reasons why police officers tend to use excessive force on citizens
Use of excessive force by some police officers on suspects and criminals have been a major issue in the policing sector for long years. Since the introduction of firearms, there has been a mixed reaction on whether police officers should be allowed to use the guns. Two arguments exist where a portion of the public argue that allowing the police officers to use firearms endangers the lives of the unarmed public members. The other part of the public claims that police unarmed police officers can easily be attacked by the enemies. Research has been carried out to investigate on the reasons why police officers use excessive force on citizens. Some police officers may be influenced by racism to use excessive force on suspects. Also, research has shown that the police officers with low education level tend to use deadly force on citizens. Research has established various reasons why police officers tend to use excessive force on citizens, which has caused policies that control police officers’ power to change overtime.
Police use of deadly force on citizens is unquestionable considering the data that is available on records of different policing departments since 1940 (Binder, 19840). A research was carried out to investigate how frequently police officers use excess force on citizens. In the study, 57 questionnaires were sent to different policing departments serving areas with a population of 250, 000 people and above. The policing departments involved in the research provided the data on deaths attributed to reckless policing shootings from the year 1975 to the years 1979. The research was carried out in the cities of the United States of America that had high population. The results of the research showed that the deaths that were attributed to police shootings fluctuated from one year to another. The research also revealed that, less educated officers who did not had college education used excessive force on citizens as compared to police officers who had college education. Also, the research revealed that racism was a key factor that contributed to police shootings.
Research gives different reasons on why police officers use excessive force on suspects and criminals, which has caused policing policies to change over time (Binder, 19840). Earlier researches showed that racism was the key factor that led some police officers to shoot citizens who were of different races from the race of the police officers. As a result, a policy was implemented to eliminate racism, so that police officers do not recklessly shoot on people from different races. Recent research has shown that less educated police officers used more force on citizens. As a result, policies have been implemented in various countries to ensure that police officers go through college studies before being authorized to use firearms.
In summary, police use of excessive force on citizens has been a major issue in the policing sector for a long time. Various researches have been carried out to establish the trend of police shootings over the last couples of years. The study has also established multiple reasons that cause some police officers to use excess force on criminals and suspects. Racism and level of education of police officers are some reasons that have been found to cause some police officers to use lethal force on citizens. As the research about the use of excessive force by police officers on citizens’ advance, the policies that control the police officers’ powers also changes.