Introduction
Plaintiff Forrett complained in the case that a police officer used excessive force while he was trying to elude capture and was shot. In this trial, Forrett received a favorable decision from the court, and the court’s decision was 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 and how their interactions are organized. It also indicates the mechanism of subordination among various police agencies, the police themselves, and other government bodies, which allows us to understand how the police department is included in the country’s public administration system. The second section describes how the mechanism for evaluating the work of a particular police officer is organized and according to what criteria and rules the officer’s work is assessed (Micucci & Gomme, 2005; Rojek et al., 2012).
Overview of Police Agency
The agency has jurisdiction over a crime/narcotics unit that combats multi-jurisdictional criminal activity and covers the Riverside area. The police chief at that time was Richardson. The Riverside Police Department includes a program for young people aged 14–21. All participants selected by the agency are eager to learn about law enforcement as a potential career. The Riverside Police Department Explorer program posts its vacancies based on certain criteria, which require applicants aged 14–21 to have a keen interest in learning about law, court procedures, different techniques of police patrolling, and organizational skills. Candidates must meet agency requirements before they are allowed to be hired and placed in the field as patrol officers. They fulfill their duties by responding to police calls, participating in the regular routines of the community, and interacting with people (Brandl et al., 2001).
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 an area of 18,914.7 km, and the 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 in which he shot two of three victims who had been tied up. He shot one victim directly in the neck and then shot another victim. After that, he escaped from the crime scene in a victim’s truck. Forrett had stolen several firearms and around 250 rounds of ammunition. Police were called by one of the victims, and officers searching for him found the empty truck within an hour, abandoned on the roadside; they found neither Forrett nor the stolen weapons. Later, he was spotted in a residential neighborhood, but the officer immediately lost sight of him again. During the operation, officers warned him to stop, but he did not. Two officers opened fire on him, but all their shots missed the target. He fled into another yard, where three officers again fired and missed. Finally, one officer fired at him, and he was hit in the neck and hip. Eventually, Forrett recovered from his wounds, and no weapons were found in his possession. However, he pleaded guilty to burglary and assault involving the victims he had shot during the crime. After entering his plea, Forrett filed a lawsuit against police officers claiming excessive force. The jury awarded him nominal and punitive damages (Neely & S., 2012; U.S. Court. Brian Forrett, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Linford Richardson, 1997).
Response to Incident
As in other jurisdictions, Riverside County has responsibility both for combating crime and for maintaining law and order. Anyone familiar with the U.S. law-enforcement system will know that there are federal law-enforcement agencies as well as state and local police agencies. Officers of the latter agencies are generally subordinate to the authorities of the states or localities in whose territory they serve. This does not exclude cooperation with federal agencies in cases that federal authorities investigate. Life is not always easy for police officers. The point is not only that this work is associated with increased risk but also that it carries responsibility for human lives and destinies.
In the minds of many people, a crisis in the relationship between society and the police can arise after incidents in which patrol officers shoot suspects. In this case, officers tried to detain Forrett after receiving a complaint from a victim of the residential burglary. Forrett fled from police after officers attempted to detain him. The police tried to detain Forrett, who had stolen weapons and a victim’s truck. As a result of the detention effort, however, the suspect later became the plaintiff in an excessive-force lawsuit. Moreover, he had committed acts that provoked a strong reaction from the police, which, of course, does not automatically justify any excessive force used against him. The investigation and courts in the United States therefore had to determine the legality of the officers’ actions.
One important question is how to protect police officers from armed attacks against them. It is equally important to prevent such attacks, particularly by discouraging people from committing them. For this reason, some police organizations have demanded that attacks on police officers be treated as particularly serious offenses. Thus, a person who attacks an officer simply because the victim is a police officer may face enhanced legal consequences. It is possible that increasing the severity of punishment for attacks on law-enforcement officers could reduce the number of potential attackers.
Before moving on to the protection of police officers’ rights, it is necessary to say a few words about how their activities affect the economy of California. Financial charges resulting from judicial, penal, and administrative sanctions bring revenue to the budget of the Riverside County Police Department and related local institutions. This represents only a small portion of the total public budget.
The population may feel under pressure when there are serious problems in relations with the police. Officers have said that they sometimes receive little support from agencies even after juries acquit them, although department representatives may support them. Critics may put the entire burden of responsibility on police officers and create an atmosphere of anger and disrespect toward them, while police supporters may argue that the public should respect lawful decisions. A basic principle is that people should not resist lawful arrest, attack law-enforcement officers, commit disorder, rob property, or set fires.
Over the past several years, rhetoric imbued with hatred of the police has sometimes created the impression that all police officers are racists. Such a generalization is not justified. At the same time, crime levels and police-community relations remain important problems in Riverside County and elsewhere.
Conclusion
Summing up the results of law enforcement during the first few weeks after a controversial incident, an online news resource concluded that “the police as a whole ceased to enforce the law.” However, Police Commissioner Richardson said that he would not use the term “deceleration” to describe the work of his subordinates and added that, if he determined that police were silently sabotaging the fulfillment of their professional duties, he would act strongly to correct the situation.
The commissioner, however, did not specify exactly how he would do so. Questions can arise about how an agency should investigate whether officers are genuinely unable to work or are deliberately slowing their performance. The police may feel that authorities have “betrayed” them even though those authorities also serve society. This can happen when officers believe that law-enforcement agencies are being criticized for failing to apply the principle of equality before the law regardless of color and race. Why do police begin to protest against such criticism? Without relying on psychological or legal jargon, one possible answer is that frustrations can accumulate over time. More importantly, de facto police protests or work slowdowns can reflect broader tensions within civil society in the United States. One of the main features of such a society is that its members, without imposition from “above” or “brainwashing” by the media or political activists, may share common principles and values and be willing collectively to defend them in opposition to the government. Such civil participation can manifest even among sections of society closely associated with the state and whose well-being depends on the nature of their relationship with it. If someone has the impression that United States courts in every situation protect police officers simply because they wear the uniform, that is not necessarily so. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, for example, a district attorney brought accusations against two police officers who killed a homeless and mentally ill person. According to the prosecutor, the case was serious enough to justify criminal charges. Such cases show that police officers can themselves face legal scrutiny when accused of criminal offenses (Phillips, 2010).
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 https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/112/416/585050/
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