In law enforcement there are different levels of force a police officer will use. 1st is the presence of an officer, in most cases is the best way to resolve a situation. When officers have a visible presence in neighborhoods where there is heavy crime, or criminal acts, the crime rate of that neighborhood or community decreases, and is maintained. The 2nd is being verbal, or verbalization. Verbalization is non-physical, but very affective if used properly by an officer. I’m a security officer and we are taught that when we approach anyone in any situation, we are to remain calm and never enhance a situation by arguing or provoking them in an aggressive way. Just like police officers we are to use non-threatening commands that does not makes the person feel intimidated, and by doing so respect is given and received. The 3rd level is empty hand control, where bodily force is used by an officer to get or gain control of a situation. This is the part where quote on quote means, “I GOT TO PUT MY HANDS ON YOU”. This level contains a soft technique where an officer may grab an individual, holding, or using joint locks to restrain them. The hard technique may result in actually punching or kicking someone to retain order in a situation. Less lethal-methods is the 4th level of force an officer uses to gain control. This is when an officer uses three key methods of defense such as: a blunt impact, by using a baton, a chemical defense by using pepper spray, or conducted energy devices, which are commonly known as tasers. When a situation gets to this point the officer is normally defending his or herself and trying to immobilizing the individual immediately. These are critical steps police officers, and especially a security officers, have to take in this order to avoid legal action. I’m not comparing security officers to police and law enforcement, but all commissioned officers in security must use these steps of defense before pulling there weapon. Which bring us to the 5th and final level of, lethal force. This is only used if the officer feels that the individual poses a serious our deadly threat to the officer or other individuals. When an officer draws his weapon in defense to a situation, he or she doesn’t have any other choice by doing so to stop the individual from harming the officer or anyone else. This line of defense may or may not kill the individual, but is affective in stopping them.
When can these levels of force in law enforcement be employed? These levels of force are different in each situation, and police should only use the amount of force suitable to control an incident, make an arrest, or protect themselves and others from harm or possible death. An officer cannot abuse his or her authority by misusing the levels of force which may result in police brutality, or some other form unlawfully behavior.
How do you feel force should be applied through law enforcement officers?
The way that I feel force should be applied through law enforcement officers is how it is designed to be used. Each level is designed to avoid the next level. In my experience of being an officer, if I can defuse a situation by being a presence and using my verbal skills and don’t have to convert to using physical force, I’ve done my job and possibly gained more by doing so. For an example, a tenant in the building I was working at, came to my office and reported that a man is trying to pry his way into rear entrance of the building. Immediately I proceeded to investigate the issue and discovered the individual in the act of breaking into the building. Upon approaching the individual, I made sure that I would approach him, not in an aggressive manner, but in calm, and more of a befriending way. By doing this I gained the trust of the individual. I asked him a series of question which according to him he wanted to use the facilities inside because he was waiting on the bus to arrive and really need to relieve him. Also observing that he