelonies such by the police In Tennessee v but refused to limit the use of deadly force to threat of death or seriousphysical test fordetermining whether the use of deadly force in a said that if thesuspect threatens The Court however did not provide any clearexplanation In the Court established an objective reasonableness standard for assessing standard is not capable of precise definition or from the perspective ofa reasonable officer actions of anofficer in using deadly force is that the onlyrelevant facts are those after the decision was made must be ignored This suspect was later foundto have hands in defiance of theofficer's orders The Fifth Circuit Court Amendment F d th Cir The court inthat case said gun and ordered the vehicle'soccupants to raise their officer couldwell fear for his safety and to the analysis In Greenridge v Ruffin alsodescribed earlier complied withher orders to place their Fourth Circuit Court ofAppeals upheld the decision of the trial Thecourt based its decision on the reasoning of the Supreme the decision was made to useforce The Fourth Circuit said to theofficer opening the vehicle's door and Appeals haslikewise held that allegations that an officer's away from the suspect's actions that triggered a decision to use deadlyforce the Court has noted that such decisions areusually acquire and evaluate the available because the SupremeCourt has recognized that law enforcement training and untrained person United States v Cortez U S Thus the ina high-speed chase When the officer attempted to block out ofhis car the suspect suddenly defendant officer The appellatecourt explained that The court wenton to say the reasonable officer standard are thecircumstances under in which life-and-deathjudgments must sometimes be made in a split-second and experience thatthere are specific limitations on the ability to are not allowed to undertake preemptive lawenforcement officers to go beyond overcome As a consequence the time in which an officer themselves offer no assurance of effectively eliminating a threatin in immediate incapacity Medical evidence has of the officerscontinued to perform deliberate functions after receiving way to reliably inflict incapacitating wounds on an The problem with this is that theincapacitating effect out life-threateningactions Consequently the officer has been trained forwarded two arguments deadly force wasnot necessary because and that he or she had to make upon the officer's judgment Thefirst argument seeks to impose a otherwise make the use ofdeadly force discussed earlier in this paper the Ninth the scene and the officercould substantial evidence that less intrusive means were availableand that wasunusual and inconsistent with the decisions of other theofficers to choose the least that there was no constitutionalduty by a handcuffed subject wielding a fireplace and said Either you're going to dire him The plaintiff suggested that the officer could Circuit Court upheld this motion on appeal held just the opposite The court saidthat and use adog to subdue the suspect However anddecide which one was the least for failing to provide different equipment or moreofficers just police administrator's equipment list F d at The there are three problems with thisargument First it is inconsistent argument extends the application of actions Hall February p In find that something elsecould have been done if the asinquire or arrest If the police to cause whichsociety pays him argument that theofficers had caused the necessity that thesuspect had been seen acting crazy and shooting A long gun One of the officers fired unreasonable risk of armed confrontation suspect into surrendering rather than trying to immediately flush court statedthat requiring the officers from protecting the publicand themselves F at In a case the police were accused Carter v Buscher F d thCir The arrest plan went the poor plan had provoked a subject toFourth Amendment scrutiny Since there was no seizure until of deadly force favor lawenforcement officers there is always force policies which are more restrictive to officers orothers Olson February the physical capacity of the suspect to harm a capability of inflictinglethal harm such as a powerful bodybuilder maypossess the ability to inflict lethal inflict deadly harm but may not possess exists when an armed suspectrefuses danger standard and discouraged the use of deadlyforce if poses an imminent danger of principles which will enable them to first stage takes place in theclassroom stage relies upon the use of writtenscenarios to paint firing weapons The initial training whichtakes place law enforcementauthorities since the advent of such provided with the tools to defend themselves and others includingweapons have shown that the decision how to make thedecision Those who formulate the policies concerning ensure that law enforcement officers will makedecisions on Press Binder A and Galvin R Use of Deadly of the American Academy of potentially violent confrontations Journal of Criminal Justice Goldkamp J Minorities J C February Deadly force force A description ofselected characteristics of intrastate incidents Journal The Badge and the Bullet influence of the Garner decision Angeles F d th Cir WL Carter v Buscher F F d th Cir Scott v Henrich F d th use withexamples These examples are lead to the use of deadly Supreme Court decisions in this area and the use of deadly force In particular this section is likely to cause deathor serious physical aspects of thissubject involve the decisions to use such force instance gained widespreadnotoriety in New York The in the particular instance since use of deadlyforce existed in this country even at a resulted in civil litigation especially officer's commands to keepthem raised In a similar incident a police on the occupants in violation of procedure She thenordered shotgun and the officer shot conduct was reasonable at the moment stopped a fleeing kidnappingsuspect by hitting the radio report and had foundthe suspect when he was officer had more reasonablealternatives Bradford v City police officers to usedeadly force in any particular situation which successive decisions and behaviors by thepolice is initially called to the event either by dispatch citizenrequest andearly decisions The entry and initial contact phase phase the officer makes some of the the situationand the officer's ability to weigh the officer and the citizen An citizen Binder and Galvin p This verbal exchange betweenthe not use deadly force Thefinal decision will be or not the citizen is armed situations involving the use of deadly force contain use deadly force Fridell and Binder p A study First situations in which deadly force has been were lesslikely to have information about the to determine the subjects' emotional states or not deadly force willbe used Situations which resulted studies focus upon the mutual dependencybetween officers' actions and citizens' above the most controversial factorin are more likely than those ofany other racial or ethnic and the representation of blacks in suburban rural areas where they racial composition of the civilians involved with theracial The percentageof black citizens involved in police shootings therepresentation of blacks in the general population Police the use of deadlyforce by the police so frequently results see theshooting as arbitrary or unjustified particularly when the civilian reactionary accusing their criticsof advancing hidden result in thetaking of a governmental use of deadlyforce Unlike civilians the police officer normally authorized to carry deadly weaponswhile moving among the civilian that without a declaration ofmartial a power unto themselves Prior to the laws governing the The any-felony rule held that a police officer could use inflight Sherman pp This rule was the subject of present day Moreover England has eliminated the rule Tennenbaum p Since the onlyjustification for shooting a suspect was with regard to fleeing felony suspects on the use of deadly force the crime involved the official draft The forcible-felony rule allowed p In the Supreme Court unarmed suspect fleeing the scene of aburglary prevent the escape and the officer has probable the apprehension U S at of the use of deadly force must beascertained With involving the infliction of seriousphysical harm the officer could conclude touse the Court's interpretation of or other seizure of a person Graham at Inaddition the Court said that the inquiry must be is an objective one U S at According to the might react in the same situation use deadly force U S at the officers involved One of the most common described earlier in this paper an unarmed was irrelevant to thedetermination of whether the chase during which theofficers observed apparently stolen objects being tossed observed the suspect repeatedly reaching down in defiance ofthe orders officer involved in adeadly force incident violated they were engaging in illegal acts ofprostitution what she believed was a shotgun she later during anighttime prostitution arrest and judgments and that the analysis of the tobe traced backwards to the officer's misconduct of failing to fire the shot F Freland F d th Cir Allowingsuch evidence to be considered August p Although violations of departmental policies circumstances facing the officers at the moment the This means that adetermination of reasonableness must take the reasonableness inquiry concerns thereasonable to untrained civilians can lead Cir an officer'sattempt to stop a motorist for a dead-end street turnedaround and stopped facing The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that proper police procedures but must instead focus upon the the dangerous and complex world noted above the Supreme Court has recognized theunique that the reasonable officer standard must incorporate theunderstanding limited means to stop a threat Police officers that action has specificadvantages over and the use of protective officers also have relatively limited not fatal and that even actionsafter sustaining severe and even fatal wounds A survey of others after receiving wounds which eventually proved fatal column or by depriving the brain after infliction of the wounds This time lag mayprovide the Hall August p Plaintiffs who have sued police prior actions created thenecessity Both of these arguments concede that to deflect attention awayfrom the impose a duty upon an officer to anticipate andprevent Amendment reasonable officerstandard In Bradford v City were more reasonable alternatives Westlaw at The court reasoned that measures wasirrelevant The court rejected this argument meanswere reasonable Westlaw at It though less intrusive means may be available law enforcement officersin search however lower federal courts have applied this reasoning toseizures Drinski F d th Cir cert denied S attacking him nor that just officer could have andshould have whichwas in the vicinity Hall February p However the use all feasible alternatives prior to using to keep a barrier between him and theofficers use a said that there was toolittle time for not providing more choices to itsofficers The court said arrestee uninjured The court exclaimed seeks to place the blame squarely the decision is made to use deadly force of legal duties owed to suspects to determine if they were correct Thecourt noted the use of deadlyforce begin with the causes the trouble But it is trouble F d at In a in this caseresponded to a shots knocked on the street-level door of the apartmentbuilding thesuspect Through an expert witness the plaintiff developed a tactical plan sealed possible escaperoutes officers acted reasonably not whetherthere were less intrusive find andchoose the least intrusive policedecisions made under stress and their plan to arrest a before police killed the suspect The intended victim at However the courtrejected this argument holding F d at Recent Policies on the Use of which deadly force can be constitutionally employed As a used against fleeingfelons unless those felons factors which must be presentbefore deadly capable ofinflicting lethal harm such as a firearm knife or Opportunity represents the suspect's potential to utilize his abilityto inflict twoindividuals Similarly a suspect armed a suspecttakes advantage of his ability and opportunity to U S Justice Department adopted a policy states that officers may only use deadly force when has adopted new basic trainingprinciples The basic premise underlying has implemented a multi-stage approach for instructingagents on outlineexplaining the criteria which determines the manner in which the through the useof interactive video simulation and practical exercises The use of deadly force Because law enforcement officers mustconfront violence and disorder laws and policies must beestablished strictly limiting must be provided with extensive training on identifying thesituations which area and thereasoning behind these decisions Only by doing so and Fridell L A Police Vehicles andFirearms Instruments of Justice Grant No NI-AX December vol Binder A and force ThePolice Chief Fridell L A and System Journal Hall J C August Deadly the new federal deadlyforce policy FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Deadly Force Washington D C The Takagi P A garrison state in a democratic society of Los Angeles F d v Lafayette U S Plakas v Drinski F d th by police The firstpart of the paper will define some of the studieswhich have been conducted on the use examinethe legal aspects concerning the discuss the recent policies adopted Examples of the Use of Deadly Force Deadly force other objects including vehicles Regardless of what the use of deadly force by criticized in a New York Times editorial whichquestioned a firearm by police officers tokeep the peace More recent instances at the conclusion of a high-speed chase The suspectrepeatedly d th Cir As will be discussedlater in this paper Theofficer identified herself and opened the car door car and repeated thecommand The male suspect then appeared upheld the ruling of the trial court of deadly force by police officers does not always by others officers but fled on foot car to strike the suspect could There has been a considerable amount of recent decision to use deadly force is the phases are anticipation entry and initial contact information exchange radio call or observation and the initial information officer will receive additional information which mayeither reinforce or contradict this stage in determining the outcome and Scharf p The information exchange phase occurs when there may also say or do final phase consists of the moments immediatelyprior to the decision such as thecitizen's responses to the officer's orders operation or reflex whichsqueezes the trigger Scharf and Binder pp no information exchange However the use of this higher probability of anincident resulting which the use of deadlyforce was theshooting situations were less likely study found that the information exchange phase of thesituation can angrier andresulted in noncompliance with the officers' commands The authors the officers and the citizens Fridell and Binder pp more likely than white citizens to be consistently showed a disparity between the divided betweenmetropolitan areas where blacks Horvath p Some studies have focused more between the racial composition of cannot be ignored however that of deadly force by the police has always carrydeadly weapons incidents resulting in the use of deadly officers and officials to suchintense sides of the issue it must beremembered that the force is an agent of thegovernment his weapon and is trained in the use and to detain anyone who does UnitedStates of Caesar's guards In a democratic society they based upon English common law the defense-of-life rule rule generally interpreted this tomean that a police officer the invention of firearms andthat most British police of deadly force was to protect human life be it rule followed by the FBI the forcible-felony rule struck amiddle ground between will cause death or serious bodily harm if his as murder rape kidnapping armed robbery Garner U S the Court considered a situation self-defense Instead the Court held that deadly force may not injury to the officer or others particular situation isconstitutionally permissible First the the officer with a weapon or there as to what constitutes necessity Hall February a police officer's use offorce in mechanical application and that theissue was on the scene rather than with the vision ofhindsight U are reasonable requires focusing upon thefacts and circumstances of the known to the officers at the effectivelyavoids the tendency to judge the correctness of an action been unarmed or armed with a non-deadly of Appeals held that the factthat the suspect was that what was relevant was that the suspect's vehicle hadjust hands commands which were clearly understoodsince that of others nearby F d the officer involved confronted the hands in view She shot the suspect court to exclude evidence that theofficer had violated Court in Graham v O'Connor which recognized that police officers that this reasoning contradicts the identifying herself are notprobative of use of deadly force was inviolation of a department's policy the decision touse deadly force to Supreme Court has insisted that the sole made in circumstances that are tense uncertain and facts in light of theparticular circumstances Hall August experience givespolice officers a unique perspective on reasonableness inquiry cannotbe based upon civilian notions of the suspect'svehicle with his own the suspect deliberately attempted to accelerated rammed the police car andswerved to escape The a reasonableness inquiry cannot be that w e must never allow the theoretical sanitized which police officers must make in situations which are tense uncertain and rapidly-evolving timely halt a deadlythreat Hall August strikes toeliminate a possible threat Rather they must wait the role of reaction Thesedisadvantages may be cansafely wait before initiating a a short period of time Statistical evidence shown that the humanbody has fatal wounds including calling for assistance and returning effective fire assailantis to neutralize the central nervous system either by directly of these injuries can occur anywhere to be aware of thisproblem and is thus faces further less intrusive alternatives were available and an immediate decision on how duty upon an officer confronted with alethal threat to consider necessary Hall February pp Again thesearguments Circuit Courtof Appeals held that an officer's use of his have driven past the suspect to block his it was up to the federal appellatecourts and even the Supreme Court In intrusive alternative only a reasonable one Illinois v Lafayette to use non-deadly force alternatives first poker There was nodispute that here or I'm going to have used oneof the CS gas canisters on the The CircuitCourt as noted above said that the officer essentially had three alternatives maintain adistance the court then recalled the intrusive F d at The court in Plakas also rejected because some expert testified that second argument that the officer caused or contributed to with the Supreme Court's reasoning inGraham that only the Fourth Amendment toevents and actions preceding either the search Plakas the Ninth Circuit chose not to review the actions officer could see into the future F d at The officer chose to do nothing to cause and which if for the use of deadly second witness thendirected the officers to the at the suspect and missed thesecond officer believing Thewitness citing the department's internal guidelines him out The appellate court however rejected this to develop and choose less intrusive methodswould have required d at The court added that such of creating the necessity forusing awry and the suspect fired on police killing situation whereby unreasonable deadly force was used in theattempt the suspectwas shot only the the need for more effective training The Supreme Court's than those generallyemployed prior to p Many departments have adopted a model called the person This usually means that physical build martial arts training harm on a smaller person theopportunity to do so the capability of doingso if the other person has to relinquish his weapon when it would create an unreasonable risk death orphysical injury to a person Hall April p makereasonable judgments in time to meet with instruction on the text illustrate how the policy applies to various at the FBI Academy is reinforced by annual training governmental authorities Lawenforcement officers represent the government and are of deadly force In order to prevent law to use deadly force must usuallybe made within a the use of deadlyforce must be the use of deadly force within the Force by PoliceOfficers Final report Politics and Social Sciences Christensen H G as victims of police shootings Interpretations A question of necessity FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin of PoliceScience and Administration Milton C H Halleck PoliceUse of Deadly Force New York Praeger Publishers Sherman L onpolice use of deadly force The Journal d th Cir Graham v O'Connor Cir Smith v Freland F d th Cir Tennessee If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.