Police Force

Police Force

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Police Force

As I received a call on my radio about three males consuming alcohol in a public park, I immediately thought they might not be aware that drinking is prohibited in public park according to the law. However, when I arrived at the scene I found something else.

I approached the three men and brought into their notice politely that the place where they have been drinking is public property and they cannot drink alcohol there at any given time or day. As soon as I directed them to leave the public property, they became belligerent towards me. This act of theirs placed me on guard (Lee, 2018). I kept telling them politely that the law cannot allow alcohol consumption on public property. Unfortunately, the three men were not in a mood of following any sort of commands. They started to argue that it is their place and they always hang out there. They demonstrated that they have gone against the law more than once. They were in a mood to escalate the issue.

As they approached me, I employed de-escalation tactics and techniques to placate them. The men only had bottles of alcohol in their hands (Lee, 2018). Therefore, I did not perceive them as an immediate threat. However, they began circling me. At that stage, I employed my years of training and backed off from them (Lee, 2018). At this moment, I was sure that they are in a mood of confrontation. They were not following any commands whatsoever. Furthermore, they were trying to manipulate me. They began to shout at top of their voice that I am harassing them (Aalsma, Schwartz & Tu, 2018). They wanted to attract the public on to the scene. Still, I gave them commands to leave the public property. Their shouting compelled the crowd to appear at the scene and enquire whether this incident was of police brutality or not. The next actions that I took were based on the thoughts that the safety of the people around me should not jeopardize and the sanctity of the law must be upheld (Aalsma, Schwartz & Tu, 2018).

Suddenly, one of the men approached me rapidly to get a hold on my pistol. I managed to shake him off. However, at the same instant, I took a decision that changed the course of this confrontation. I evaluated my options. I thought if I opted for a lethal option, the man could be killed. And my body footage can land me into trouble as the man was unarmed and I was able to shrug off his approach towards me (McCamman & Culhane, 2017). Moreover, I also thought about the safety of the innocent people around me (McCamman & Culhane, 2017). If I am to miss my shot, it can hurt an innocent individual. Therefore, I opted to go for a less-lethal option. I pulled out my taser and deployed at the man who approached me to get a hold of my gun (McCamman & Culhane, 2017). As soon as the taser was deployed, the man gave up his belligerent attitude and started to cry due to pain. This action of deployment of taser influenced the other two men as well (Ariel, Farrar & Sutherland, 2015). I started to take follow up actions. I order the two men to lay on the ground face down and hands wide open. Meanwhile, I requested dispatch to send paramedics to treat the man at whom I deployed the taser. Additionally, I called for backup. When the backup arrived, I managed to get all the three men in custody.

I think the use of less-lethal can be justified in this instance. This is because the men were not compliant at all. The deployment of taser made them follow the instructions I passed. Ultimately, I was successfully able to move those men from the public property by the use of less-lethal force (Ariel, Farrar & Sutherland, 2015). This use of force is justifiable because the men tried to get a hold of my pistol. Had the men got a hold of my pistol, the outcome would have been different. I am glad this situation concluded with nobody getting seriously injured.

References

Aalsma, M. C., Schwartz, K., & Tu, W. (2018). Improving police officer and justice personnel attitudes and de-escalation skills: A pilot study of Policing the Teen Brain. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 57(7), 415-430.

Ariel, B., Farrar, W. A., & Sutherland, A. (2015). The effect of police body-worn cameras on use of force and citizens’ complaints against the police: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of quantitative criminology, 31(3), 509-535.

Lee, C. (2018). Reforming the Law on Police Use of Deadly Force: De-Escalation, Preseizure Conduct, and Imperfect Self-Defense. U. Ill. L. Rev., 629.

McCamman, M., & Culhane, S. (2017). Police body cameras and us: Public perceptions of the justification of the police use of force in the body camera era. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 3(2), 167.