Use Of Force

Use of Force

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Use of Force

Calm suspects least likely to actively resist, less likely than most to resist the officer, but were they most likely to attempt to flee?

Suspects who behaved calmly in the initial phases of apprehension are reported to be least likely to resist the officer actively. Only 23% of the suspects demonstrated the likelihood of resisting the officer. Suspects with such composure were also less likely than most of the other violent suspects to assault the officer. The percentage of suspects who were initially calm but were likely to assault the officer was 18%, which is comparatively low. However, these apparently calm suspects also turned out to make the most attempts of fleeing and this percentage was as high as 39% CITATION Alp041 \p 68 \l 1033 (Alpert, 2004, p. 68).

What were the percentages of calm suspects that were most likely to resist the officer with a gun or even use a vehicle to assault the officer?

The suspects who initially acted in a calm manner were most likely to resist the officer with a gun or use a vehicle to assault the officer. However, the vast majority of suspects who resisted did so with their bodies (91%) rather than using any type of weapon CITATION Alp041 \p 68 \l 1033 (Alpert, 2004, p. 68).

Was there a statistically significant difference in the level of force used by males and females against a suspect?

No statistically significant differences were found in the level of force used by male and female officersCITATION Alp041 \p 70 \l 1033 (Alpert, 2004, p. 70). In a police department with perfect environment, where the officers have impeccable training, specific attributes of the officers will not be related to their behavior. Response of all officers would be uniform and will adhere to the department’s rules and regulations.

Which is the best combination of ethnic/group or race of officers and suspects that is most likely NOT to use force per Table 3.2?

Data in Table 3.2, showed the relationship between ethnicity of an officer and that of the suspect in the use-of-force situations.

The best combination of ethnic groups of police officers and that of the suspects in situations which include the use of force is of African American officers and Anglo suspects, which is 16%. The data also delineated that officers deployed the most force against suspects with whom they shared ethnic background CITATION Alp041 \p 70 \l 1033 (Alpert, 2004, p. 70).

Assaulted officers per Table 3.3 would occur most frequently with the officer part of which ethnic/race/group and the suspect part of which ethnic/race/group. Please mention the percentage.

The maximum likelihood of the suspect or offender actively assaulting the officer was when a black officer arrested an Anglo suspect CITATION Alp041 \p 70 \l 1033 (Alpert, 2004, p. 70). The percentage turned out to be as high as 36%.

Please explain the force factor in your own words briefly.

A measurement scheme formulated by Alpert and Dunham combined and evaluated the level of resistance as displayed by the suspect and the corresponding intensity of force applied by the officer CITATION Ter03 \l 1033 (Terrill, 2003). This scheme is known as the force factor. Different analyses used for research purposes make use of the force factor to highlight the use of force deployed by police in relation to the resistance put up by the suspect CITATION Alp041 \p 75-76 \l 1033 (Alpert, 2004, pp. 75-76).

Calculation of the force factor

After the measurement of both levels of resistance and force displayed by the suspect and the police officer respectively, relative scaling should be done. The result should directly correspond to continuum of force taught by the police agencies and adopted by the particular department.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Alpert, G. P. (2004). Understanding police use of force: Officers, suspects, and reciprocity. Cambridge University Press.

Terrill, W. A. (2003). A management tool for evaluating police use of force: An application of the force factor. Police quarterly, 150-171.