In many democracies, policing is a vital function whose core mission is to reduce crime, disorder, and fear. However, the police cannot execute these roles if at all, they have not received the consent of the community. The police can only earn public trust and confidence under two circumstances. First, they must develop an elaborate plan that will help to create safer communities. Second, the police should be accountable for their actions, especially when they directly impact citizen’s lives. The modern-day world distastes the use of physical force to control or direct the behavior of others. In the western world, police retain the right to use physical force, but they are trained on how to go about this process. After all, police are the last bastion of government-sanctioned force. At the point where law enforcement agencies are involved in a confrontation with members of the public, there is a likelihood that the encounter will digress to an extent where force is used. The frequency of the use of force is often dependent on how the events are counted or captured. However, there are baseline incidents which are measured to determine the veracity of any action that is out of the ordinary. The strictness of the baseline incidents will lead to less number of cases involving the use force. Many times, instances involving police shootings are of great interest to citizens. Therefore, an assessment of the behavior and environment surrounding the use of force is of vital importance. Police involved shootings can significantly decrease by providing more extensive training in the police academy before graduating, focusing more on de-escalation tactics, and including more education on recognizing people with mental health.
Civil rights advocates have called for increased accountability for law enforcement. In doing so, the advocates believe that this initiative will help to reduce arbitrary police shootings. While several measures have been put in place with a view of reducing the excessive use of force, they are yet to achieve anything tangible. Some of these measures include the release of body camera footage, publicizing police misconduct records, and establishing an autonomous body to investigate police shootings. The use of these protocols has drawn sharp criticism from law enforcement organizations and their influential unions. As incidences involving police shootings continue to increase, Americans remain frustrated and enraged. To this end, they believe that more needs to be done in their communities and nationwide to prevent the arbitrary loss of lives, especially those of people of color. Most recently, influential think tanks proposed the need to come up with new strategies that are geared towards reducing instances leading to police shootings. Of essence is to ensure that police actions are proportional to the threat faced; hence, they should apply objectively reasonable force to contain a situation.
Police officers should undergo extensive training as part of the initiative to reduce police shootings. Currently, police are required to deescalate a situation with a view of reducing the likelihood of using force against civilians. While de-escalation is a noble strategy, its application is poorly defined. Subsequently, it is essential to subject the police to procedural justice training before they are allowed to carry on with their duties. With this type of training, it is possible to explain policing actions, enhance transparency, and respond to community concerns. Such outcomes will reduce the number of interactions that often lead to unjustified use of force. Research studies have established that the level of distrust between the police and members of the public is widespread and far-reaching for public safety. Consequently, extensive training will help to mend this strenuous relationship by promoting a culture of neutrality, respect, and transparency in the exercise of authority. Most of the shooting incidences are perceived as an abuse of power because police tend to overuse command and control techniques. More often than not, the justifiability of the use of force usually involves the need to assert dominance. Extensive training will equip police with the requisite skills for managing interactions with civilians as they seek to deescalate hostility and build public trust.
Additional training of police officers is a crucial pillar of contemporary policing since it enables them to benefit from popular legitimacy. By inculcating police officers with other skills, this will help to foster a model of policing which underscores listening and responding to people in the community. While interacting with civilians, these skills will enable law enforcement agencies to explain policing policies and practices. The primary objective of providing police officers with enhanced training is to ensure that they exercise the procedural justice model. With this model, the police can develop consensus and cooperation with the community. According to the findings of various research studies, procedural justice will go a long way in heightening willing deference and cooperation. Even though extensive training is considered as a policing reform effort, it is essential to determine how the procedural justice model will become part and parcel of law enforcement culture. The bone of contention is whether the existing crop of active-duty officers can manage to implement a new style of policing. In any case, extensive training will be meaningless if police officers are not willing to change their behavior in ways that diminish interactions that civilians perceive to be an abuse of authority.
American policing has been affected by the failure of law enforcement agencies to adapt to new strategies. The key to alleviating this problem is subjecting police graduates to rigorous training programs. Such programs should emphasize the need for trustworthiness in policing actions. One of the ways of reducing incidences leading to police shootings is to provide members of the public with the opportunity to explain their case before taking action. Furthermore, extensive training of police recruits will help them to develop the skills of acting in the interest of the public. The procedural justice model, which forms part of the training program, will highlight the essence of interpersonal aspects in the course of policing interactions. For the training program to be effective, it should illustrate the behavioral models that help to avoid force escalation. Also, the training program should acquaint the police with ways of gaining compliance; hence, this reduces the likelihood of using force in civilian interactions. Going by the findings of a Chicago training program, evidence suggests that procedural justice training can go a long way in changing police behavior. Participants who were part of the training program expressed support for the procedural justice model. The participants believed that this model would help to change their behavior, especially in scenarios involving interactions with the public. In the absence of extensive training, American policing will continue to operate under the old model of obtaining compliance by any possible means.
The law enforcement profession is usually criticized due to its failure to employ de-escalation techniques. In the process of training police recruits, they need to be reminded that they will often find themselves in situations that might require the use of force. While the option of not using physical force may not be safe or realistic, de-escalation tactics may come in handy. The primary objective of these tactics is to handle a situation with minimal use of force. Since the divide between the police and civilians is growing by the day, this trend has only helped to fuel resistance towards law enforcement personnel. As part of their training program, police officers are advised to anticipate potential conflict. Training recruits on instances when they should use de-escalation tactics helps to vindicate police action while at the same time, ensuring that justice carries the day. Unconventional tactics will always serve as a reminder to police officers that their primary objective is to control every situation.
Even though de-escalation tactics should be safe and feasible, they should be applied in such a way that they do not compromise law enforcement priorities. Part of the reasons why shooting incidences have become rampant is because police officers hardly attempt to stabilize the situation at hand. Some shooting incidents have degenerated into violent protests, yet this would not have been the case if law enforcement agents had opted to use thoughtful resolution mechanisms. The essence of these mechanisms is to reduce the likelihood of harm to all the parties involved. Accordingly, de-escalation tactics will often help police to carry out a threat assessment so as not to apply disproportionate use of force. The effectiveness of a de-escalation approach is dependent on the training and skill level of a police officer. Moreover, an officer who opts to use this approach must seek to establish rapport with the subject. Assuming that the situation at hand requires the intervention of a contingent of police officers, the obligation of each individual to deescalate will be achieved as long as it complements the overall approach. The de-escalation option that the officers opt to use should be in tandem with the totality of the circumstances.
The objective of de-escalation is to achieve voluntary compliance. For a suspect to comply voluntarily, the police must use a form of communication that seeks to deter any form of altercation. Subsequently, if a warning is misconstrued to be a threat of force, it does not count as a de-escalation tactic. In addition, police officers should avoid using a kind of language that can escalate the situation. As far as communication goes, the police must be in a position to determine whether a suspect’s lack of compliance is intentional as opposed to the inability to comply due to a host of other factors. Some of these factors may not be limited to: behavioral crisis, mental impairment, medical conditions, physical limitation, language barrier, fear, and developmental disability. The form of communication used should attempt to stabilize or slow down the situation. In doing so, the police will be seeking to create additional time for incident resolution. By applying de-escalation tactics whose objective is to stabilize the scene, such a move will help the police to transition the situation at hand from dynamic to static. Besides, the applicable tactics will limit mobility and access to unsecured areas, in addition to ensuring that non-involved community members are not roped into the melee. Granted, de-escalation is an option that allows the police to maximize tactical advantage with a view of avoiding the use of force.
The training program of police recruits should strive to help them understand the conditions that call for the use of de-escalation tactics. In many instances, police officers involved in shooting incidents often fail to evaluate the psychological and physiological factors they can use to base their threat assessments. As a result, it is imperative for law enforcement personnel to develop the necessary skills that will enable them to assess individual actions. The skills will assist law enforcement agents in neutralizing potentially violent confrontations, which might lead to the use of force. In any shooting incident, there is often a need to establish whether officer(s) in question “deliberately or recklessly” created the need to use force. To put it succinctly, it is vital to establish the conduct of a police officer before the use of force and whether it had any correlation with the suspect’s threat. With such level of assessment, the police should always strive to apply de-escalation tactics because their conduct is measured against evidence-based training. Failure of the police to employ de-escalation tactics can be construed to mean that they acted recklessly. As far as police actions are concerned, recklessness is an act that often leads to an unreasonably high risk of harm. In the absence of de-escalation tactics, the purpose of the use of force should correlate with the impact it has on the suspect.
Mental training can help to avert up to half of all police shootings. Often, it is not unusual to read about a shooting incidence involving the police against an individual with a mental illness. Out of all the possible police shootings, 25 per cent of those victims had mental illness. As a result, it is incumbent upon police departments across the country to put a stop to these fatalities. The departments should provide their personnel with the relevant training on how to deal with situations involving individuals who have a mental impairment. In essence, mental health training seeks to teach the police how to develop empathy when dealing with an individual whose mental probity is in doubt. In the process of training recruits, part of this program should involve collaboration between police and local mental health services. The partnership will help to equip the police with necessary skills on when to use lethal and non-lethal force on suspects with a possible mental condition. According to expert analysis, a significant number of mentally ill people who seek treatment hardly receive it. However, treatment of mentally ill people can help to shield them from excessive use of force by police officers. While seeking to understand mental health, police officers must learn the art of being compassionate. In any case, this attribute will enable law enforcement agents to know how they can deescalate a situation involving an individual suffering from mental illness. Nevertheless, many police officers lack relevant training that allows them to recognize a mental health situation.
In many states, people with a mental illness are overrepresented in fatal police shootings. According to published research findings, in an average week, police regularly come into contact with individuals showing signs of mental illness. The high proportion of encounters with people suffering from a mental illness is often the product of deinstitutionalization. Whilst well-intentioned, the closure of institutionalized mental settings did not coincide with the establishment of adequate community-based health mental services. At times, this turn of events has often resulted in dramatic consequences. Therefore, the training of police recruits should always bear in mind that any encounter involving a police officer and a mentally ill person will primarily be judged by the avoidance or the minimal use of force. Going forward, it is imperative to ensure that the effectiveness of this message does not wane. Many times, police approach people who have mental illness with the perception that they are violent and dangerous. To cure this perception, adequate training of police and treatment of mental diseases will go a long way in preventing gun violence. Additionally, behavioral threat assessment will often help to reduce incidences involving police shootings. The objective of threat assessment is to analyze the situation at hand with a view of establishing whether the individual in question poses a threat of violence. By all means necessary, police officers should discard the use of force against mentally impaired individuals and if possible, they should device other ways of apprehending the suspect.
Police shootings are issues of urgent concern, especially when some fatalities are preventable. Findings of a study carried out in three U.S. cities established that police officers were inadequately trained to engage people with mental health problems. Many community leaders across the United States have raised concerns about the safety of citizens diagnosed with intellectual impairments. Admittedly, law enforcement encounters associated with the use of force against individuals with mental health issues are attributed to dangerous or erratic behavior. The essence of training law enforcement agents on how to deal with individuals suffering from severe behavioral or cognitive impairment is because the situation might escalate. In this regard, law enforcement agents might be compelled to resort to the use of force. Furthermore, law enforcement agencies have cited instances where victims of police shootings engaged in criminal behaviors to provoke the use of lethal force. Such scenarios are unique challenges on the part of police officers; hence, these situations illustrate why mental health training is of the essence. A lot needs to be done to reduce the likelihood of police shootings against individuals with mental problems, and adequate training of police recruits will go a long way in alleviating this problem.
The nature and circumstances of deaths occasioned by the use of lethal force by police officers have continued to elicit heated debate. Numerous findings have reinforced concerns about the arbitrary use of force in incidents where preventive measures might have sufficed. Consequently, this discussion has analyzed how police shootings can significantly decrease through the implementation of various strategies. The strategies include extensive training in the police academy, use of de-escalation tactics, and imparting police officers with skills on how to deal with people suffering from mental impairments. Each of these strategies has the potential of neutralizing situations that necessitate the use of lethal force. The implementation of these strategies will help to create a good rapport between the police and members of the public, a relationship which has often been a subject of discussion. Bottom line, initiatives aimed at curbing high rates of police shootings will reduce the use of lethal force, and safeguard the health and safety of law enforcement agents and civilians.