Understanding Human Behaviour in Force Encounters

Understanding Human Behaviour in Force Encounters
Student’s Name:
School Name:
Date:
Understanding Human Behaviour in Force Encounters
Police’s use of force has always been met by constant criticism from the media and across the nation as a whole. The question that begs is when exactly is the right time for a police officer to use force to subdue an individual they consider as an aggressor. The answer to this question is not certain. Crimes do not occur in a systematic way. The psychology of a criminal is never uniform; therefore it becomes very hard for a police officer to clearly determine the exact situation when to use force to subdue an aggressor. Despite how the media may tend to exaggerate police brutality the occurrences are as sporadic as depicted by the media (Elicker, 2008). What should be understood especially by the media and those who are very quick to criticise the police for the use of force is that, the level of emotions that are present during such ‘logical’ situations are not predictable at all. I use the time ‘logical’ because i realize that there are situations where the police also do overreact. However, should the public and the media be quick to judge the police without understanding the situations they are always in. This paper will try to see if the use of force science is appropriate to address the situation effectively. As a right a person when arrested has got the right to speak to his attorney as the first step. This way they are able to be advised on the information they should diverge to avoid incrimination. The police too should be advised to give their statements in the presence of an attorney because they are part of the crime being discussed as the arresting officer. They too should be given legal assistance as their statements can incriminate the...