Police Use of Force Essay

Introduction

Plaintiff Forrett complained in the course that police officer applied excessive force while he tried to elude capture, and he was shot. In this trial, Forrett got favor from the court of law and decision of court granted as a matter of justice. The case describes how the policing system is structured in the United States. The first part of the review provides a brief description of the Riverside County police service in the United States. It explains what police structures are formed in the country at different levels of this service, how and in what way their interaction is built. Also, it indicates how the mechanism of subordination between various police agencies and the police itself and other government bodies, which allows us to understand how the police department is included in the system of public administration in the country. The second section describes how the mechanism for evaluating the work of a particular police officer is organized, according to what criteria and according to what rules its work is assessed.

Overview of Police Agency

Under the jurisdiction of the agency falls crime/narcotics unit combating multi-jurisdictional criminal activity and this covers area of the riverside and the police chief at that time was Richardson. Riverside Police Department is based on the group of young officers of the age of 14-21. All officers selected by the agency have an eagerness to learn about law enforcement as a potential career. The Riverside Police Department Explorer posts its vacancies for officer based certain criteria which demand ages of 14-21, with keen interest to learn about law, court procedures, and different techniques of police patrolling along with organizational skills. Candidates must meet agency requirements are allowed to be hired and placed in the field as a patrol officer, they fulfill their duties by responding to police calls and participate in the regular routines of community and interact people.

Riverside Community Breakdown

Riverside County was founded in 1893; this county is one of 58 counties in the American state of California. In 2007, the county had a population of 2,073,571 inhabitants and a population density of 83 people per km. The county seat is Riverside. This county covers the area of 18,914.7 km in total, and average income is $ 65,104.

Description

Forrett v. Richardson is a case based on residential burglary; Forrett was convicted of committing a violent residential burglary, where he shot two victims out of three tied victims. He shot one victim directly in the neck, and the other was just shot after that he escaped from the place of the crime scene with victim’s truck.  Forrett had stolen several firearms and around 250 rounds of ammunition. Police was called by one of the victims and officers while searching for him found the empty truck within an hour left on the roadside; they found neither Forrett nor the stolen weapons. Later he was spotted residential neighborhood, but office immediately lost sight of him and once again. During the operation, he was warned to stop by officers, but he didn’t, and initially two officers opened fired on him but all fires missed the target and fell in another yard where three officers again shot but missed again, and finally one officer fired him, and he was hit at neck and hip. Eventually, Forrett recovered wounds, and no weapons were found from his possession; however, he was pled guilty of burglary and assault of victims who were shot by him during the crime scene. After he was pled Forrett filed a lawsuit against police officers claiming excessive force. Jury trial awards him nominal and punitive damages.

 

Response to Incident

The same as in other countries Riverside County is, on the one hand, has the responsibility of combating crime and on the other hand the provision of law and order. The one who knows the US law enforcement system a little better will say that there is a federal police. Officers of the second type of police are subordinate only to the authorities of those states in whose territory they live and act. This, of course, does not exclude that these policemen can carry out orders, but only in the cases that the federal bureau is investigating. Life is not always comfortable with the police. And the point here is not only that this work is associated with increased risk and responsibility for human lives and destinies.

In the minds of most people, the crisis in the relationship between society and the police in the United States began after patrol shot a Forrett in a residential area during a domestic burglary crime he was committing. Officers tried to detain Forrett on the complaint of a victim of the resident. Forrett began to behave aggressively and even sought to take away the policeman’s gun, after which he was forced to open fire. The officer was acquitted by the jury, after which mass riots began in community and media. The police tried to detain the Forrett, who stolen weapons with a truck of victim. So, the victim as a result of the detention was “innocent lamb.” Moreover, he committed acts that provoked a strong reaction from the police, which, of course, does not justify that involuntary punishment in the form of death, which they suffered for it. However, the investigation and the courts in the United States determined the innocence of the officers.

Of course, the question of issues: how to protect the police from the armed attacks against them. It is equally important to prevent such attacks, in particular, having beaten the desire to make them. For this reason, the Order mentioned above of Police Brotherhood demanded to equate the attack on the police to crimes committed by hate. Thus, attacked the police just because he was a policeman, and then become a “hater,” which automatically hardened his guilt. It is likely that increased the severity of punishment for the “hunt” for law enforcement will reduce the ranks of potential “hunters.”

Before we move on to the police to protect their rights, it is necessary to say a few words on how their activities are vital to the economy of California. Thus, the financial charges resulting from the judicial, penal and administrative sanctions bring annually to the budget of Riverside County Police Department about millions of dollars. This is slightly more than 1% of the total city budget.

The population is under siege, and there are clearly problems with the police. Officer, said, they were no support from agencies even after the jury had acquitted them, but department representatives do help them. They put the entire burden of responsibility is on the police and created an atmosphere of anger and disrespect towards her, but all they had to do was to say briefly:” Jurisprudence expressed its opinion, respect its decision. The police are right, do not resist arrest, never attack law enforcement officers, and do not even try to arrange disorders, Rob and set the fire.

Over the past several years, the propaganda imbued with hatred of the police has created the impression that the police officers are racists. It is not true. The main problem is the level of crime among the population of Riverside County.

Conclusion

Summing up the results of law enforcement during the first few weeks after the incident online resource News concluded that “the police as a whole ceased to enforce the law. However, the police commissioner (police chief), Richardson said that would not use the term “deceleration” about the work of his subordinates and threateningly added that if it determines if the police were silently sabotaging the fulfillment of their professional duties, he ” very strongly undertake “for correcting the situation.

The Commissioner, however, did not specify exactly how he was going to do it. Has no plans to arrange everything, he came under suspicion of the police medical examination to identify – simulates patrol disease or unfortunate truth? And it doesn’t matter. The police found that he had “betrayed” the authority, which serves as much to society. It happened, apparently because the authorities considered by many law enforcement agencies, insufficient consistently profess the principle of equality of all before the law, regardless of color and race. Why did the police begin to protest against this right now? If you do not juggle psychological and legal terms, the answer is you can fit in a single word: boiling. But far more important to the other; strike de facto police actions were a reflection of the maturity of civil society in the United States. Paper recall that one of the main features of such a society – it is when its members, without any imposition from “above” or “brainwashing” by the media and rallies screamers, share common principles and values ​​and are willing to collectively in concert to defend them in opposition to the government. Moreover, such a civil maturity manifests even those sections of society that are closely associated with the state, and whose well-being depends on the nature of the relationship with her. If someone has the impression that the United States courts in any situation to protect the honor of the uniform of his colleagues from the police, it is not so. A few days ago in the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, District Attorney Kari Brandenburg he accused in the murder of two police officers who killed the homeless and the mentally ill to the same person. Moreover, according to Brandenburg, this case is so egregious that it considered it possible to present the accusation bypassing the grand jury. This is – a departure from the traditional practice of law in the United States, according to which the grand jury decides whether a pre-nomination validity of such accusations against persons suspected of committing criminal offenses.

References

Brandl, S. G., Stroshine, M. S., & Frank, J. (2001). Who are the complaint-prone officers? An examination of the relationship between police officers’ attributes, arrest activity, assignment, and citizens’ complaints about excessive force. Journal of Criminal Justice, 29(6), 521–529. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2352(01)00114-3

Micucci, A. J., & Gomme, I. M. (2005). American police and subcultural support for the use of excessive force. Journal of Criminal Justice. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2005.06.002

Neely, P., & S., C. C. (2012). The impact of job-related stressors on incidents of excessive force by police officers. American Journal of Health Sciences, 3(1), 63–74.

Phillips, S. W. (2010). Police officers’ opinions of the use of unnecessary force by other civil servants. Police Practice and Research, 11(3), 197–210. https://doi.org/10.1080/15614260902830054

Rojek, J., Alpert, G. P., & Smith, H. P. (2012). Examining Officer and Citizen Accounts of Police Use-of-Force Incidents. Crime & Delinquency, 58(2), 301–327. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128710386206

U.S. Court. Brian Forrett, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Linford Richardson, Terry Frizell; Ronald O. Loveridge; Jack Clarke; Defendants-appellees, 112 F.3d 416 (9th Cir. 1997) :: Justia (1997). Retrieved from http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/112/416/585050/