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I. BACKGROUND
Rodney King, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Jonathan Ferrell all have things in common. The most important characteristic they share are being victims of excessive force by police officers, and unfortunately Rodney King was the only one to live to tell the story. Rodney King was beaten by batons and tased by four officers in California, and suffered a fractured facial bone, bruises, lacerations, and broken ankle (Christopher, 1991). Sean bell was killed the night of his bachelor party as officers shot over 50 bullets into his car, killing him and wounding two of his friends (Buckley, 2006). Oscar Grant was killed New Year’s Day on the BART in California, in handcuffs after a fight broke out on the train, he was shot in back after Officer Mehserle stated he had mistaken his gun for his taser (Bulwa, 2009). Eric Garner was killed in New York City by the chokehold method conducted by an officer and being restrained by other officers, after stating he couldn’t breathe, officers continued trying to subdue him and after he was unresponsive, they failed to perform proper resuscitation methods to help him for several minutes (BBC, 2014). Michael Brown was shot and killed by officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO, by 12 bullets by an officer his same size and was determined to be unarmed (Tacopino, 2014). The final gentleman was Jonathan Ferrell, a FAMU student was shot ten times by Charlotte, NC police after seeking help after he was in a car accident, in an attempt to flag down police he was subsequently killed (Weiss &Collins, 2013). These six young men and a plethora of others have been beaten, shot, and killed at the hands of police officers, the people sworn in to protect and serve. All of these men were unarmed black men who were not proven to have assaulted or attempted to harm any officer. The excessive use of force by police officers has become a big phenomenon across the United States in recent years following the brutality displayed on our television sets, on our blog sites, and our social media sites i.e. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Even with the wealth of cases provided that are deemed excessive force, the term does not have a solidified definition; however, for the sake of this paper, we will define excessive use force as “acts that threaten or inflict physical harm on suspects” (Terrill, 2003).
While there have been many indicators and reasons deemed appropriate for the use of excessive force, we often times think of an officer’s force in relation to external controls as opposed to an officer’s internal influences. Over the past twenty years, there has been an increase in discussion regarding police excessive force; however, due to more recent events, discussions have reshaped into action and more people are taking to the streets speaking out against the use of excessive force. There is no working, universal definition of excessive force to date (Alpert & Smith, 1994). It is understood that reasonable force is interwoven in the fabric of police culture. Combative, lucid, and dangerous suspects allow police officers the flexibility to use force to subdue a person for public safety (Alpert et al, 1994). There is a blurred line between reasonable use of force and in the court of law (Alpert et al, 1994). It is within this gray area that problems arise because actions are not clearly defined which in turns makes it is difficult for officers, juries, and citizens to understand whether or acts are justifiable.
Another aspect to explore while conceptualizing excessive force is the public’s response and observation of police officers. The perception of excessive force may be more damaging than the actual facts. Media coverage, including social media, gives a stage to events that may have once been considered isolated. Understanding community views of police is imperative while discussing excessive use of force. Because of the pervasive media that often show these police departments negatively, there has been recent research and attempts by police departments, jurisdictions, and cities to change the scope of how excessive force is used and how it can be reduced and eventually eliminated. There are best practices being implemented in cities across America that have been developed by third party independent organizations and the Department of Justice (Atassi, 2015, Edwards, 2012, Jacobs, 2015, Schatmeir, 2013). There are several categories and best practices to be discussed in this paper, including technology, which includes the use of body cameras and the new Smart 911 effort. We will also delve into the police’s interaction with the community, including the training of citizens and officers. Some analysts and politicians suggest other best practices such as defining excessive force, changing the rules of engagement, and controlling crime first.
II. BEST PRACTICES AND ANALYSIS
A. Defining Excessive Force
Best practice #1: Supporting the expansion of police definition of reasonable force.
Here Cordell suggests that police departments must broaden their definition of reasonable use of force as it was last defined in the court case Graham v. Connor in 1989 (Cordell, 2014, Fachner, G. & Carter, S., 2014). The definition is limited to force used at the moment of action, instead of including what led to the event and the escalation of the situation (Cordell, 2014). She determines that it must be expanded to include the circumstances leading up to the event, and that physical force cannot be used when there is only a verbal confrontation, both of which have been implemented in Seattle, Washington and Los Angeles, California (Cordell, 2014).
Strength: Expanding the definition allows more cases to be taken seriously and the evidence from the entire situation will be taken into account which allows for more accountability from officers and treats the victims as just that, victims, instead of suspects.
Weakness: Although it promotes accountability, it may not stop officers from using excessive force, and if there is no evidence of the incident, then the events leading up to the use of force are circumstantial and the officer can still potentially get a pass.
B. Technology
Best practice #2: Body Cameras
Body cameras have been implemented in San Diego and other cities to reduce excessive force by first making the officer aware that they are being watched just as much as the citizen. There have been reductions in complaints and allegations against officers by citizens of the community (Elinson, 2014, Ramirez, 2014, Ziv, 2014).
Strength: It can prevent excessive force altogether because officers know they will have to turn over their tapes and report the situation accurately. It has reduced the number of complaints and allegations against the police.
Weakness: Not all officers will turn on their body cameras or complete the required reports, and some cameras may malfunction (Cronin, 2015). Because of this, officers can still continue to abuse their power and get away with it, especially if they claim the lapel camera is malfunctioning.
Best practice #3: Smart 911
Free service to enhance communication and responses for the community (Smart911, 2015). It sends the EMS to a location with information about the potential people involved in an emergency, such as an address, a condition, even safety features to get into a home, such as an alarm code (Smart911, 2015).
Strength: Allows police officers to go into a situation with knowledge of a potential situation, for instance if there is someone mentally ill or combative. The officers can also be aware of others in the place of deployment that would typically trigger an impulsive or paranoid behavior on behalf of the officer.
Weakness: Although it provides the basic information, it may not provide more pertinent information to the officer being dispatched. Also, not everyone is on board with the idea of providing private information to emergency communicators and there is a chance that the situation may have changed, but not updated in the Smart 911 system.
C. Human Resources
Best practice #4: Thoroughly Screened New Police Officers
If officers are screened properly and thoroughly, this is believed to cut down on police brutality. Research has shown that veterans have caused the most excessive force charges. If this info was used to screen these officers as they come in to the force in theory it could reduce the casualties (Gotz, 2014).
Strength: No or fewer officers who are prone to use excessive force will be hired, reducing the rate of excessive force.
Weakness: The negative side of this is that for one it adds a hefty cost to do such screenings. Not to mention that this will slow down the rate of officers who are brought into the police force. It could also cause legal problems if certain officers are screened more thoroughly than others; i.e. discrimination
Best Practice #5: Raising Salaries
Raising salaries will bring in better officers. If officers are paid more they will be less likely to commit the crime of excessive force because they would not want to risk losing their jobs. Higher salaries will also bring in more qualified officers who before would not join the force due to such a high risk at low costs (Maple, 1999).
Strength: Less likely to commit crimes because of the pay and power associated with the salary.
Weakness: Raising officers’ salaries means higher taxes for citizens since they are who pay these salaries, and it is unlikely that this would be approved.
Best Practice #6: Physical and Mental Health Evaluations
Checking the physical and mental health of police officers is done upon entry, but may not be done enough while they are on the force. Regular interval checks in these areas will help monitor the condition of an officer’s mental health and likely prevent incidents of excessive force from happening (Lersh, 2001, McElvain, 2008, President’s Task Force, Schrivner, 1994).
Strength: Allows the health of an officer to be taken into account and can help them overcome stressors in their everyday lives.
Weakness: As with other solutions this would be a hefty cause to administer and time consuming because these checks should be thorough and not merely a check-up.
Best Practice #7: Insurance and Liability
Police officers should have to purchase their own liability insurance. This will bring accountability because the officers with have to be accountable to themselves and the policies in which they are funding. An example of this can be seen in the way that officers drive their personal cars and how they drive work vehicles. There is a lot more caution and protection used when they are liable. (Otu, 2006).
Strength: Police officers are accountable and are less likely to commit acts of excessive force as they will be fined.
Weakness: If there are not enough officers to buy into the insurance there is a possibility that the department will have to do away with the idea as they cannot afford to fire everyone who does not participate.
Best practice #8: Fear of Disciplinary Action
Fear of disciplinary action would slow down excessive force because officers would not want to forgo the punishment that would follow wrong actions. Officers may feel as if doing their job will be punished and may cause them to avoid situations where their help is truly needed (Alpert, 1994).
Strength: The fear of disciplinary action will prevent excessive force as the officer’s idea of being invincible is cut short and they know that they will be treated as a citizen, not a hero in every situation.
Weakness: Part of the problem is officers have seen and research has shown that officers are rarely punished for the crime so there is no fear of consequences.
Best practice #9: Organizational Behavior
Role of organizational behavior is very important. The culture in which the officer comes from will greatly influence how the officer acts while on the job. As seen in Ferguson, racial bias was heavily excepted so there were a lot of injustices done to blacks. The problem is some organizational behavior is better than other and this could hurt some police departments.
Strength: The importance of changing the culture of a police department will help eliminate the macho man feel of an officer and it takes the idea of minorities being less than out of the minds of the officers (Alpert, 1994).
Weakness: There is no certain way to determine if a culture is changed and to change and diversify a culture takes a period of time that excessive force victims do not have.
Best Practice # 10: Police Housing Programs
Police housing programs help in a number of ways. For one some of the budgeting comes non-profit organizations, which helps in the budget area. It gives officers low or no housing costs and it makes people in the neighborhood where these cops live feel safer. The just is if there is a police presence in neighborhoods criminals would not commit as much crime as in neighborhoods where police do not live. Which will keep police offers at bay from being as antsy as they would be in high crime neighborhoods and in turn will drastically bring down excessive force use in communities (Cook, 2011).
Strengths: Allows an officer to become one with his community
Weakness: The officer may not feel safe if they have patrolled in that neighborhood and now citizens of the community are threatening the officer and his or her’s family.
Best practice #11: Disarmament
Take deadly weapons out of the hands of police officers. This has worked in other countries successfully. In the U.K. for instance there was only one fatality cause by police officers in a given year compared to over 400 in the same year. The practice used in the U.K. has helped the public to keep the trust that it has had in law enforcement for years, something that is not seen in the U.S.
Strength: Excessive force reduction is inevitable if the weapons are taken from police officers.
Weakness: If police officers have no weapons, how can they protect citizens that actually need to be protected?
D. Independent Monitoring
Best Practice # 12: Independent monitors, internal reviews, and civilian review boards
In the New Jersey State Police Department the use of independent monitors has turned made the department do a 180 degree turn in the quality of their work. Independent monitors expose bad practices and recommend good practices (Use of Force Policy, 2015). They also have the ability to see who the good officers are and weed the bad officers out. Police departments are accountable to these monitors and in turn it causes the departments to do a better job with excessive force (Overview, 2015).
Strength: A strength of external reviews is the fact that other people are involved in how cases are handled so there is less distrust in the government. It fortifies trust between citizens because no stone will be left unturned. It officers will not be able to “get away” with murdering victims as easily.
Weakness: The problem with this is if they are done internally there could be bias introduced in the findings. Civilian review boards would help reduce excessive force because the officers will be judged by the very people who they commit crimes against, so there would be no favoritism (Ochs, 2008). This could introduce bias due to police hate, because the relationship of police and civilians in this country is not the best. Not to mention that funding of these review boards may not be easy to come by. The notion of here is that if the consent decree is changed by the Department of Justice that it will make room for the use of solutions. The problem is that consent decrees aren’t hindering solutions, but changing them would not be a bad idea.
E. Training
Best practice #13: Sensitivity and diversity required for all officers
It is not required by law that all officers receive sensitivity or diversity training. The lack of such training may result in cultural dissonance. Part of the research found in a book called Policing Ethnic Minority Communities found that it is not uncommon for officers to police a community different from the one they grew up or lived in, so police officers come in with preconceived notations about groups of people and react based off their prejudice (Bowling and Phillips, 2003). It is believed that officers who receive diversity training are less likely to use excessive force (Bowling and Phillips, 2003). Educating officers by having them involved in training will likely limit stereotypes associated with race, gender and class when they interact with citizens on duty.
Strength: Cultural training provides officers an inside look on how other groups of people may operate. It also allows officers to ask questions and share experiences within a safe place with the opportunity to learn. Cultural training is likely to help him/her understand the community they service better in turn reducing the need to use excessive use of force.
Weakness: One key weakness to cultural training in the “buy-in” for it. Police departments will have to use part of their budget, unless funded through state or federal grants, to allow officers to participate in such training. Also, some agencies may feel like training is irrelevant to carryout the law.
Best Practice 14: Diversified training in use of weapons.
Another area of improvement includes training using weapons. Typically, there is supposed to be a gradual use of force officers are to use when apprehending potential suspects. Unfortunately, events throughout history tell us that this does not always happen. Officers can incorrectly use taser guns or fire their weapon prematurely. There may be others ways to restrain a suspect without the use of a deadly weapon as mentioned in Jaime Hellman’s article, A Better Way For Officers to Avoid Lethal Force (2015). In Hellman’s article, he noted that Richmond California was able to drastically cut their use of excessive force by training officers more consistently for a longer period of time (Hellman, 2015). Each officer would be trained using real life scenarios through role play that allows them to experience using a variety of weapons and non weapons giving each officer a chance to actively engage in how he makes a decision before interacting with a potential suspect (Hellman, 2015).
Strengths: Training all encompassing. It allows officers to get real life scenarios as practice before being on the streets of their community. Allows officers to critically think about their decisions as well as gives superiors a chance to provide constructive feedback on how officers can move forward.
Weakness: One weakness would be implementation. The administrative feasibility and cost alone could deter departments from using the program exemplified in Richmond, California. Also, there is no guarantee that what worked for one city will happen in another.
Best Practice 15: Educating citizens on their constitutional rights.
There are many ways to effectively train or educate citizens. One example is found in New Jersey. The ACLU of New Jersey created a printable flyer titled “What to do if you are stopped by police..(2015).” This flyer, although basic, highlights key citizen rights that many may be unaware of (ACLU of New Jersey, 2015). It also addresses behavior by warning citizens not to curse or yell at officers, reminding them that “anything said can and will be used against you in the court of law (ACLU of New Jersey, 2015).” This is a low cost way of educating thousands of people of their basic rights within the United States.
Strength: There are many strengths to using flyers or post cards as a way to educate citizens. For instance, the information is easily accessible. I can also be distributed with little to no overhead cost.
Weakness: It is important to note this flyer hits a lot of key points, it does lack the depth and conversation other practices offer when it comes to community training.
Best Practice 16: Community training programs offered by the city.
Community training course give insights to police policies and procedures for specific cities. These are become more popular in the wakes of Rodney King, and even more pressing Michael Brow. An informed and involved community is thought to be a highly functioning community since all stakeholders are actively participating in the betterment of their city. Fairfax, Virginia is a great example of a city that offers a consistent community training course for its residents (Fairfax Virginia, 2015). According to the website each class meets for a total of 10 weeks, and it is expected that the participants attend eight out of the ten courses to graduate (Fairfax Virginia, 2015) Some of the topics discussed are police training, use of force, neighborhood patrol and Department of Public Safety Communications. Citizens in Fairfax have an opportunity to meet the different police departments while in the course; this also gives the police department a chance to meet community members (Fairfax Virginia, 2015). For individuals or families moving into a new city, this provides a great way for them to network and solidify community relationships.
Strength: There are many strengths to community training. One mainly being the positive impact that it has on its area. Increase self-esteem in citizens while building trust with law abiding agencies offers a win-win solution when overcoming tragic events like Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. Increasing community visibility also holds officers accountable for their actions while on duty which may lessen the likelihood of excessive use of force.
Weakness: It would be great to see community trainings for citizens to participate with in each city across the United States; however, due to budgetary and political restraints this ideal may not be realistic. Also, the time to develop a successful program as well as get all stakeholders (police officers, government agencies, citizen participation) involved can prove to be a daunting task. Getting buy in from these stakeholders in essential in success of the program.
Best Practices Chart
|Best Practice/ Solution | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|Thorough Screenings |If officers are screened properly and |Hefty cost to implement. Slows down the |
| |thoroughly this is believed to cut down on |rate of officers who are brought onto the |
| |police brutality. |police force. |
|Higher Salaries |Officers will be more committed to job. |Raising officers’ salaries means higher |
| | |taxes for citizens. |
|Routine Mental Health Screenings |Helps monitor the condition of an officer’s|Hefty cause to administer and time |
| |mental health. |consuming because these checks should be |
| | |thorough. |
|Police Owned Liability Insurance |Makes officers accountable for their |Takes away from officer’s pay. |
| |actions. | |
|Police Housing Programs |Stops crime by police presence in |Police may not show presence and take |
| |neighborhoods. |advantage of free housing. |
|Fear of Disciplinary Action |Officers would not want to forgo the |Officers may fear doing their job when |
| |punishment that would follow wrong actions.|actually needed. |
|Role of Organizational Behavior |Good culture good officer behavior. |Bad culture bad officer behavior. |
|Higher Education |Higher education has shown in research to |Some officers are comfortable with their |
| |be a deterrent of excessive force. |jobs they will not seek higher education. |
|Hiring More Women Officers |Women are less likely to commit the crime. |Women are deterred from applying due to |
| | |disparate impact that could occur from male|
| | |counterparts |
|Take deadly weapons out of the hands of |They can’t kill if they don’t have the |Second Amendment won’t allow this. |
|police officers |weapons. | |
|Independent monitors |Makes police agencies accountable. |Cost |
|Internal reviews |Makes police agencies accountable. |Potential bias. |
|Civilian review boards |No favorable bias. |May introduce unfavorable bias. |
|Supporting the expansion of police |Accountability. |Doesn’t stop officer from using excessive |
|definition of reasonable force. | |force. |
|Body Cameras |Reduces complaints, accountability. |Not turning on body camera, and |
| | |malfunctions. |
|Smart 911 |Awareness for officer. |Info may not be updated. |
|Training for Police |Effectiveness |Variation and cost. |
|Training for Community |Positive involvement, effective. |Cost and feasibility. |
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