THE LIMITS OF POLICE

AUTHORITY!

Chapter 9

Police Corruptio

n

Racial Profi lin

g

TYPES OF POLICE CORRUPTION

What is racial

profiling?

What are the types of police

corruption?

Use of Force

When is force

acceptable to use?

RACIAL PROFILING

A bank is robbed and the suspect is described as an Asian women driving a red

sports car. Police start looking for such a suspect.

Is this racial profiling?

POLICE CORRUPTION

For Personal Benefit

• Meat Eaters: police officers who actively seek bribes or other favors. – They may extort money

from people in exchange for letting them go and even commit crimes such as dealing drugs, burglary, robbery, or murder for hire.

• Grass Eaters: they do not actively seek bribes or other favors, but if something is offered to them, they will accept it. – Represents a large

majority of corrupt officers.

Corruption can be defined as misusing one’s official powers for

gain.

POLICE CORRUPTION

For Departmental Benefit

• This may be done in a misguided attempt to make sure justice is served or the department or unit will look good. –An officer may testify, that he saw a gun

lying in plain view in the defendant’s apartment when, in fact, he found the gun in the defendant’s desk drawer.

USE OF FORCE

• Police are authorized to use force to enforce the law and make arrests. • Questions arise when an officer uses a

gun, a baton, or even restraining holds in particular situations.–Did the officer need to use force? –Was the force excessive? –Did the force amount to brutality?

USE OF FORCE

• As a general rule, police may use whatever level of force is reasonable and necessary to make an arrest.

• Police are trained to begin with the lowest level of force necessary & should escalate the level of force if the situation required it.

DEADLY FORCE IS COMMONLY DEFINED AS “FORCE THAT

POSES A HIGH RISK OF DEATH OR SERIOUS INJURY

TO ITS HUMAN TARGET, WHETHER OR NOT DEATH OR

SERIOUS INJURY ACTUALLY RESULT.

USE OF FORCE • Factors in determining whether deadly force is

justified in a particular situation: – The officer is making an arrest for a felony

violation. – The officer has made the reason for the arrest

known to the suspect – The officer believes that deadly force is

necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury to the officer or another person

– The officer believes that the deadly force does not create a substantial risk to innocent persons.

– The criminal used deadly force or probably will use it if arrest is delayed.

SPLIT SECOND DECISION

If you were a police officer in a dangerous situation, how

do you think you should respond to the following

cases? Case #1:

Eulia, a 39 year old black woman, had a dispute with a gas company serviceman. The serviceman appeared at Eulia’s home to turn off the gas because of an unpaid bill. She attacked the serviceman and struck him several times with a shovel. The serviceman left and called the police. When two police officers arrived at Eulia’s home to arrest here for the aggravated assault, Eulia screamed at them and threw some dishes on the floor. The noise attracted several curious neighbors to her front porch to see what was going on. While officers talked to Eulia from a corner of the kitchen, she suddenly picked up an 11 inch knife from the counter and prepared to throw it at them.

Case #2:

Tony, a tall, thin, 17 year old boy, was speeding and swerving his car back and forth between the lane on the highway late one night. Two police officers stopped him and asked to see his driver’s license. Tony, who had obviously been drinking, became enraged and verbally abusive.

One of the officers, a 20-year veteran of the police force, attempted to handcuff him, but Tony pushed him away, grabbed a crowbar from his back seat, and waved it at the other officer. “I’ll kill you if you come near me again!” he screamed!

DanJamie

Morgan

IanJulia Ulises

BrendenCoreyAlly

StephenAnthonyMeaghan

BrianClaire

David I

MattEmma Rachel

Ernie Oliva Zach Alieen

Kyle Shane David J

Will

In your groups, look through your assigned newspapers to fi nd an article that relates to

what we have discussed in class. We will talk

about these articles at the end of the period!