Use Of Force

Use of Force

Natalia

[Institutional Affiliation(s)]

Author Note

Definitions of Concepts

Use of Force

Interactions

Interaction means the act of communication or direct involvement with someone or something. A Police officer’s behavior is often determined by the nature of their interactions with the members of the general public. Similarly, suspects are likely to react to the officers’ actions, comments and demeanor. The interactive context of police-citizen encounters is therefore critical if the behavior of both officers and suspects is to be understood. (Ch. 8, pp. 171)

Authority Maintenance Theory

The Authority Maintenance Theory is an attempt to explain police and citizen interactions from a normative and social perspective rather than from the standpoint of psychological characteristics or personal traits. This term is used to describe this theory because it highlights the larger-than-life role that authority plays in police-citizen encounters and also admits the concern of police officers in upholding their authoritative edge in interactions with the public (Ch. 8, pp. 171).

Authority Maintenance Ritual

Authority maintenance rituals are the routine citizen-police interactions that show the officer’s exercise of authority and the submission of the citizen to that authority. (Ch. 8, pp. 172)

Theoretical Tradition

It is the explanation of intended and unintended actions that are part of social interactions by integration of Blumer’s theoretical strands with Homan’s ideas on exchange (Ch.8, pp. 172)

Convenient Fact

In a citizen-police interaction, the convenient fact for an officer is his or her authority or perceived superior position and role in comparison to the role of the suspect.

Consensus-coercion Balance

Turk bases his certain theories of social order based on consensus-coercion balance maintenance by the authorities in-charge. His theory is also applied to the citizen-police interactions by focusing on the probabilities of types of relationships between less powerful citizens and those in charge, in this case, the police. (Ch.8, pp. 174)

Norms

Turks states that norms are defended by coercion and not in the course of interpersonal conflict, but rather as the members of the community play out of the patterns of expectation-violation-coercion (Ch. 8, pp.174).

Whims

Turks also argue that whims are not defended against norms, as the latter is considered as the basis of the categorization of collectively (Ch. 8, pp. 174).

Propositions (1-7)

The police-citizens should be regarded as a normal social interaction where one actor (police officer) requests another actor (citizen), who responds to the request. (Ch.8, pp. 178)

The citizen-police encounter is not like average social interactions, as the basic criteria of this interaction is the balance of authority and power (Ch. 8, pp. 178-9)

The citizen-police interactions are heavily tipped in the scales of the police officer as he commands authority. (Ch. 8, pp. 179-80)

Citizen-police interactions are unique as the police officer takes control of the situation by the use of force. (Ch. 8, pp. 180-81)

Officers will respond with goal blockage, but that depends on the status of the citizen, as the latter can be a suspect, violator or witness (Ch.8, pp. 182).

The citizen may respond to this goal blockage with different types and degrees of resistance (Ch. 8, pp. 183).

These citizen-police interactions can turn violent, unless one of the parties backs down, voluntarily or involuntarily. (Ch. 8, pp. 183)

Passive Resistance

Passive Resistance means the act of evading the scene or hiding from the police by the citizen (Ch. 8, pp. 183).

Active Resistance

Active Resistance involves impeding the officer’s movement, being aggressive, fleeing the scene or physically resisting the officer’s order. (Ch.8, pp. 183)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Geoffery P. Alpert, R. G. (2004). Understanding the Police Use of Force. New York: Cambridge University Press.