The circumstances mentioned above encompasses self defense, serious offenses against persons and apprehension to name a few, for the sake of this paper we are going to look at when law enforcement uses self-defense and its legality. However knowing the verbatim standard for self defense is important before discussing the cases that will appear later. The federal government defines it as the following under 10 CRF 1047.7 Section A "When deadly force reasonably appears to be necessary to protect a protective force officer who reasonably believes himself or herself to be in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm."
If you believe a crime is about to be committed, you cannot make a citizen’s arrest; only if there has or is a crime being committed. Only the police have the power to arrest if they believe a crime is about to be committed. 2. You can only make a citizen’s arrest for an arrest able offence; the police can make any arrest. Most of UK citizens today don't make an arrest, however they should if there is violence involved, but the safest thing to do is to call for the police.
Include any important potential economic, social, or political pressures, and exclude inconsequential facts. | Law enforcement officials have the responsibility to determine if the offense is grave enough that it requires apprehension of the offender based on probable cause. In this case however, the individual was driving under the influence so he is risking the lives of those around him and the he is also putting his own life in danger. He is also breaking the law, morally and ethically, the individual should immediately go to jail but there must be a trial first. The officers must have enough probable cause or sufficient evidence to validate the arrest of the offender.
Acts of armed robbery that end in violence or homicide tend to render the public outraged and give their voice a stronger demand for justice to be done. If we choose to take the stance that our criminal justice system is mean to only keep society safe and that justice is carried out then we need to recognize that the laws we have in place currently are set in place to do so. In theory we could see how enforcing a harsher sentence to those who choose to commit violent acts or armed robbery would work as a deterrent to prevent criminals from committing the act as often as they do
Police Brutality Police officers are tasked to protect and serve, that is there job. Everyday police officers risk their lives to protect ours. In some cases officers must use force to contain an unruly suspect and/or protect their own or another life. Police officers are given certain guidelines they must follow when deciding if force is necessary. Officers must use the minimum amount of force necessary when trying to contain a suspect, but that is not always the case.
"The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns, decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise they will win and the decent people will lose." (James Earl Jones, Online). Banning all or some weapons is not the solution to decreasing the increased gun related violence in the United States.
The very nature of police of criminal investigation in and of itself fosters and causes police discretion. The biggest advantages of police discretion is the interpretation of the law. Running Header: Police Discretion 3 Criminal law “has attempted to establish those forms of conduct which its members desire to be declared criminal” (Goldstein 1977). These laws are so many time written in very broad terms that vaguely define crimes which leaves the individual officer to decide if the criminal activity they are investigating meets the elements of the criminal code and to which extent. The written law simply does not cover all aspects of behavior that police officers will encounter (Wortley, 2003).
Also the police response to criticism and their willingness to learn and change will be discussed. Necessary Force ACPO (2011) mission of statement and values states, “only that force which is necessary to accomplish our lawful duty.” Referring to a police officers powers regarding use of force, which is covered by s.117 of the police and criminal evidence act 1984, which “gives the officer a power to use reasonable force if necessary.” (Hutton, Mckinnon and Connor, 2014, p.11) The case of Ian Tomlinson demonstrates an officer’s abuse of his power of necessary force, which resulted in the unlawful killing of Ian Tomlinson. The Crown Prosecution Service (2010) tells us how Tomlinson was “struck with a baton and pushed very strongly in the back” by a police officer (Simon Harwood), causing him to fall to the ground, which later resulted in his death at the G20 riots. Simon Harwood pleaded guilty to a charge of gross misconduct before a police panel (Inquest, 2012). It’s clear that Harwood failed to comply with s.117 of PACE act 1984 and the force he used was excessive and unlawful.
Police have two types of perceptions of the police mission, either a crime fighter or public servant. Police perception of themselves as crime fighters leads to certain decisions in their use of force, definition of duty, and their use of deception. If one views police as crime fighters these assumptions may include; criminals are the enemy and are different from good people, the police are the arm that fights the enemy using any means to get the job done, good people accept and understand that police are in a war and must be allowed deference in their decision making because they are the experts and only they know the enemy. The book states the definition of public servants as “professionals who are paid by the public and whose jobs entail pursuing the public good. If one views police as public servants, other assumptions include; criminals are people too just like the rest of us they shop, pay taxes, and have a family, police have limited ability to affect crime rates because the history of law enforcement originates in order maintenance, not crime control, and lastly they assume that police as public servants serve all people, including criminals meaning to not judge on decisions about an individual not being able to receive services.
January 15, 2013 Use of Force Assignment Ms. Middlebrooks Introduction to Law Excessive force is the unlawful punishment against a citizen by a police officer. In today’s nation excessive force is very rare. The law gives police officer specific guidelines to follow in specific situations. In certain situations when the office has a reasonable perception the officer should use reasonable response. When a situation occurs with an officer and a decision is to be made to determine if excessive force was used.