Running head: police use of force 1

Police Use of Force

Alberto Valdez

University of Texas at El Paso

police use of force 2

Abstract

Research is definitely a daunting task. Especially when faced with a contemporary, controversial

topic like police use of force. However through research there were four major points that should

be reported on. What has caused more awareness towards toward police use of force, why police

officers react in certain ways, how use of force effects communities and the revision of use of

force policies are the major basis for the following research paper.

Keywords: police use of force,

police use of force 3

Police Use of Force

Throughout history police officers have been referred to as pigs and unjust individuals who dont

understand the Struggle, the Hustle, or what its like to grow up on the streets. Partially

due to hip hop music over the years but more so now due to social media and news media

coverage of recent accusations of police brutality. This research paper will explore the causes of

social unrest, the influences of unjust use of force, the effects of use of force on communities,

and whether use of force policies should be revised and be more open to adaptations.

Causes of Social Unrest against Police

There is no doubt that over the past year there has been an enormous amount of social

unrest following the death of suspects at the hands of police. Many of which that were reported

on national television news stations such as CNN were predominately black. Many of these

police related deaths were portrayed as being racist and selective. What the recent unrest and

accusations of police brutality has rekindled is the often forgotten case of Rodney King and the

Los Angeles 1992 riots. An article posted on journalistresource.org proves Allegations of the

use of excessive force by U.S. police departments continue to generate headlines more than two

decades after the 1992 Los Angeles riots brought the issue to mass public attention and spurred

some law enforcement reforms (journalistresource.org, 2017). This is evident by the recent

events of possible police brutality to individuals like Freddie Gray and Eric Garner, to name a

couple, that have flooded mainstream media and have caused both riots and cries for reform.

Due to misinformation and emphasis on one sided viewpoints presented by contemporary

media, Americans do in fact believe crime rates are at an all-time high and according to the

Huffington Post Most Americans, 61 percent, falsely believe that the level of crime in the

United States has increased over the past decade (Reilly & Edwards-Levy, 2016) and is
police use of force 4

depicted in Figure 2 which shows what people believe how crime is in their neighborhood versus

what it actually is. When in reality crime is at an all-time low. As presented by the Federal

Bureau of Investigation in Figure 1, violent crime rates are actually the lowest they have been in

the past 20 years. Figure 1 presents the murder rate as of September 2015, crime statistics for

2016 will not be released until later this year. Whose to credit for the misinformation being

presented? In an interview of a retired detective from the El Paso Police Department conducted

by Alberto Valdez, Jose Luis Montes states the medias presentation of events to the general

public is often flawed due to the lack facts. It is difficult for news stations to present information

as facts when there is currently an investigation going on. (A. Valdez, personal communication,

March 23, 2017) So a conclusion can be logically drawn that news stations often present major

stories, like that of Freddie Gray, as live TV and currently happening. As the story receives more

viewers the media presents more information as it is received. Therefore, the media will present

what is currently being perceived as fact with neglect to an ongoing investigation that will

present actual fact. Because of the misinformation that is being presented many people draw

their own conclusions and therefore believe that crime rates are at an all-time high.

Unrest is not only caused by what is presented to viewers on TV by reporters, but what is

perceived by ones own eyes. Many online videos show only the conclusion of arrests and the

result of a crime not the incidents leading up to the conclusion. For example, in the case of

Philando Castile, the wife of the victim began a Facebook live video showing her husband

bleeding out on camera while their child was in the backseat and claimed he was shot by a police

officer, who was also shown in the video, for no reason. Now at first site, most human beings

will believe that the officer did shoot Castile for no reason. This is something that as humans we

usually have no control of due to automatic cognition and the primed schemas that have been
police use of force 5

presented to us through other events in our life like the idea that at first site one person has a gun

and the other does not, therefore, the individual without the gun is at an automatic disadvantage.

However, later it was revealed that Castile did have his concealed carry license, a license that

allows individuals to legally carry a firearm on their person while it is concealed, and his wife

made that known to the officer, which suggest that Castile was armed. So as a police officer who

knows that a suspect very well could be armed must protect himself. However, only the

conclusion of the interaction was presented and therefore social unrest began to occur. Now

having a hidden handgun does not justify death which is the price that Castile paid. So therefore

there is reason for unrest.

Influence for Unjust Use of Force

As evident by recent proceedings, not all officers are just in the use of force that is used.

Now what causes police to react in certain ways? In the interview with Jose Luis Montes when

asked what constitutes a justifiable use of force on a suspect he responded with when dealing

with aggressive suspects as a police officer, we are instructed and allowed to use one step above

what is being dealt. (A. Valdez, personal communication, March 23, 2017) In other words

police are allowed to essentially cheat when apprehending a suspect. For example, if an officer

were to be involved in a hand to hand combat situation with a suspect the officer is allowed and

justified by means to use his baton to win the fight. Now with that being said it must be known

that most if not all suspect interactions are documented by police officers in the case that the

suspect were to claim they were unfairly treated.

However, police officers dont always act according to the book. In some cases like the

one documented by Mo Barnes of the site rollingout.com Rosario later challenges the teen to

throw hands and shockingly the cop engages in a physical altercation with the ten, beating him
police use of force 6

while he is on the ground. (Barnes, 2017) in reference to the case of Samuel Rosario. Rosario in

this case was met with a teen who reportedly insulted the officer and his partner as they

responded to a domestic dispute. In this situation Rosario acted on emotion and resorted to

unnecessary violence in order to coop with the situation he faced. The teen did not initiate the

attack so therefore, Officer Rosarios response and use of force was unjustified. Officer Rosario

responded with emotion rather than professionalism. Rosario has since been placed on unpaid

administrative leave and is currently being prosecuted under the court of law.

The above contains how use of force situations are documented and an instance where

and individual officers use of force is obviously unjustified and unfair. For the purpose of this

paper, in order to understand why certain people act a certain way one must understand the

psychology behind it. According to the authors of Social Psychology 9th edition correspondence

bias is basically attributing a bias to an individual before the individual causes a bias to occur.

(Aronson, E.,Wilson, T. D., Akert, R. M., & Sommers, S. R. (2016). Social Psychology (9th Ed.).

New York: Pearson.) For example, when an individual has a reputation for cheating on a test, a

teacher will watch them more closely. The student has not cheated but because of the reputation

they have the teacher knows to expect a certain behavior from them. Ultimately because of this

bias the second the cheater student does anything that is perceived at cheating, the teacher will

ultimately judge and punish the student. Even though student could have not been cheating. How

does this translate to contemporary society? Well the same goes for police bias. Unfortunately we

live in a world where racial profiling is real and that holds true to some police officers as well. It

is difficult to say all police officers suffer from this bias but most humans do. Now being aware

of it is something different. It has been said that it is best to avoid buying a red car because they

stand out more to police. Well it is scary to contemplate but the same bias occurs when a police
police use of force 7

officer sees, for example, a colored individual driving. Colored can mean of course any minority

but for the purpose of this paper this example will focus on black individuals. Because of prior

schemas that a police officer may have due to news portrayals and coverages of riots and protest

movements such as black lives matter, the officers automatic cognition maybe pre-primed to

believe that the black individual he pulled over is in fact aggressive like the individuals in the

riots on the news or the individual, because of the color of their skin, is automatically against

police officers. Unjustly so the officer may have a predetermined idea of what the individual is

like.

Ultimately unjust use of force is based upon a police officers inability to maintain

composure or their preconceived racist ideas. Unjust use of force is obviously unacceptable and

should be pursued to the fullest extent of the law.

Effects of Use of Force on Suspects in Communities

As evident by recent riots and formation groups like that of the black lives matter

movement, the hand of use of force police stretches far beyond just the individuals involved.

Communities play a major role in the backlash that many officers face after use of force issues.

Communities also play a huge role in the defense of officers as well. Most communities on a

miniature scale are like America, the grand scale. As the FBI presents in an article titled Police

Investigations of the Use of Deadly Force Can Influence Perceptions and Outcomes Some

members of the public seem to automatically assume that the officer did something wrong before

any investigation into the incident begins. Conversely, others believe that if the police shot

somebody, the individual must not have given the officer any choice. (Bohrer & Chaney, 2010)

As proven by all the recent media coverage, the media only focuses on the negative that the

community pushes on officers. As Dr. Erlanger A. Turner and Jasmine Richardson would agree
police use of force 8

many people have witnessed these traumatic incidents through social media or participation in

marches in their cities. The violence witnessed towards people of color from police continues to

damage perceptions of law enforcement and further stereotype people of color negatively.

(Turner & Richardson, 2016) As a community coops with the loss of a loved one the anger, the

fault needs to place on someone. As Social Psychology 9th edition further presents that basically

when faced with a negative cognition, the human mind usually makes an internal attribution, or

claims that the person is a bad person, prior to making an external attribution, the situation is

what caused the person to be bad. (Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Akert, R. M., & Sommers, S. R.

(2016). Social Psychology (9th Ed.). New York:Pearson.) When in reality in order to maintain an

unbiased approach to situations like, for example getting cut off in traffic, one needs to make an

external attribution followed by an internal attribution or in similar terms, one needs to consider

the situation prior to assuming the decisions were based on a bad person. When translating this to

terms of the use of force situations, many victims of the suspect who had to be subdued by some

means of use of force will automatically blame the officer and claim that his actions were unjust

rather than viewing the situation as a whole. The same goes for the officers in this case. Officers

may often make the judgement of a suspects action such the incident of Freddie Grey. A short

synapses of the Freddie Grey incident is Grey was being pinned down to the floor while being

arrested and Grey frequently moved and according to police resisted arrest. However while Grey

was resisting arrest he was heard making claims that he could not breath. Officers did not lay

off on the reasonably large man and ultimately suffocated him. In this case are police use of force

justified? Well if police were to have made and external attribution and took into consideration

the situation that Grey was already in handcuffs he might still be alive. However, since police
police use of force 9

made the internal attribution that Grey was actually a bad person, they felt it was necessary to

further hold him down.

Ultimately, police officers are present to keep us safe and help protect the community.

Relations between officers and communities are always tarnished by a few bad apples who

decide their badge is greater than the greater good. Peoples mind are very difficult to change.

However, through time, all wounds will heal.

Revising the Use of Force Policy

Police use of force policy, the policy that essentially determines whether someone will be

tackled to the ground and immediately handcuffed or shot with a Taser gun until their body

convulses into submission. The policy also determines when it is just to use a gun and kill

someone or if it was unnecessary. Since the recent events that unfolded and caused the

controversy and unrest throughout our nation, a question still remains. Are police reacting too

violently? Why are police allowed to react too violently? Many members of our nation are

calling for revision. Now a reminder of what the use of force policy consist of. As defined by the

International Association of Chief of Police Officers shall use only the force that is objectively

reasonable to effectively bring an incident under control, while protecting the safety of the

officer and others. Officers shall use force only when no reasonably effective alternative appears

to exist and shall use only the level of force which a reasonably prudent officer would use under

the same or similar circumstances (TIACP, 2017) this means that police are allowed to use just

enough force to control the situation. That is obviously up for the officers perception. When

asked via Interview Jose Luis Montes had this to say When I was at the academy our instructors

gave us a nice rule of thumb for situations that required us to use force. Always use one step

above. What that means is if the suspect initiates physical contact we are justified within means
police use of force 10

to not only fight back but either have a partner interfere or use our baton to protect myself and

others. (A. Valdez, personal communication, March 23, 2017) Now that use of force has been

defined, some major flaws include the fact that it is up to the officers discretion as to how much

force is necessary. So if faced with an individual dilemma an officer can essentially talk their

way out of police brutality by justifying their actions. Altogether, the site joincampaignzero.org

suggest that by Establish enforceable protections against profiling to prevent police from

intervening in civilian lives for no reason other than the "suspicion" of their blackness or other

aspects of their identity (joincampaignzero.org, 2015) there would be less police interactions

that could lead to unjust prosecutions. Now although this offers a reasonable solution the creators

of campaignzero.org fail to realize that police officers role in society is to keep the community

safe and enforce laws that are in place whether or not they agree with them. Also many police

departments are actually adapting new use of force policy changes in an attempt to make the

voices of individuals of the community heard

In Conclusion

Use of force should be a last resort to apprehend a suspect. However because police

officers are not only in responsible for protecting themselves but are responsible for maintaining

peace throughout a community, there is often a fine line between what is justified and what is

considered overboard. Media coverage between claims of police brutality and actual justifiable

means of use of force often blur the lines between what people perceive as unjust and what is in

actuality safe for the police officer. When a police officer is unjust in their use of force tactics it

is usually because of an emotional drive that pushed the officer over the edge. Officers are

humans, too and they have emotions as well. That does not justify their actions to brutalize
police use of force 11

suspects when they feel it is just. Lasting effects on communities following use of force incidents

usually result in division and since it is a police officers duty to keep a community safe based

upon the communities members points of view officer relations could be tarnished leading to

distrust. Lastly in order to maintain a strong community presence with a friendly domineer and

positive attitude, if necessary, since use of force is generalized through a universal policy but it is

still controlled at a community level, if changes must be made to better serve both officers and

community members then a police department must adapt their policies. All in all, police use of

force through rigorous research is not something that should be taken lightly. It is also something

that is a lot more frequent than one might expect. Nonetheless, violence should rarely be a result

of any action whether by a suspect or a police officer. Violence is not the answer.
police use of force 12

References

Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Akert, R. M., & Sommers, S. R. (2016). Social Psychology (9th Ed.).

New York: Pearson.

Barnes, M. (2017, March 28). Police brutality: Cop arrested after video of him taunting and

beating teen. Retrieved March 28, 2017, from http://rollingout.com/2017/03/28/police-

brutality-cop-arrested-video-taunting-beating-teen/

Bohrer, S., M.B.A., & Chaney, R. (2010, September 13). Police Investigations of the Use of

Deadly Force Can Influence Perceptions and Outcomes. Retrieved March 28, 2017, from

https://leb.fbi.gov/2010/january/police-investigations-of-the-use-of-deadly-force-can-

influence-perceptions-and-outcomes

Excessive or reasonable force by police? Research on law enforcement and racial conflict. (2017,

January 04). Retrieved March 21, 2017, from

https://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/police-reasonable-

force-brutality-race-research-review-statistics

Gallup, I. (2015, November 31). Most Americans Believe Crime in U.S. Is Worsening. Retrieved

November 20, 2016, from http://www.gallup.com/poll/150464/Americans-Believe-

Crime-Worsening.aspx

Latest Crime Statistics Released. (2016, September 26). Retrieved November 02, 2016, from

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/latest-crime-statistics-released

Reilly, R. J., & Edwards-Levy, A. (2016, August 09). Most Americans (Incorrectly) Believe

Crime Is Up. That's Great News For Donald Trump. Retrieved March 28, 2017, from

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/crime-rates-donald-

trump_us_57a8aa11e4b056bad2164226
police use of force 13

Solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2017, from

https://www.joincampaignzero.org/solutions/#brokenwindows

The International Association of Chief of Police. (2017, January). National Consensus Policy on

Use of Force. Retrieved March 29, 2017, from

http://www.theiacp.org/Portals/0/documents/pdfs/National_Consensus_Policy_On_Use_

Of_Force.pdf

Turner, E. A., Dr., & Richardson, J. (2016, November 30). Racial Trauma is Real: The Impact of

Police Shootings on African Americans. Retrieved March 27, 2017, from

https://psychologybenefits.org/2016/07/14/racial-trauma-police-shootings-on-african-

americans

Valdez A. (2017 March 23) Personal interview. Montes J.L.

police use of force 14

Figures

Figure 1. Shows the murder rate from 1990 till 2015 projected. Figure 1 shows the murder rate

because according to the F.B.I. it is a great comparison for the projected violent crime rate in

2015.
police use of force 15

Figure 2