Policies and Practices to Minimize Police Use of Force Internationally

Policies and Practices to Minimize Police Use of Force Internationally PDF

Author: National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine

Publisher:

Published: 2023-02-24

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780309689106

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Injury and death from use of excessive force by police officers remain a common concern in countries across the globe. Despite local, national, and international attempts to legislate and provide guidance for police use of force, there continue to be global accounts of excessive force by law enforcement. Reports of officer-involved killings, injuries to citizens, and attempts to control protests and demonstrations with chemical irritants, rubber bullets, and sometimes shooting into crowds with live ammunition frequently appear in the press worldwide. However, reliable data on and accounting for these incidents are both lacking. A large network of international and regional organizations, bilateral donors, international financial institutions, and civil society organizations aim to work with governments to improve policing practices and reduce police use of excessive force. As a part of that network, the U.S. Department of State, through its Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), provides foreign assistance to and supports capacity building for criminal justice systems and police organizations in approximately 90 countries. Like many donors, it strives to direct its resources to the most effective approaches to achieve its mission. Policies and Practices to Minimize Police Use of Force Internationally, the third in a series of five reports produced for the INL, addresses what policies and practices for police use of force are effective in promoting the rule of law and protecting the population (including the officers themselves). This report looks at what is known about effective practices and their implementation and identifies promising actions to be taken by international donors in their efforts to strengthen the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies.

International Intervention and the Use of Force

International Intervention and the Use of Force PDF

Author: Cornelius Friesendorf

Publisher: Ubiquity Press

Published: 2012-05-14

Total Pages: 97

ISBN-13: 1911529315

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Intervening states apply different approaches to the use force in war-torn countries. Calibrating the use of force according to the situation on the ground requires a convergence of military and police roles: soldiers have to be able to scale down, and police officers to scale up their use of force. In practice, intervening states display widely differing abilities to demonstrate such versatility. This paper argues that these differences are shaped by how the domestic institutions of sending states mediate between demands for versatile force and their own intervention practices. It considers the use of force by Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States in three contexts of international intervention: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Afghanistan. The paper highlights quite different responses to security problems as varied as insurgency, terrorism, organised crime and riots. This analysis offers important lessons. Those planning and implementing international interventions should take into account differences in the use of force. At the same time, moving towards versatile force profoundly changes the characteristics of security forces and may increase their short-term risks. This difficulty points to a key message emerging from this paper: effective, sustainable support to states emerging from conflict will only be feasible if intervening states reform their own security policies and practices.

Police Use of Force

Police Use of Force PDF

Author: James F. Albrecht

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-01-28

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 3031227050

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This volume provides a comprehensive examination and analysis of the concepts and issues related to police use of force, particularly the use of deadly force with a firearm, from multi-faceted and international perspectives. It explores innovative training, protocols, policies, tactical options for de-escalation, and recommendations for the restriction of the use of force by law enforcement officers in an effort to reduce the likelihood of injury to police, the pubic and criminal suspects. Additionally, it outlines tactics for effective crowd control at demonstrations and during riots. This book specifically delineates practical policy implications suggested from highly recognized professionals with extensive experience in policing, training and related research. It is ideal for graduate and upper level undergraduate students, scholars, academics, researchers, government and community leaders, and criminal justice and law enforcement administrators and policy makers.

Police Use of Force

Police Use of Force PDF

Author: U S Commission on Civil Rights

Publisher:

Published: 2019-08-14

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 9781686414633

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In this report, the Commission investigated rates of police use of force; whether rates and instantiations of that use of force violate civil rights of persons of color, persons with disabilities, LGBT communities, and low-income persons; promising or proven policies and practices worth replicating to minimize unnecessary use of force; and the perception and reality of discrimination in police use of force. The Commission considered evidence from law enforcement and court officials, community leaders and police reform advocates, scholars, legal experts, as well as testimony taken in by the Commission's State Advisory Committees in Minnesota, New York, Maine, and Delaware. The Commission majority approved key findings including the following: While police officers have the difficult and admirable job of providing crucial services to the communities they protect and serve, their job sometimes puts them in harm's way and may require the use of force. Accordingly, police officers must operate with the highest standards of professionalism and accountability. Every community resident should be able to live, work, and travel confident in an expectation that interactions with police officers will be fair, consistent with constitutional norms, and guided by public safety free from bias or discrimination. Unfortunately, too many communities are not confident in these expectations, and so these communities have called for reforms to foster better community-police relations and prevent unjustified and excessive police uses of force. Accurate and comprehensive data regarding police uses of force is generally not available to police departments or the American public. No comprehensive national database exists that captures police uses of force. The best available evidence reflects high rates of uses of force nationally, with increased likelihood of police use of force against people of color, people with disabilities, LGBT people, people with mental health concerns, people with low incomes, and those at the intersection of these communities. Lack of sufficient training-and funding for training-leaves officers and the public at risk. Repeated and highly publicized incidents of police use of force against persons of color and people with disabilities, combined with a lack of accurate data, lack of transparency about policies and practices in place governing use of force, and lack of accountability for noncompliance foster a perception that police use of force in communities of color and the disability community is unchecked, unlawful, and unsafe.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * Highlighted Findings * Highlighted Recommendations * Chapter 1: Introduction: Definitions, Data, and Major Theoretical Perspectives * Defining Excessive Use of Force * State of National Data Collection * Existing Data on Lethal and Non-Lethal Use of Force * Disparities in Use of Force * Explanations for and Analysis of Rates of Police Use of Force * Inevitability Argument * Systemic Perspectives * Chapter 2: Police Oversight And Accountability * Internal Accountability * Body-Worn Cameras * External Oversight * Civilian Review Boards * Grand Juries * Qualified Immunity * Consent Decrees * Chapter 3: Changing Law Enforcement Behavior * A Holistic Approach to Reforming the Overall Policing System * Racial Diversity * Training * Implicit Bias Training * De-escalation Training * Mental Health and Disability Training * Building Community Trust * Chapter 4: Findings and Recommendations * Findings * Community Trust * Data * Training * Accountability * Recommendations * Commissioners' Statements, Rebuttals, and Surrebuttals

Police Use of Force

Police Use of Force PDF

Author: Joseph B. Kuhns

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2010-04-09

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0313363277

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A team of expert contributors provides an in-depth exploration of police use of force, firearms, and less-than-lethal weapons from a dozen countries across five continents. Police Use of Force: A Global Perspective is a fascinating, international exploration of police use of force, firearms, and less-than-lethal weapons in nations around the world. The book is comprised of three sections: the first focuses on the use of force generally, the second explores firearms and deadly force, and the final section considers less-than-lethal weapons, including pepper spray, TASERs, and other emerging technologies currently on the horizon. The essays gathered here will provide readers with an understanding of the vast differences in how police use force in various countries, as well as why police use force differently under different forms of government. Topics covered include use-of-force definitions, training procedures, policy issues, abuse of police authority, use of force during interrogations, and the use of firearms by armed and unarmed police forces. Finally, there is an essay focusing on how shooting and killing a suspect impacts an officer in the months and years that follow.

Transforming the Police

Transforming the Police PDF

Author: Charles M. Katz

Publisher: Waveland Press

Published: 2020-01-17

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 1478640421

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Policing in the United States is at a crossroads; decisions made at this juncture are crucial. With the emergence of evidence-based policing, police leaders can draw on research when making choices about how to police their communities. Who will design the path forward and what will be the new standards for policing? This book brings together two qualified groups to lead the discussion: academics and experienced police professionals. The School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University recruited faculty with expertise in policing and police research. This volume draws on that expertise to examine 13 specific areas in policing. Each chapter presents an issue and provides background before reviewing the available research on potential solutions and recommending specific reform measures. Response essays written by a current or former police leader follow each chapter and reflect on the recommendations in the chapter. The 13 chapters and response essays present new thinking about the police, their challenges, and the reforms police agencies should consider adopting. Policy makers, practitioners, educators, researchers, students and anyone interested in the future of policing will find valuable information about: the benefits of adopting evidence-based policing; leading strategic crime-control efforts; instituting procedural justice to enhance police legitimacy; reducing use of force; combatting racially biased policing; establishing civilian oversight; implementing a body-worn camera program; creating sentinel event reviews; developing police-university collaborations; facilitating organizational justice in police departments; improving officer health and wellness; handling protests; and increasing the effectiveness of police responses to sexual assault.

Proactive Policing

Proactive Policing PDF

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2018-03-23

Total Pages: 409

ISBN-13: 0309467136

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Proactive policing, as a strategic approach used by police agencies to prevent crime, is a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. It developed from a crisis in confidence in policing that began to emerge in the 1960s because of social unrest, rising crime rates, and growing skepticism regarding the effectiveness of standard approaches to policing. In response, beginning in the 1980s and 1990s, innovative police practices and policies that took a more proactive approach began to develop. This report uses the term "proactive policing" to refer to all policing strategies that have as one of their goals the prevention or reduction of crime and disorder and that are not reactive in terms of focusing primarily on uncovering ongoing crime or on investigating or responding to crimes once they have occurred. Proactive policing is distinguished from the everyday decisions of police officers to be proactive in specific situations and instead refers to a strategic decision by police agencies to use proactive police responses in a programmatic way to reduce crime. Today, proactive policing strategies are used widely in the United States. They are not isolated programs used by a select group of agencies but rather a set of ideas that have spread across the landscape of policing. Proactive Policing reviews the evidence and discusses the data and methodological gaps on: (1) the effects of different forms of proactive policing on crime; (2) whether they are applied in a discriminatory manner; (3) whether they are being used in a legal fashion; and (4) community reaction. This report offers a comprehensive evaluation of proactive policing that includes not only its crime prevention impacts but also its broader implications for justice and U.S. communities.

Conflict Management Training and Nonlethal Weapon Use - Why Law Enforcement Officers Misuse Force, How Officers Make Decisions Under Stress, Warrior V

Conflict Management Training and Nonlethal Weapon Use - Why Law Enforcement Officers Misuse Force, How Officers Make Decisions Under Stress, Warrior V PDF

Author: U. S. Military

Publisher: Independently Published

Published: 2019-03-25

Total Pages: 82

ISBN-13: 9781091498327

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This thesis examines multiple theories for why law enforcement officers misuse force. It explores decision-making theory that has been used to describe how officers make rapid decisions under stress. Biases can affect an officer's ability or propensity to use force. Recognition Primed Decision addresses how over-emphasis on using force during training can prime officers to rely on force in the streets. Such other factors as the warrior mentality (versus the guardian mentality) that are instilled in recruits also may affect an officer's readiness to use force; officers also are taught that their lives are a priority over others. And finally, the law enforcement community has a sense of immunity from being held legally responsible, reinforced by courts' inability to prosecute officers or hold them liable. Practices and policies are examined in agencies that exacerbate or mitigate these issues. Over-emphasis on using force during training and specific material meant to foster the warrior mentality are identified as problems plaguing some departments. De-escalation training and training that mitigates officer bias are identified as important practices to implement. This thesis includes several recommendations that leaders should examine to minimize officer misuse of force.This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.I. Introduction * A. Major Research Question * B. Significance of the Research * C. Literature Review * 1. Training and/or Weapon-Use is at the Appropriate Level * 2. Training is Insufficient or Misplaced * D. Research Design * E. Thesis Overview * II. Background on Use of Force and Law Enforcement Training * A. Explanation of Use of Force and Whether It Is Misused * 1. What is Use of Force? * 2. Justifiable Use of Force Explained * 3. Data on Misuse of Force * B. Law Enforcement Training Practices * C. Inconsistent Training Requirements * D. Conclusion * III. Potential Causes for Misuse * A. Recognition Prime Decision Theory * B. Priority Mentality (Officer Safety First) * C. Warrior Mentality vs. Guardian Mentality * D. Discriminatory Abuse of Power/Bias * E. Perceived Legal Immunity * F. Conclusion * IV. Law Enforcement Training And Policy And Its Effect On Use Of Force * A. Training That Exacerbates Misuse Of Force * 1. Over-Emphasis of Training on Using Force * 2. Training that Inappropriately Instills Warrior Mindset * 3. Law Enforcement Policy Barriers * B. Policies and Practices That Effectively Address Misuse of Force * 1. Conflict Management/De-escalation Training * 2. Bias Mitigation Training * 3. The Use-of-Force Continuum Policy * C. Conclusion * V. Conclusion and Recommendations * A. Recommendations * B. Future Research * C. ConclusionAll law enforcement officers understand the legal requirements for when use of force is allowed, but how much training and of what quality are they receiving to maximize that goal of keeping everyone safe? The community of policing in the United States is full of antiquated policies and complex bureaucracies causing inefficiencies in training requirements. Organizations like the Police Executive Research Forum recognize that many departments' efforts are misguided and have put forth policy recommendations that go above and beyond the current legal requirements.2 No amount of new equipment, grandiose police strategies, or legal restrictions on officers will eliminate misuse of force if training efforts are not comprehensive and do not address root causes of excessive force.