11-15-2006, 04:10 PM
As first opening post as moderator and as a way to get things stirred up in here, I've noticed on the news the last few days that there have been a few "beatings" in LA by the police, yet again.
Now, I think any crook who runs from the police is asking for a beat down, but at what point do the police have to give in and stop inflicting pain on the accused? Especially with video cameras in every citizen's hand these days, police should probably be extra careful about making it clear about the intentions of the officer.
But that leads to police who become afraid to do their job.
The two videos in question are:
1) A guy is in a police cruiser and was putting up a fight. The police loosened his cuffs because of his complaining and put him in the cruiser. I'm not sure of the reason, but one of the officers sprayed the suspect in the face with pepper spray at this point. Obviously I was not there, so it is difficult to judge, but the use of pepper spray seemed like a bit of an overdose. The suspect was in the car, and for all intents and purposes on his way downtown. Then again pepper spray is non lethal, and if the suspect was still giving them a problem, it was probably a good level of force.
2) A suspected high level gang member is pinned down after running from the police. Two officers are holding him down, one with a foot (or knee) on his neck, the other on his stomach holding his arms, trying to cuff him, I believe. The first officer was punching the suspect in the face. The guy is struggling, but the suspect claims it was because he could not breath. So the officer is trying to subdue him, but I think punching him in the face was a bit much. Seems like Cops around here (Cincinnati) are trained to hit the arms and legs to inflict pain instead of possibly seriously injuring the suspect.
The reason this interests me is because like all humans the police can make mistakes, and if I were being suffocated, I would probably be struggling too. The possibility of inflicting serious damage to an innocent person is terrible, but I also don't want to see the police looking over their shoulder for cameras every time they need to use physical force.
So question, do you think police are using appropriate levels of force? And do you think the public should not worry about what the police are doing? Or who should police the police, and how?
Now, I think any crook who runs from the police is asking for a beat down, but at what point do the police have to give in and stop inflicting pain on the accused? Especially with video cameras in every citizen's hand these days, police should probably be extra careful about making it clear about the intentions of the officer.
But that leads to police who become afraid to do their job.
The two videos in question are:
1) A guy is in a police cruiser and was putting up a fight. The police loosened his cuffs because of his complaining and put him in the cruiser. I'm not sure of the reason, but one of the officers sprayed the suspect in the face with pepper spray at this point. Obviously I was not there, so it is difficult to judge, but the use of pepper spray seemed like a bit of an overdose. The suspect was in the car, and for all intents and purposes on his way downtown. Then again pepper spray is non lethal, and if the suspect was still giving them a problem, it was probably a good level of force.
2) A suspected high level gang member is pinned down after running from the police. Two officers are holding him down, one with a foot (or knee) on his neck, the other on his stomach holding his arms, trying to cuff him, I believe. The first officer was punching the suspect in the face. The guy is struggling, but the suspect claims it was because he could not breath. So the officer is trying to subdue him, but I think punching him in the face was a bit much. Seems like Cops around here (Cincinnati) are trained to hit the arms and legs to inflict pain instead of possibly seriously injuring the suspect.
The reason this interests me is because like all humans the police can make mistakes, and if I were being suffocated, I would probably be struggling too. The possibility of inflicting serious damage to an innocent person is terrible, but I also don't want to see the police looking over their shoulder for cameras every time they need to use physical force.
So question, do you think police are using appropriate levels of force? And do you think the public should not worry about what the police are doing? Or who should police the police, and how?