Student’s name:
CMJ5110_ONL1FA_ONL1F_22
February 23, 2022
Introduction.
With reference to the context of law enforcement, police use of force may be described as the amount of the effort used by or required by the law enforcement agencies such as the police to compel people to comply with what is perceived as law and order. More often than not, many incidences of police use of force have been reported in recent days. The police force compels subjects to comply with their demands while enforcing law and order unwillingly. Among the levels or the continuum of force police use while executing their duties entail basic physical and verbal resistance, use of lethal force as well as less-lethal force. As per the extensive research conducted using National and Local Data, the Bureau of Justice Statistics generated a report whose findings indicate that about 1% of people confronted by the police or come face to face with the police argue that when police are arresting people, they usually use threatening force, physical force, tactics involving a weapon or weaponless force and other form of force such as shoving, grabbing or pushing without care or concern (Girgenti-Malone, Khoder, Vega, & Castillo, 2017). This has created a public concern over the last few years, an aspect that has attracted many investigative agencies to find out the facts revolving around police use of force, brutality a perception created in the public eye more so by the college students.
Thesis statement.
With respect to the questions, this report will generate extensive insights on the increased cases of police use of force over the last few years. Even though there have been a few cases of police brutality about a decade ago, in recent days, there has been an exponential increase in such cases. Therefore, there is a need to conduct research both in the public arena and higher learning institutions to ascertain what might be the perceptions of college students and the public at large towards police use of force. The people will also extend its discussion it finds out what might be critical factors triggering police use of force in even circumstances that could be handled more amicably without causing mayhem. The primary purpose of this study is not to define how often police use force while compelling compliance among criminals or suspects, but rather to focus and examine whether higher education students’ perception of the police use of force significantly differs by suspects’ color, ethnicity, gender, or age (Girgenti-Malone, Khoder, Vega, & Castillo, 2017). This means that this paper seeks to provide facts that can answer the question, does the suspect’s color, gender, age and ethnicity influence the perception of the police force among the college students? With the increasing concerns over the public perception of the police use of force, it should be noted that, more than ever before, it is high time for the police departments across the nation to understand how the public, more so the college students, hold and perceives their work as law enforcers with respect to use of force and other forms of brutality.
Literature review.
As mentioned early, police use of force in the contest of law enforcement may be described as the amount of effort required by police personnel to compel compliance by unwilling individuals. There are many scenarios or terms used to describe police use of force while enforcing the law within the community (Girgenti-Malone, Khoder, Vega, & Castillo, 2017). One of such scenarios is shoving, in which case a police officer may shove the suspects, such as protesting students, in an attempt to compel them to comply with existing laws. In 2020, two police officers who were executing their duties at Buffalo were immediately Suspended after the video surfaced on social media showing them shoved off a 75-year-old man who was among the protestors. Shoving, in this case, is defined as an act of forcefully pushing oneself to pave the way in a crowded area. During protests, police use of force is applied in the form of shoving suspects to compel them to comply unwillingly. There is also grabbing, which is a form of police use of force as they handle suspects or criminals.
As provided by the national institute of justice, broadly speaking, police use of force may be only permitted under special scenarios that may dictate and promote the application of excessive efforts to compel compliance by an unwilling subject. Some of these special and isolated situations where law enforcers may feel it necessary to use force include a situation where the subject is aggressive, which forces the police to use lethal force for self-defense. Also, police may use excessive force as may be dictated by a situation to provide a defense to a threatened group or individual in the event of law enforcement (Girgenti-Malone, Khoder, Vega, & Castillo, 2017). It is against human rights for the police to harass suspects through grabbing and other forms of brutality when making arrests of the suspects.
Various scholars have conducted many studies to try to find out the underlying factors that trigger police brutality and excessive use of force. Even though a good number of these studies have found that generally speaking, the public perception towards the police as law enforcers is favorable, there is a question mark on the citizen’s level of satisfaction. Studies have further indicated that many young people-teeners and college students have limited positive attitudes and perceptions towards the police (Girgenti-Malone, Khoder, Vega, & Castillo, 2017). Contrary to this finding, Hurst et al. conducted another research whose respondents were only adults beyond college level and found that, unlike the teenagers, older adults hold sufficient positive attitude towards the police.
Upon analyzing the report generated 2017 by Girgenti-Malone, Khoder, Vega, & Castillo on the higher education student’s perception towards police use of force, it was clear that race, sex or gender along with ethnicity greatly influence the general perception of the college students of the police use of force while handling suspects, criminals or making an arrest. Girgenti-Malone, Khoder, Vega, & Castillo posed a critical question before their research (Girgenti-Malone, Khoder, Vega, & Castillo, 2017). They asked whether suspect race, gender, and ethnicity can influence college students’ perception of the police use of force. During the research, three vignettes were established with respect to situations where an encounter between the police and a suspected individual resulted in police use of force to handle the suspects.
As provided by the law, police use of force can be approved when the amount of force or effort applied by the police to compel compliance is more than what is required to handle a suspect or unwilling subject (Davis, 2016). Their vignettes were provided with a questionnaire that was later used to assess the impacts of race, gender and ethnicity as the influencer of students’ perception tards the police. Although the findings did not indicate a significant impact of the said factors on the college student attitude towards the police, there were traces of evidence that clearly signified how race, gender and ethnicity impacted the public and college student’s perceptions of the police use of force while undertaking their duties.
Perhaps, police use of brutality has become a public topic and nationwide concern, an aspect that has attracted a wide range of scholars from various fields. In 2017, extensive research about police and how they execute their duties along with the teen’s perception, especially those in colleges, was conducted. The study entailed students at the high school level from Cincinnati. This population was mainly made of teenagers and wanted to find out how age might influence the perception and attitudes of the police (Davis, 2016). Upon assessing and analyzing the questionnaire collected from over 80 teenagers, the study found that over 40% of respondents provided opinions that never police efforts in maintaining law and order. In the said study, the respondents who were primarily teenagers felt unsatisfied with the performance of the police. This was because they lacked confidence in how the police execute their duties with regard to the rule of law and respect to human rights and dignity. In addition to that, the study also found that there were more respondents with negative attitudes and perceptions from female teenagers, particularly black females, than male and white teenagers. Moreover, the young adults relaid less favorable opinions during the entire exercise of collected public opinion on the perception of police use of force and brutality.
Other than the use of the high school as a population sample to find out how age may affect the general perception of the police as law enforcers, college students were also explored with the aim to find out how race and ethnicity among students affected their attitudes towards the police. Upon analyzing both the white population and the black population sample, it was evident that minority students within the college level indicated that they had no confidence in the police performance as opposed to the whites, whose perception about the police was inclined towards the positive sense (Davis, 2016). The whites felt satisfied with the police work and accredited their job as opposed to the minority, who showed a less favorable assessment of the police than their white counterparts. From the same study, it was identified that race and ethnicity are the primary factors that influence college students’ perception of the police use of force. Race and ethnicity are the most effective predictors of college students’ perception towards police as law enforcement agencies.
As mentioned, therefore researcher has found that due to racial influence on the college students towards the police conduct while executing their work, white students are less likely to report police offensive behavior as opposed to the black counterparts whose racial instinct increases their frequency of reporting police brutality whenever identified. As per the black college students, police brutality and the use of force on black suspects is excessively applied and perhaps elicited by racial discrimination. The black student feels that police use of force on black Americans is majorly motivated by racial bias, an aspect that in turn triggers the development of negative attitudes and perceptions from the blacks that the white counterpart. As provided in many other researchers’ work, it is also evident that racial differences in perception among college students towards police behavior are moderated by the level of education teenagers have been exposed to (Davis, 2016). Also, neighborhood racial composition, life experience, income level, social classes or position, along with personal experiences, have significant impacts on how college students’ perception of police performance as law enforcers.
Conclusion.
Although much research is confined within limited geographical locations, research findings have shown that generally, public and college student perception of police behavior is more of the harmful deeds than the positive. This discussion, therefore, recommends that wider and extensive research be done across various regions to obtain reliable data that could indicate the reality and facts on the incidences associated with police use of force; in summary, race, gender and ethnicity have been found to be primary predictors of the college student’s perception of the police use of force (Choi, 2019,). If taken seriously, this data can be used by the police department to develop strategies and mechanisms that could be used to improve positive public perception of the police as the law enforcers who work towards sustaining peace within the community.
References
Brown, L. W. (2018). Do college students’ perceptions of the police differ by education level and major? doi:10.30707/etd2019.brown.l
Choi, J. (2019). Elaborating differential impact of media exposure on perceptions of police between criminal justice majors and non-criminal justice majors. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 30(4), 567-584. doi:10.1080/10511253.2019.1617324
Davis, M. (2016). The reality that creates the perception: An African-American law enforcement executive’s view of the relationship between law enforcement and the African-American community. Law Enforcement Executive Forum, 16(1). doi:10.19151/leef.2016.1601d
Girgenti-Malone, A. A., Khoder, C., Vega, G., & Castillo, D. (2017). College students’ perceptions of police use of force: Do suspect race and ethnicity matter? Police Practice and Research, 18(5), 492-506. doi:10.1080/15614263.2017.1295244
Miller, S. (2016). Police use of lethal force. Shooting to Kill, 108-137. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190626136.003.0005
Senreich, E., & Williams-Gray, B. (2021). Factors impacting diverse students’ perceptions of the police at two urban colleges. Journal of College Student Development, 62(1), 72-89. doi:10.1353/csd.2021.0005
