Police Use of Force -- Essay

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One police officer for example referred to the chaos as a "holocaust," far removed from the real world (Shankman et al., 2010).

Alpert and Smith (2001, p. 483) note that a survey of the public showed a general perception that the police is frequently excessively violent in their contact with the public. According to the authors, the targets of reported abuse are generally lower class males, with a common factor being a display of disrespect by these citizens towards the police in question.

It is possible that this perception of "disrespect" could have been a factor in the use of excessive force in New Orleans. The police most likely place excessive emphasis on the role of preventing crime, whereas the desperation of the victims involved drove them to seek out food and water from unattended shops and homes. Hence, the two factors escalated each other, leading to excessive police force, among whom there was also a lack of focus upon the protection and service function.

Furthermore, a problem related to police violence is the perception of "reasonableness" when applying force to the crime prevention function. In New Orleans, the police, acting as a collective, could be said to have perceived the public's search for food and water as crime. Citizens who were desperate to provide for their families in turn perceived that they had no choice: no services or products were readily available, and therefore they had to resort to what was labeled as looting.

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This led to a clash between the victimized public and the police whose function should have been to protect them.

While whatever orders were given are somewhat vague, the use of excessive violence has been consistently reported. Significantly, Purcell (2010) notes that these cases involved both individual police officers and groups. A group of four police officers were for example found to be involved in a shooting that left two dead and four wounded, while another officer was found guilty of no more than involuntary manslaughter for shooting an unarmed man who was lying face down on a platform. This then raises questions regarding the ability of either individuals or groups to use discretion when they implement violence. Are police officers trained to follow orders so blindly that they completely lose their sense of discretion as soon as they hear the voice of what they believe to be their superiors?

These are difficult questions to answer, particularly as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina retreat into the past. However, they are also vital in order to understand the powers of discretion and collective action within the police force. Research questions like these could be used to improve the force to become the public protectors they are meant to be......

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