Police
use of force has been an issue in our society for as long as there have
been police. Even today, police officers are constantly faced with
decisions of whether to use force as a means of compliance of a subject.
However, today’s police officers differ from yesterday’s officers
regarding the use of force; through departmental policies, officers
today are guided as to when and what types of force are necessary when
dealing with subjects.
As you can see, certain actions of individuals warrant different types of force used by police officers. The only problem with this guideline is just that: it is only a guideline. Because officers are given so much discretion on the street, applying these standards depends on a number of variables including departmental policy, his/her physical capabilities, perception, training, experience, and special circumstances. Moreover, because officers are often unsupervised, departments have no real way of knowing the amount of force their officers are utilizing on the street. One department did however, uncover one officer’s excessive use of force.
The above video portrays a man in a Kmart store suspected of shoplifting being held by security. You can see a Denver Police Officer walk into the room. The man, who was already handcuffed at this point, is recuffed by the officer. Suddenly the officer shoves the handcuffed suspect up against the wall, pinches the pressure points in the suspect’s neck, pushes his face up against the wall, and says something to him. He proceeds to grab the back of his head by his hair and slams him on the ground and sits on him. All the while, the suspect is still handcuffed and the Kmart security guards are watching this.
The
incident occurred on Aug. 4, 2007 but was seen by police for the first
time on May 27, 2011 after an “anonymous complainant” gave it to police.
According to the Denver Post, Officer Guzman filed no report of this
incident and “can’t remember it” (denverpost.com). After an
investigation by Internal Affairs, Officer Guzman was suspended for four
days and reprimanded for not submitting a report.
Do
you think that was a fair punishment considering the officer’s conduct?
In my opinion, it was not. Let’s analyze this incident using the above
Use of Force Continuum. According to the continuum, the amount of force
used on the suspect would be the second tier up from the bottom of the
continuum. The officer placed his hands around the suspects neck at two
pressure points and subsequently took down the suspect. To warrant that
type of behavior, the suspect would have had to have been pulling away
or refusing to move dead weight. At no point in the “interrogation” did
the suspect give the security guards or officers a hard time. While we
do not know what was said, it is apparent that the suspect was compliant
in that he allowed both the security guards and officer to place
handcuffs on him. The mere fact that he was handcuffed showed the
situation was “under control” and no amount of force was needed to take
him into custody.
Contrary to these observations, David
Bruno, a lawyer for the police union said the amount of force the
officer used was within department guidelines. What do you think? Click here to check out the full article on the Denver Post website.
Sources:
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_19879605
http://churchsecurityarticles.s3.amazonaws.com/Use%20of%20Force%20Chart.jpg
The officer used way too much force than was needed. The shoplifter was already handcuffed and did not pose a threat to security or the police officer. In my opinion I feel like police officers get away with anything and everything. The officer only got suspended for four days like seriously that is nothing, because when he comes back he will keep doing the same thing. He should of had a harsh punishment, because what he did was not even ethical. It just shows how police are not property trained or know when to use force. It was very interesting to read and I liked how you showed a diagram of the forces police can use.
ReplyDeleteIn no way shape or form was that conduct appropriate. I agree with you that we do not know what was said but either way it was clearly visible that the suspect was not resisting and therefore that kind of force was unnecessary. As we all know some police officers are on a power trip and they usually will prey on the weak people. I feel as though four days was no where near the correct punishment to administer to that officer. Plus the fact that he did not report it, says to me, that he knew what he did was wrong and he did not want any attention brought to the subject. His actions were completely out of line.
ReplyDeleteThis disgusts me and I do not think the punishment the officer received was fair, in that it was not enough. He failed to even report this arrest at all.. I wonder why? And if he "doesn't remember" manhandling a restrained person who does not seem to be resisting, why doesn't he watch the video and see what he did? I think this police officer should have been fired. All he got was a slap on the wrist for failing to report this incident in which he used excessive force, probably just to cover for himself. Gross
ReplyDeletetotally agree that this officer used more force than needed, however we don't really know what was said to the officer in this scenario. Regardless the officer need to show a little more restraint and ethics in his job. Also i think that the suspension was the proper punishment it should open up his eyes and change his mindset for the better. However,. if it continues a much harder punishment or even termination should be in order. These kinds of incidents are bound to happen though, with the amount of discretion we give to police officers, there are bound to be some who overuse their power. In our current state I would say that a lot of officers are using too much force. This is just what we have going on now, and with further education and training hopefully, some will be eliminated in the future.
ReplyDelete