Police Excessive Force
There has been a lot of speculation in the media recently about police’s use of excessive force. The issue has been so talked about that even multiple articles on this policing blog site have mentioned this issue.
However, this brings a question to mind. How often do police actually draw their firearms in their policing careers?
Most of the problem regarding police’s use of excessive force revolves around that fact that numerous officers are using their firearm unjustly. It makes you wonder, other than the police shootings that have became well-talked about (like the unfortunate killing of Trayvon Martin), how often do police use their firearms?
According to a study published on February 9th, 2017 “more than eight-in-ten (83%)”of people believe …show more content…
Bruno gives first hand knowledge on the issue involving police’s use of their firearms.
Bruno states that “most officers go their entire careers without firing their weapons at an offender.” This statement completely contradicts what most people in society believe to be the case with police officers use of firearms.
Bruno goes on to say that through his thirty-seven year career being involved in police work only eight officers (out of a minimum of one hundred forty officers) have fired their weapons at a …show more content…
They both prove that the overwhelming assumption of society’s belief that officers use their firearms quite frequently is invalid.
Overall, more data like this needs to be well-known to the public. Due to the fact that some individuals believe that the polices’ use of firearms are increasing based on the effect social media has on the issue of polices use of excessive force.
For example, the fact that most people believe that police officers fire their weapons more frequently then they actually do could lead to more subjects acting sporadically. Hypothetically, subjects who come face to face with police officers may act in dysfunctional way because they might think “well I’m going to get shot one way or the other.”
In other words, this false assumption people have could, in a sense, divide the police officers from their communities by building tension between the two. However, if this information about the rarity of police firearm use was more public, perhaps there would be less fatal shootings than there already
However, this brings a question to mind. How often do police actually draw their firearms in their policing careers?
Most of the problem regarding police’s use of excessive force revolves around that fact that numerous officers are using their firearm unjustly. It makes you wonder, other than the police shootings that have became well-talked about (like the unfortunate killing of Trayvon Martin), how often do police use their firearms?
According to a study published on February 9th, 2017 “more than eight-in-ten (83%)”of people believe …show more content…
Bruno gives first hand knowledge on the issue involving police’s use of their firearms.
Bruno states that “most officers go their entire careers without firing their weapons at an offender.” This statement completely contradicts what most people in society believe to be the case with police officers use of firearms.
Bruno goes on to say that through his thirty-seven year career being involved in police work only eight officers (out of a minimum of one hundred forty officers) have fired their weapons at a …show more content…
They both prove that the overwhelming assumption of society’s belief that officers use their firearms quite frequently is invalid.
Overall, more data like this needs to be well-known to the public. Due to the fact that some individuals believe that the polices’ use of firearms are increasing based on the effect social media has on the issue of polices use of excessive force.
For example, the fact that most people believe that police officers fire their weapons more frequently then they actually do could lead to more subjects acting sporadically. Hypothetically, subjects who come face to face with police officers may act in dysfunctional way because they might think “well I’m going to get shot one way or the other.”
In other words, this false assumption people have could, in a sense, divide the police officers from their communities by building tension between the two. However, if this information about the rarity of police firearm use was more public, perhaps there would be less fatal shootings than there already