Contemporary Challenges and Changes in American Law Enforcement

    There are three critical issues in contemporary law enforcement. The first is the war on police. The second is the failure of police to address politicians violating their oaths to serve the public, and the third is the use of evidence based policing to make changes to police operations. The war on police can be recognized by dishonest and deceptive media coverage of police actions; examples can be seen in the Ferguson and McKinney cases in which key facts were left out of the coverage. However, this is a propaganda war generaled from the highest levels of the Democratic Party, as “Obama has created a pathway for the cop hating rhetoric to flourish” (Clarke, 2015)..Another example can be seen in the prosecution of six policemen in Baltimore related to a death in custody; not only were the investigators surprised by the severity of the charges, but the prosecutor has gone to great lengths to prevent the facts of the case from being made public by using a gag order (“Baltimore prosecutor seeks”, 2015, para. 1). This leads into the failure of law enforcement agencies and line officers to bring politicians to account for their crimes. In Ferguson and Baltimore, politicians made the choice to ignore their sworn duty to protect the community and instead, “gave space to destroy”, to violent rioters. Another example would be in the Fast and Furious gunrunning case, in which the Obama administration provided weapons to violent narco-terror cartels, in violation of treaty with Mexico and in violation of the duty to protect. Third, evidence based policing is the trend that has continued from Vollmer through today, in which using the scientific method improves both the professionalism and efficiency of the police. Carter contends that “ we learned that experimental research could be effectively performed in a police agency without posing undue threats to public safety” (1995, p. 3)

    Not all of these challenges generate controversy. Although there is controversy regarding the war on police within the law enforcement community, but discussion in the public is limited due to lack of media focus... from the same media driving the war on police. Even so, "rank-and-file brethren in police departments nationwide, says police feel under siege and demoralized by the bias against them" (Bello, 2014, para. 4) Regarding the second issue, there is very limited discussion which is restricted to right wing viewpoints, and there is ambiguity as far as local laws (nonfeasance, misfeasance, malfeasance) and Constitutional responsibilities for dealing with such ssues. There is some academic dispute about which evidence policies have worked and which haven't. These disputes carry over into the political sphere. Three strikes sentencing and broken windows policing are two examples in which studies can be at odds with each other regarding results. Foe example, Bowling asserts that New York's drop in crime was more a result of a decline in the use of crack cocaine (1999).

    Evidence based policing has created the most change of the three issues. The war on police has not driven a formal change in police departments, but line officers are showing a trend towards not wanting to do their duty if doing so will place their careers and potentially their lives at risk , as the police are afraid of getting arrested for performing their duty” (CNN, 2015) The second has not driven any change. Although the concepts are based upon basic adherence to the law of the land, and duty of public office holders and sworn law enforcement officers , the consideration of this issue is considered to be extremist. Evidence based policing has driven many changes, although the debate and politics muddle he water regarding the efficiency of the changes. Levitt (2004) discusses several possible reasons, not including “Broken windows” policing, that may have been factors in New York's declining crime rate.

    The changes driven by these issues cab be either temporary or permanent. In the first, these are recent changes and may be temporary depending on how the war on cops is dealt with. There are no changes on the second. In the third, both. Some changes like the shift to community policing have been more permanent, while we can see that the broken windows approached has been discarded due to politics; New York's Mayor DiBlasio ended broken windows policing for political reasons, and we have already seen the rise in crime in New York (Celona, 2015).

    These changes reflect a shift in our society as a whole. The country has shifted leftward with control of the media (Groseclose & Milyo, 2005), education (Yancey, 2012), and the bureaucracy into the hands of liberals. This shift has left the country less educated, less patriotic, and more susceptible to propaganda and malfeasance by politicians and bureaucrats.

References

Baltimore prosecutor seeks gag order in Freddie Gray case. (2015, May 15). Fox News. Retrieved June 20, 2015 from http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/15/baltimore-prosecutor-seeks-gag-order-in-freddie-gray-case/

Bello, M. (n.d.). “It can be fearful”: Police feeling under siege. USA Today. Retrieved June 7, 2015, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/22/police-reactshootings/20773395/

Bowling, B. (1999, Autumn). The rise and fall of New York murder: Zero Tolerance or crack’s decline? British Journal of Criminology: VOL. 39 NO. 4. Retrieved April 15, 2014 from www.umass.edu/legal/Benavides/Fall2004/397G/.../7%20Bowling.pdf

Carter, D. L. (1995). Reflections on the move to community policing: Regional Community Policing Institute. Retrieved August 10, 2014 from http://webs.wichita.edu/depttools/depttoolsmemberfiles/rcpi/Policy%20Papers/Reflections%20on%20Comm%20Pol.pdf

Celona, L. (2015, May 26). You’re 45% more likely to be murdered in de Blasio’s Manhattan.  The New York Post. Retrieved May 27, 2015 from http://nypost.com/2015/05/26/youre-45-more-likely-to-be-murdered-in-de-blasios-manhattan/

Clarke, D. [SheriffClarke].(2015, May 11). I will say it again. Obama has created a pathway for the cop hating rhetoric to flourish. He has led the chorus.[Tweet]. Retrieved May 15, 2015 from https://twitter.com/SheriffClarke/status/597834103556349952

CNN. (2015, May 28). Baltimore union: 'Police are under siege'. Retrieved June 7, 2015 from http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/05/29/exp-baltimore-police-freddie-gray-crime-marquez-dnt-erin.cnn

Groseclose, T., & Milyo, J. (2005). A Measure of Media Bias. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 120(4), 1191–1237. http://doi.org/10.1162/003355305775097542

Levitt, S. (2004). Understanding why crime fell in the1990s: Four factors that explain the decline and six that do not. Journal of Economic Perspectives, (18)1.

Yancey, G. (2012). Recalibrating Academic Bias. Academic Questions, 25(2), 267–278. http://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/10.1007/s12129-012-9282-y

An Overview of American Law Enforcement: Challenges

The two primary failings of the law enforcement community in America are the tolerance of an increasing regulatory state which pits the line officer against the average citizen, and the utter failure to hold public officials liable for both criminal acts and violations of oath of office. A third failure of agencies is the reluctance to confront a biased media when news outlets present a narrative that lacks crucial facts in incidents the police deal with. Silvergate discusses the continuing proliferation of "crimes" that have been invented by bureaucrats over the last 30 years, including "crimes" that are based upon regulations rather than on the Constitutional process of law-making. Policing these “ crimes” puts policemen into conflict with the average citizen, not with criminals. In recent riots, the governor of Missouri, Jay Nixon, and the Mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, allowed rioters to attack citizens and police and to destroy property. Rawlings-Blake even stated she was giving rioters “space to destroy” (Chuck, 1015, para. 3). Both these politicians should have been arrested for failure to perform their duty. Finally, we have seen the media report on use of force incidents and selectively choose which facts are made public, and which aren't. Ferguson and McKinelly demonstrate that these portrayals consistently leave out the facts which justify the policeman's actions.

The major challenges for American law enforcement lay in the resolution of the issues discussed above. The system of checks and balances in the American governing system are sometimes vague about who has the responsibility for correcting issues such as nonfeasance and malfeasance; there are multiple studies done about police corruption and abuse of authority, but there is an almost nonexistent body of research regarding the punishment of elected officials that abuse the system. Finally, there is a problem with a lack of resources in many jurisdictions that can affect police efficiency, To meet these challenges, sworn officers and support personnel throughout the entire American security community must confront both the propaganda of the press and the malfeasance of the politicians with courage, public debate, and when the law has been violated, with handcuffs.

Other countries face the same types of issues. England has a similar problem in that public officials have abandoned their duty to protect the public. In Rotherham, Muslim men raped approximately 1,400 children over a period of 16 years, but the politicians and bureaucrats protected the offenders instead of the community “for reasons of political expediency and ideology, unwilling to confront the fact that the abusers were of Pakistani heritage” (Manzoor, 2014, para.5) . Indian police must deal with a culture of corruption in their political system. Canada suffers from scarcity of public resources.

Progression of organization has always been a matter of stops and starts. This is due to competing factors. Growth theory suggests that as organizations grow, they focus more on protecting the organization than on achieving the mission. Once the rot in an organization degrades mission effectiveness to a certain point, there will be a demand for reform. In addition, organizations that are dedicated to the mission will seek out ways to improve efficiency. Finally, the politics model suggests that political interests can advance or hinder the evolution and efficiency of policy operations.

Law enforcement may have evolved for the better had criminal justice professionals been more perceptive of the “poverty pitfall” of Chicago School sociologists and taken steps to prevent it's influence from taking hold in law enforcement policies, “Poverty Pitfall” is the term that I use to describe the fallacy of the concept that poverty causes crime. This is a prima facie fallacy. There is crime in communist countries where everyone is “equal”; rich people commit crime; middle class people commit crime. The concept fails the test of logic. Policing in this country could have been much worse had the law enforcement community not evolved from the Political Model ( which is different than the term used previously) to the Professional Model.

The overall success this country has had in professional policing is often hidden behind the front page stories of police acting “badly”; these stories typically omit the facts that would counter the headline.

References

Chuck, E. (2015, April 28). Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake under fire for 'space' to destroy comment. NBC News. Retrieved June 17, 2015 from http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/baltimore-unrest/mayor-stephanie-rawlings- blake-under-fire-giving-space-destroy-baltimore-n349656

Manzoor, S. (2014, September 15). The England that is forever Pakistan: Multiculturalism and rape in Rotherham. The New York Times. Retrieved June 17, 2015 from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/16/opinion/multiculturalism-and-rape-in- rotherham.html

Silverglate, H. (2013). Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent. Encounter Books.

Comparative Use of Law Enforcement Application of GIS Technology in Four Countries: the United States, England, India, and Canada

This summary paper will highlight the major attributes of police use of GIS technology in four countries; the United States, England, India, and Canada. The characteristics for each country that this paper examines are the following:

• Technological development in these regions.
• Existent GIS systems
• Uses of GIS systems beyond law enforcement applications
• The effect that the 9/11 attacks had on public safety measures
• A brief overview of law enforcement
• The future of law enforcement

1. The United States
   1. Technology advances in the United States have been almost been as rapidly integrated into law enforcement techniques as they have been developed into public use. The Johnson administrations commitment to use Federal resources to assists local agencies in using new technology. GIS systems have been part of the American heritage to adapt to new technology.” Law enforcement officers and civilian crime analysts have been mapping crime virtually since

the time that police agencies were established--through the use of push pins and a paper map.

The diffusion of GIS into crime analysis has been a slow process primarily because of cost (both hardware and software) and complexity” (Groff & La Vigne, 1998, p. 2) “In the early 1980s, client server technology made geographic information systems more accessible, and this enabled a number of police departments to experiment with crime mapping in their everyday work” (Santos, 2013, p. 11).

2. The United States criminal justice system is a federal system with many different jurisdictions that use different GIS applications. Leipnik & Albert discuss several case studies from across the country in their book, GIS in Law Enforcement: Implementation Issues and Case Studies.
3. GIS systems can be used for many applications beyond policing. Missing children, public health monitoring, and disaster response are just three examples of GIS application. Such uses have included the search for debris from the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 (Allen, 2015).
4. In the reorganization and reaffirmation of the American security community in response to the 9/11 attacks, the Department of Homeland Security recognized the key part technology plays in securing the nation. GIS capabilities are included in this vision, as the “DHS Office of Grants and Training recognizes the important contribution that geospatial information and technology plays in strengthening our Nation’s security posture” (“FY 2007 Homeland Security”, 2007, p. 1).
5. Law enforcement in the United States, as stated, is multi-jurisdictional in nature. The two major considerations in the American criminal justice system are protecting the community and adhering to due process considerations. American policing has been at the forefront of research in underlying crimogenic causes, procedural policing, and technological assistance to law enforcement since the days of Vollmer.
6. It is in the technological field that he future of policing lies, as “In this technological era, law enforcement has had to evolve to fulfill its mandate of contributing to overall public security” (Grant & Terry, 2005, p. 324).

2. England
   1. Although England may not have the wide technological base as the United States to draw upon, the basic techniques of crime mapping were being studied in England as early as the 1850's (Canter, 2000, p.3)
   2. England has implemented GIS systems rapidly. In 1999, 44% of English police stations had crime mapping facilities (Griffin, 2001, p.11). By 2005, 90% of police units in England used GIS applications fro law enforcement purposes (Weir & Bangs, 2007, p. 3).
   3. One way in which the English have used GIS systems outside of law enforcement is in highway planning, and is “presently using GIS information largely around highlighting areas in need of improvement” (Merritt, 2015, para. 6).
   4. 9/11 played a part in the development of London's “Ring of Steel”; however, it has been seen that GIS/CCTV systems can not prevent terror attacks simply by being in place.
   5. Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is based upon Peelian Principles (Boyd & Skelton, 2012, p. 6). A major difference between American police and English police is that Americans swear their oath of office to defend the Constitution while English officers swear loyalty to the Crown
   6. According to Boyd and Skelton (2012, p. 48), the following priorities are crucial to the future of English policing:
      1. A relentless focus on the prevention of crime and disorder
      2. Policing to be delivered locally
      3. The public to be encouraged to play a full part in the fight against crime
      4. Outcome-oriented PCCs who are fully engaged with their policing partners

3. India
   1. Although India is an underdeveloped nation, it has a large demographic base which includes technological savvy. “India has long been a leader in using modern spatial technologies and started its tryst with satellite images and GIS in the 1980s “ (“India: A vision”, 2013, para. 1)
   2. Griffin questioned the ability of police in Bombay to be able to access such systems for police work (2001, p. 2). However, several Indian municipalities have implemented GIS systems. “The plan to introduce GIS/GPS in Mumbai police was mooted in 2000.” (“Be prepared for”. 2006, p.3) and “officials of the special branch...are being trained in this technology. (“Kerala police plan”, 2010, para. 3).
   3. GIS systems are not in use commonly throughout India, in “spite of the wide usage of GIS as a technology, the potential of GIS has not yet been fully exploited for decision support by planners, stakeholders, decision makers, (“India: A vision”, 2013, para. 6)
   4. In contrast to the United States, India has long been a target of Islamist terror. A short list of attacks includes the 1993 Bombay bombing, a series of kidnappings in 1994 and 1995, the 1998 massacres in Chamba and Prankote, and the 2001 Chalwalkote massacre. India has retained it's anti-terror policy.
   5. Like the United States, India is a federal governmental system, resulting in many jurisdictions. A major difference is that senior police officials in many different police agencies all belong to the Indian Police Service, a centralized agency.
   6. Police in India must overcome political interference before moving to procedural or technological goals. There are “many instances where the statutory duties of the police have

been interfered with by the political players” (Dutta & Baruah, 2008, p.122)

4. Canada
   1. Canada has the lowest population of the four countries to draw upon for resources, but a common language and common border with the United States provides Canada and it's police forces with convenient access to technological services.
   2. Several major cities in Canada use GIS systems Vancouver PD uses GIS application for their Intelligence Led Policing project (“Vancouver police focuses”, 2011, para. 1). The Toronto Police Service was an “early adopter of geographic information system technology” in the 1990's, (Marshall, 2008, para. 1).
   3. Canada also uses GIS applications for other than police work. For example, “the Department used GIS to support pre-planning activities and actual operations during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games (“Vancouver police focuses, 2011, para. 3).
   4. The attacks on 9/11 bought a higher focus on security for the United States/Canada border (Kislenko, 2012, p. 310).
   5. Canada, like the United States and India, uses a federal governing system, with police agencies at each level and local jurisdictions.
   6. Canadian police must look forward to an era of “increasingly scarce public resources”, and must become more efficient to mitigate that lack of resources (Di Matteo, 2014, p. 2).

References

Allen, D. (2015, May).Geographic information systems mapping: Response, availability, and training. Presented at the Texas 2015 Emergency Management Conference. San Antonio, Texas.

Be prepared for quick response from police. (2006, January 29). The Times of India. Retrieved June 15, 2015 from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/

Be-prepared-for-quick-response-from-police/articleshow/1391044.cms

Boyd, E. and Skelton, D. (2012) Policing 2020: What kind of police service do we want in 2020? Policy Exchange. Retrieved June 16, 2015 from http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/policing%202020.pdf

Canter, P. (2000). Analyzing crime patterns: Frontiers of practice. In Using a Geographic Information System for Tactical Crime Analysis (pp. 3–11). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. Retrieved June 15, 2015 from http://faculty.uml.edu/apattavina/44.594/Tactical%20Crime%20Analysis.pdf

Dutta, M. and Baruah, M. (2008) Policing the nation in the 21st century : An appraisal of the proposed reforms. NUJS Law Review. Retrieved June 16, 2015 from http://www.manupatra.co.in/newsline/articles/Upload/9D7B024D-7F33- 4379-A512-F3252B9A90CA.pdf

Grant, H., & Terry, K. (2005). Advances in policing—new technologies for crime analysis. In Law enforcement in the 21st century. Boston, MA: Pearson.

FY 2007 Homeland security grant program supplemental resource: Geospatial guidance. (2007). Department of Homeland Security.

Griffin, J. (2001). International crime mapping: Caveats and considerations. Crime Mapping News, 3 (1). Retrieved June 15, 2015 from http://www.policefoundation.org/sites/pftest1.drupalgardens.com/files/

Vol3Issue1.pdf

Groff, E. R., & La Vigne, N. G. (1998). The use of geographic information systems (GIS) for state and local crime analysis. In conference of European statisticians, Ottawa (pp. 5–7). Citeseer. Retrieved June 15, 2015 from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download? doi=10.1.1.113.7957&rep=rep1&type=pdf

India: A vision for National GIS. (2013, Fall). ARCnews. Retrieved June 15, 2015 from http:// www.esri.com/esri-news/arcnews/fall13articles/india-a-vision-for-national-gis

Kerala police plan GIS-based crime mapping. (2010, July 1). Geospatial World. Retrieved June 15, 2015 from http://geospatialworld.net/News/View.aspx?ID=17886_Article

Kislenko, A. (2012). Guarding the border: Intelligence and law enforcement in Canada’s immigration system. In The Oxford Handbook of National Security Intelligence. USA. Oxford University Press.

Leipnik, M. R., & Albert, D. P. (2003). GIS in Law Enforcement: Implementation Issues and Case Studies. CRC Press.

Marshall, P. (2008, May 2). Toronto police struggle with GIS' success. GCN. Retrieved June 15, 2015 from http://gcn.com/articles/2008/05/02/toronto-police-struggle-with-gis- success.aspx

Merritt, N. (2015, May 19). Highways England mulls GIS expansion potential. Government Computing. Retrieved June 16, 2015 from http://central- government.governmentcomputing.com/news/highways-england-mulls-gis- expansion-potential-4580951

Santos, R. (2013). Crime analysis with crime mapping (Third edition).Thousand Oaks, CA. SAGE Publications, Inc.

Vancouver police focuses on Intelligence-Led Policing for proactive crime reduction. (2011, November 8). GISCafe. Retrieved Retrieved June 15, 2015 from http://www10.giscafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php? section=CorpNews&articleid=1028370

Weir, R., & Bangs, M. (2007). The use of geographic information systems by crime analysts in England and Wales. [London]: Home Office, Research, Development and Statistics Directorate. Retrieved June 15, 2015 from http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/rdsolr0307.pdf

GIS Data Initiatives

Should the federal government support GIS data initiatives of local police and law enforcement agencies? Why? How would this benefit or deter law enforcement efforts?

The federal government should consider the support of GIS data initiatives as a component of the technological support currently provided to local agencies. GIS personnel slotted for law enforcement can aid in the emergency response function of homeland security. David Allen, with the Texas Emergency GIS Response Team, explains the versatility of GIS technology. Because GIS applications can use pre-configured templates corresponding to the specific task at hand, a GIS support team can move from jobs such as traffic control to flooding response quickly. Allen gave the example of GIS response to the Dallas Ebola case last year in which GIS personnel from around the state in a variety of agencies responded to the emergency by setting aside their day to day tasks and preparing function-specific maps to coordinate responder activities, from ambulance routes to no-fly zones (2015). Thus, federal support for GIS capability in law enforcement agencies provides additional support for homeland security responsibilities.

As to the law enforcement centered capabilities of GIS, GIS applications can be used in a multitude of police analytic tasks and coordination such as operational awareness, citizen engagement, information integration and management, planning and analysis, and finally, field mobility (Esri, 2012, pp. 2-4). GIS systems can be used for Compstat based programs, for example.

Allen, D. (2015, May).Geographic information systems mapping: Response, availability, and training. Presented at the Texas 2015 Emergency Management Conference. San Antonio, Texas.

Esri. (2012). GIS for law enforcement. Retrieved June 13, 2015 from http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/gis-for-law-enforcement.pdf

London's "Ring of Steel" / Victim's rights - publicization

What technological advances made the creation of the Ring of Steel possible? Is there scope for less technologically advanced countries to incorporate the principles of the Ring of Steel in their security measures? How?

Advances in video quality and reductions in production expenses have made the use of CCTV monitoring systems more available for police to protect public spaces. “The availability of inexpensive image sensors - the basic prerequisite for video surveillance - and ample computing power has enabled the development of embedded, real-time video analysis systems that can provide compressed data or meta event information directly”(Eurekalert, 2004, para. 4). However, there are additional costs that agencies should be aware of. While the Urban Institute found that CCTV systems such as London's Ring of Steel” can reduce crime, they stressed that for such systems to work they must be monitored consistently. In the Institutes study at three sites, researchers found that “Stakeholders at all three sites stressed the cost of installation , maintenance , and monitoring— which turned out to be much higher than the cost of the cameras themselves” (La Vigne et al, 2011, p. 3). These costs may make it ineffective for less advanced countries to implement the use of CCTV systems.

Should victims’ addresses be publicly listed and identified using mapping software? Why? What kind of breach of ethics does this represent? Why?

Absolutely not. A victim has the basic right of privacy. However, there are two situations in which courts have ruled other issues may override that right. The first is “a criminal defendant's exercise of his constitutional rights” for defense, and the second is the “media's First Amendment right

of access to criminal proceedings” (Ford and Nembach, 1992, pp. 206-207). In the process of crime mapping, the information required does not need the victim's specifics, instead relying on the crime's information. The exceptions raised by Ford and Nembach do not apply for mapping, and thus the victim's right of privacy has no reason to be broached. An interesting comparison of public need to know vs. victims need for privacy may be found at http://mediacrimevictimguide.com/right.html, “The Victim’s Right to Privacy Versus the Public’s Right to Know” although it does not add to this question.

EurukAlert. (2004, July 21). Technological advances enhance video surveillance equipment progress. Retrieved June 11, 2015 from http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-07/ti-tae072104.php

Ford, M. and Nembach, P. (1992) The victim's right to privacy: Imperfect protection from the criminal justice system. Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development: Vol. 8: Iss. 1. Retrieved June 11, 2015 from http://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/jcred/vol8/iss1/11

LaVigne, N., Lowry, S., Markman, J., and Dwyer, A. (2011). Evaluating the use of public surveillance cameras for crime control and prevention—A summary. The Urban Institute. Retrieved June 11, 2015 from http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/412401-Evaluating-the-Use-of-Public-Surveillance-Cameras-for-Crime-Control-and-Prevention-A-Summary.PDF

Effective policing, potential brutality, and police response through the Rodney King prism

    There were differences in the state and federal cases involving the police officers charged in the Rodney King incident. The primary difference in the two trials is that the state cases were based upon charges of criminal acts violating the state's legal code. The federal cases were based upon charges of violating civil rights; United States v. Stacey C. Koon, 833 F. Supp. 769 The second difference is that this was a case of double jeopardy. “The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment commands that no person shall "be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb. “(Amar & Marcus, 1995, p. 1).

Individuals police officers can be held responsible for acts of police brutality. Officer must use “objective reasonableness” in their use of force. This standard was set for the use of deadly force, but almost any use of force has a possibility for lethal results. “Civil liability for use of deadly force is based on an objective reasonableness standard.”(“Civil liability for use of deadly force – Part One- General principles and objective reasonableness,” 2007, p. 107)

    There have been broad changes that have taken place in law enforcement since 1991. Community policing and evidence based policing have been attempts at understanding what makes police work more effective. The results of community policing are partly intended to create better relations within the community, and thus to lessen the potential for use of force incidents ( and thus potential brutality incidents as well). The negative changes to the law enforcement community have been driven primarily thorough a news narrative which portrays policemen in a negative light, particularly in editing footage or failing to provide complete coverage of the events being reported upon, as we will discuss shortly in relation to the King case.

    If the law enforcement community seeks to make the criminal justice system more effective, there are two priories for action; first, to confront dishonest news reporting, and secondly, to confront politicians that seek to use such false media narratives to obstruct justice. Chief Gates of the LAPD threw his officers to the wolves despite having access to the full video, which shows King attempt to assault one officer (Youtube, 2015). Gates should have shown that portion of the tape, which the media edited out, at every press conference discussing the event. When Gates refused to defend justice, the line officers of LAPD needed to confront him in turn. As an example of confronting politicians, we can look to the Baltimore riots of 2015, in which the Mayor gave “space to destroy” to the rioters. She should have been arrested immediately upon obstruction of justice, incitement to riot, and malfeasance charges. Policemen can not do their jobs while being lied about in the media or sabotaged by their political “leaders”.

    The issues of race and accusations of brutality in the King case are reflected in today's policing atmosphere. Not many people considered race an issue in the King subdual, at first, including. Even King's own attorney (Linder, 2001, para 13). However, Jacobs describes the media “construction of the event as a crisis” (1996, p. 1247). Sergeant Koon felt like the media had edited the tape as an act of “political bias”(Cannon, 1999, p. 23). Even so, the actions of journalists and politicians do not represent the community at large. South Central wanted police protection; polls showed that the majority of the black and Hispanic residents were supportive of police (Cannon, 1999, p. 17)

References

Amar, A. R., & Marcus, J. L. (1995). Double Jeopardy Law After Rodney King. Columbia Law Review, 1–59. Retrieved June 9, 2105 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1123126

Cannon, L. (1999). Official negligence: How Rodney King and the riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD. Westview Press.

Civil liability for use of deadly force – Part one - General principles and objective reasonableness. (2007). Americans for Effective Law Enforcement (AELE) Monthly Law Journal.

Jacobs, R. N. (1996). Civil society and crisis: Culture, discourse, and the Rodney King beating. American Journal of Sociology, 101(5), 1238–1272. Retrieved June 5, 2015 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2782354

Linder, D. (2001). The trials of Los Angeles police officers' in connection with the beating of Rodney King. Retrieved June 9, 2015 from

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/l

apdaccount.html

Youtube. (2015). Rodney King beating video full length footage screener. Retrieved June 9, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb1WywIpUtY#t=17

Civil Liability for Police Action

    Civil liability for actions taken by government employees has it's roots in the “Ku Klux Klan Act” of 1871. Title 42 Section 1983 is the applicable section. In Monroe v. Pope, based upon Section 1983, the Supreme Court made a ruling “To redress the deprivation, under color of any State law, statute, ordinance, regulation, custom or usage, of any right, privilege or immunity secured by the Constitution of the United States or by any Act of Congress providing for equal rights of citizens or of all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States” (Cornell University Law School, n.d.). This protection extends to failure to act as well. In City of Canton v. Harris, the Supreme Court ruled that police inaction can result in civil liability for both officers and their agency (DPS –Law Enforcement Academy, n.d., p.9).

    A policeman can be held liable for actions undertaken under color of authority as well as the agency he works for. Agencies can be held civilly liable, as “the Supreme Court first recognized municipal liability when it interpreted the term 'person,' as used in section 1983, to include a municipal government (Elliot, 1985, para. 2). The Supreme Court has specified the boundaries for such liability “Under the section 1983 civil rights statute, municipalities are liable when improperly trained, supervised, or disciplined police officers violate an individual's civil rights.(McKittrick, 1987, p. 261). An officer may still be held personally responsible for actions he undertakes “Intentional Torts: An intentional tort would occur when an officer, without justification, intentionally commits an act which is recognized by the law as a tort” (Ryan, n.d, para. 2). an officer may be held criminally liable for his actions under the following circumstances: violation of state criminal code or federally under 18 U.S.C. sec. 242: This statute is a federal statute that creates criminal liability for the intentional violation of rights (Ryan, n.d, para. 14-15).

    The following Supreme Court cases have established civil liability protections, included a

duty to act in some cases, set standards for immunity, and defined the scope of civil liability:

Monroe v. Pope (1961)

Bivens v. Six Unknown Agents(1971)

Monell v.Department of Social Services(1978)

Martinez v. California (1980)

Owen v. City of Independence (1980)

Polk County v. Dodson (1981)

Harlow v. Fitzgerald (1982)

Oklahoma City v. Tuttle (1985)

Tennessee v. Garner (1985)

City of Canton v. Harris (1989)

Graham v. Conner (1989)

Board of the County Commissioners of Bryan County v. Brown (1997)

Richardson v. McKnight (1997)

Saucier v. Katz (2001)

Ashcroft v. Iqbal (2009)

Connick v. Thompson (2011)

(partially sourced from Blum, 2013)

    The primary difference in standards for liability between lethal incidents and non-lethal incidents is the concept of objective reasonableness “Civil liability for use of deadly force is based on an objective reasonableness standard.”(“Civil liability for use of deadly force – Part One- General principles and objective reasonableness,” 2007, p. 107). This standard was set in the Supreme Court case, Graham v. Conner.

    The best way for law enforcement officials should be able to protect themselves against civil liability suits is to know exactly what the current laws are, and to verify that they enforce these laws within Constitutional bounds. There are limits to liability. Absolute immunity protects a government official completely from lawsuits and criminal prosecution. It is extended “ to administrative bodies in the exercise of quasi-judicial powers, which bodies are required by statute to exercise” (US Legal, n.d., para. 4). Qualified immunity is based on a set of conditions, in which the official must be acting:

• within the scope of his/her office;

• are in objective good faith, and

• do not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would be aware. (US Legal, n.d., para. 2).
  

Qualified immunity has been outlined in the Supreme Court cases, Bivens v. Six Unknown Agents, Harlow v. Fitzgerald, and Saucier v. Katz,

    Civil liability is a necessary concept for maintaining a Republic. Public officials and the agencies that employ them must be held accountable when they violate Constitutional protections. Public officials are not above the law.

References

Blum, K. (2013). Municipal liability and liability of supervisors: litigation significance of recent trends and developments. Touro Law Review. Retrieved June 8, 2015, from http://www.tourolawreview.com/2013/01/municipal-liability-and-liability-of-supervisors/

Civil liability for use of deadly force – Part one - General principles and objective reasonableness.(2007). Americans for Effective Law Enforcement (AELE) Monthly Law Journal.

Cornell University Law School. (n.d.) Monroe v. Pope. Retrieved June 8, 2015, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/365/167

DPS –Law Enforcement Academy. (n.d.) Civil liability and civil rights online. Retrieved June 8, 2015, from http://nmlea.dps.state.nm.us/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Civil_Liability_and_Civil_Rights.pdf

Elliot, C. (1985). Comment: Police misconduct: Municipal liability under Section 1983. LexisNexis. Retrieved June 8, 2015, from https://litigationessentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=74+Ky.+L.J.+651&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=65d942e9cb9b38ead59321ef447b5939

McKittrick, C. L. (1987). Municipal liability for police misconduct: Rymer v. Davis. Wash. UJ Urb. & Contemp. L., 32, 261. Retrieved June 8, 2015 from http://heinonlinebackup.com/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/waucl32&section=13

Ryan, J. (n.d.). Overview of police liability. Police Link. Retrieved June 8, 2015, from http://policelink.monster.com/training/articles/2120-overview-of-police-liability-

US Legal. (n.d.). Absolute or qualified immunity. Retrieved June 8, 2015, from http://administrativelaw.uslegal.com/liability-of-administrative-agencies/absolute-or-qualified-immunity/

Police brutality, body cameras, overcriminalization in concert

[ note- this was a multi-student question - my questions and answers are included - the references the other students used are included, but not their responses to the questions or answers]

 Does the “we/they” police worldview contribute to the use of police brutality? How?

The “we/they”, or “us versus them” worldview is perhaps the greatest cause of police brutality. I am going to break from the academic material here, because I judge that research does not accurately capture this culture conflict between police and the rest of society. I base this judgment on four “sources”; police fiction ( in particular, Joseph Wambaugh), an anthology of personal stories of policemen called “Cops: their lives in their own words”, personal interaction with police, and finally, academia. I list these in the order of how important they have been in forming my opinion of “the police attitude”.

Joseph Wambaugh was a LA cop that went on to write quite a few fictional novels and a couple of non-fiction books focusing on policemen's lives. Rutten comments on Wambaugh's “unequaled ability to capture the nuances of the LAPD's isolated and essentially Hobbesian tribal culture” (2008, para. 3). I contend that Wambaugh captures the attitude of police across the nation as well (and I'll return to Hobbes momentarily). The “us versus them” worldview develops in his (and other fiction) in three sub-themes; police have to trust each other because civilians can't understand them, the use of black humor (in the sense of cynical and sarcastic, not necessarily, but SOMETIMES racial) to shield themselves from the personal costs of their work, and that police have to show “the street” who is boss.

When I read “Cops: their lives in their own words”, I was surprised at how often these stories told by actual police reflected the fiction I had read. One story I read that stood out even 20 years later was about the perception of a racist cop by his fellow officers; they considered him to be a buffoon, but that he was still a cop. They tried to keep him out of the way, but also protected him.

I have a wide range of personal experience with police, as an arrestee (twice ;>), as a victim of crime, as a security officer who worked with police frequently, and finally, socially, as I know a few cops that were in my company in the Corps, and I also had a roommate who was a cop, and I sometimes partied with the members of his department. I share, for the most part, the attitudes and philosophical veiwpoints of most policemen, and yet I was still a civilian in their viewpoint. I found it interesting that policemen may admit the existence of the “us versus them” view, but that they are reluctant to discuss it with outsiders. In the times when I was able to discuss some of the harsher aspects relating to these themes I had read about, the cops I spoke with would say something like, “we don't don't do that anymore”...but they recognized what I was asking about, showing that the concepts are still part of police culture. I used to get a good laugh with the following joke, highlighting the black humor that is part of the we/they contruct:

“How many cops does it take to push a handcuffed suspect down the stairs?”

“None, the asshole tripped and fell”

This reluctance to discuss the viewpoint with outsiders may be why academic studies can capture the existence of the viewpoint, but not to translate into personal understanding...or it could be that I just have an “I already know that” attitude towards the research I have read ;> Paoline reports that “Research on police officers has noted the negative attitudes that police hold toward citizens” (2004, p. 208), and discusses regional and personal variations on the concept. Paoline's research reflects two of the three sub-themes introduced in the fiction, excluding the dark humor. Finally, Paoline notes that while the “us versus them” attitude is a dominant attitude, it is not a uniform attitude.

How does this “us versus them” attitude contribute to police brutality? I noted Hobbes as a reference earlier in the discussion; a central theme of Hobbe's Leviathan is that the threat of force is the only thing that keeps human behavior civil. This is also reflected in Wilson's typology of the police legalistic Enforcer, who's mission is fighting crime. This is directly reflected in the sub-theme of “showing the street who is boss”. Wambaugh uses the “catch-up” game in his fiction in several of his books. The “catch-up game” consists in continuing to beat a suspect who has assaulted a policeman even after the suspect has been subdued. Although Wambaugh explains that the “catch-up” game as partly a result of adrenaline and fear ( as a parallel in war, Keegan notes that the shooting of soldiers who are trying to surrender becomes more frequent immediately after a battle), Wambaugh also notes that the “catch-up game” was condoned on the street level as it was an warning to other criminals; don't swing on cops.

References

Baker, M. (1986). Cops: their lives in their own words. New York: Pocket Books.

Balko, R. (2011). A Decade after 9/11, Police Departments Are Increasingly Militarized.  . Retrieved online from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/12/police-militarization-9-11-september-11_n_955508.html

Diversity in law enforcement: A literature review. (2015). Retrieved June 7, 2015, from http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/Diversity_in_Law_Enforcement_Literature_Review.pdf

Gane-McCalla, C. (2009, March 26). 5 Ways to Fight Police Brutality. Retrieved June 6, 2015, from http://newsone.com/138441/how-to-fight-police-brutality/

McGinnis, N. (2003). The “Broken Windows” Theory and Community Supervision: Public Safety is Sometimes a Matter of Appearance. CSOSA. Retrieved inline from http://www.csosa.gov/newsmedia/newsletter_articles/brokenwindowstheory.aspx

NorthBendale.org. (n.d). Community Safety and Crime Prevention. Retrieved online from http://northbendale.org/safety_crime.html

Paoline, E. A. (2004). Shedding light on police culture: An examination of officers’ occupational attitudes. Police Quarterly, 7(2), 205–236. http://doi.org/10.1177/1098611103257074

Rutten, T. (2008, March 26). Owner of the LAPD. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 6, 2015 from http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/26/entertainment/et-rutten26

Stanford School of Public Policy. (2015). Did 9/11 Change Anything? Everything?" Panelists discuss freedoms, human rights, U.S. foreign relations. Retrieved online from http://news.sanford.duke.edu/news-type/news/2011/did-911-change-anything-everything-panelists-discuss-freedoms-human-rights-us-fo 

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I would say that overcriminalization is the contributing factor, but that militarization of the police can make the situation worse.

Balko does make the argument that militarization has increased, when in the past, "SWAT
teams and other paramilitary units were used sparingly, only in volatile, high-risk situations
such as bank robberies or hostage situations" (Balko, 2006, p.4).  Now SWAT units are employed to serve simple warrants.  I read a news report last week in which a SWAT unit served a warrant on a bad check writer.

The War on Drugs, like Prohibition before it, serves as an excuse for government officials to rationalize away Constitutional protections.  See Okrant's Last Call for a detailed discussion on how both local governments and the Feds used Prohibition to set the precedent in violating the 3rd and 4th Amendment protections of citizens.   The "crimes" involved are victimless crimes to begin with.  The sad thing is that significant portions of the population, sometimes even the majority of the nation, is quite happy to send SWAT teams against the perpetrators of these so-called "crimes".

But the problem goes deeper than simple nanny-stating.  Silvergate discusses the landslide of "crimes" that have been invented by the federal government over the last 30 years, including "crimes" that are based upon regulations rather than on the Constitutional process of law-making.  Silvergate contends that the average American commits three felonies a day...without even knowing about it.

It is understandable that police have an us vs. them mentality when dealing with mala in se criminals.  It is further understandable that police would have a degree of seperation with civilians who do not understand the mix of boredom, fear, adrenaline, and sadness that police can experience, and often rely on dishonest reporters for their perceptions of police.  But the landslide of "crimes" set down by politicians has exacerbated the position of the mentality to the point where it is the "crime" that drives the mentality, not the actual severity of the crime, and equates the common citizen with the murderer, rapist, or thief.

Balko, R. (2006). Overkill: The rise of paramilitary police raids in America. Washington, D.C.  The Cato Institute

Okrent, D. (2010). Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. New York. Simon and Schuster.

Silverglate, H. (2013). Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent. Encounter Books.

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Studies have shown that both use of force incidents and false citizen complaints can be reduced through the use of body cameras(White, 2014, pp. 19-21), yet Dr. Suboch discusses potential issues with such use.

One way to mitigate privacy issues would be to allow the officer to turn the body camera on or off at discretion, allowing for personal privacy but also to allow witness with sensitives issues the option for privacy.  However, there would be a remote toggling function built in, so that when an officer responds to a dispatch the camera would be activated.  This could reduce the number of accidental and malicious incidents where the camera is not turned on.

White, M. D. (2014). Police Officer  Body-Worn Cameras  Assessing the  evidence. Washington, D.C.: OJP Diagnostic Center, U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved October 3, 2014 from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=6525606

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there would have to be personal (not necessarily sworn officers) to review footage, and this can be time consuming.

I have done video editing before ( I worked for three years at the public access TV station, and I had to review footage before it was aired), and it takes time to go through video.  Maybe not on an hour by hour basis, but at least on a 1 to 4 time ratio.  The reviewer would also have to have the duty logs to focus on interactions with the public that may be problematic.

Finally, you would have to set policies on, like you said, how long the footage is kept, how is it to be released to the public, etc etc 

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That's very true, and there are definite problems with agencies that don't have the budgetary resources to equip their officers with cameras, much less the training you discuss.

There are also budgetary hindrances to the video storage and data collation  systems that would be necessary for efficient use of body cameras.

 

 

Rodney King and use of force

[ note- this was a multi-student question - my questions and answers are included - the references the other students used are included, but not their responses to the questions or answers]

Has the Rodney King incident increased police and law enforcement accountability? How? What other incidents over the years have contributed to police and law enforcement accountability? What other law enforcement reforms did the Rodney King incident pave the way for?

The Rodney King incident did not increase police accountability. It was the latest stop in the merry-go-round of activist complaints regarding use of force incidents. This has been a continuing process in which first the chokehold was targeted for prohibition, then the baton, and then the Taser. Simply put, every use of force method that police use has been the target of complaint. I do not have the data to either prove or disprove that use of force complaints correlate with whichever force method has been the latest method sanctioned However, this cycle can be perceived anecdotally. The King incident occurred after the chokehold had been forbidden, although “some officers have recently argued for a restoration of the tactic, saying the King case proved that police do not have adequate techniques to restrain suspects”(Rainey, 1993, para. 10) The King case led to criticism of the baton, as “use of the baton would provoke an even greater crisis in the Rodney King affair” (MacDonald, 2003, para. 10 ). A National Institute of Justice report discusses the use of the Taser; “Taser use has increased in recent years...Tasers have caused controversy...Organizations such as Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union have questioned whether Tasers can be used safely” (Alpert et al., 2011, p. 1). It is not that police accountability has increased as it is that the focus of complaint has moved. LAPD did not even begin to track “meaningful statistical analysis of the lethal, less-lethal and non-lethal force used by LAPD officers” until 2008. (Los Angeles Police Department, 2009, p. 2).

In fact, the King incident led to a DECREASE in police accountability. MacDonald quotes a sergeant in accusing that “After King, a 'culture of cowardice'... descended on the top brass” (2003, para. 13). Former LAPD officer and L.A. City Councilman Dennis Zine reinforces this assertion by stating that “under the LAPD ... administration there was an atmosphere where officers were demoralized to the point that they did not aggressively enforce the law” (“Do politically correct police tactics threaten public safety?,” 2007, para. 6).

Does the presence of a police supervisor at an incident such as the Rodney King arrest increase the civil liability of a police or law enforcement agency? How? How is civil liability today different from what it was during the Rodney King incident?

Theoretically yes, because a supervisor's presence during a use of force incident would either indicate that the use of force was within the department's procedures or was a case of deliberate indifference. If the officer's use of force was within policy, then there was no need for supervisory interference; “Good policies and procedures, following legal mandates, maximizing performance, and the use of control documentation, help protect the department in the event of a civil suit”(Wittie, 2011, p. 18). Deliberate indifference is the the standard for civil liability for supervisors; “The supervisor must know about the conduct and facilitate it, approve it, condone it, or turn a blind eye for fear of what he might see” (Civil liability for use of  deadly force – part three: Supervisory liability and negligent/accidental act, 2008, p. 102).However, this applies to individual liability, not to departmental liability, as “The U.S. Supreme Court has specifically defined the framework for suits against individuals and municipalities but has never formally addressed the requirements for §1983 supervisory liability suits”( Perkins, n.d., p. 5).

eferences

Alpert, G. P., Smith, M. R., Kaminski, R., Fridell, L., MacDonald, J., & Kubu, B. (2011). Police use of force, Tasers and other less-lethal weapons (No. NCJ 232215). National Insitute of Justice. Retrieved June 5, 2015 from http://www.ecdlaw.info/outlines/11--05%20NIJ%20Force%20Research%20Report.pdf

Civil liability for use of  deadly force – part three: Supervisory liability and negligent/accidental act. (2008). Americans for Effective Law Enforcement (AELE) Monthly Law Journal. Retrieved 5, 2015 from http://www.aele.org/law/2008LRJAN/2008-1MLJ101.pdf

Do politically correct police tactics threaten public safety? #486-487. (2007, May 7). Retrieved June 5, 2015 from http://www.fulldisclosure.net/2007/05/do-politically-correct-police-tactics-threaten-public-safety/

Dudley, W. (1991). Police brutality. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press.

Geller, W. (1996). Police violence: Understanding and controlling police abuse of force. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Johns, E. (2012). Police brutality: A lifelong learning process. Retrieved June 6, 2015, from https://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Content/getdoc/bf52c8f8-b78d-40fd-ad88-c3e425c47b28/Johns.aspx

MacDonald, H. (2003, Autumn). Chief Bratton takes on L.A. City Journal. Retrieved June 5, 2015 from http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_4_chief_bratton.html

National Institute of Justice. (2013). Racial profiling. Retrieved online from http://nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/legitimacy/pages/racial-profiling.aspx

Perkins, R. (n.d.). Separating municipal liability from supervisory liability in section 1983 Excessive force suits. Retrieved June 5, 2015 from http://federalism.typepad.com/crime_federalism/files/R.Perkins.Sec.1983.Paper.pdf

Rainey, J. (1993, September 29). Final suit over LAPD’s use of chokehold settled. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 5, 2015 from http://articles.latimes.com/1993-09-29/local/me-40159_1_police-officer

South University Online. (2015). MCJ6401 Critical/Controversial Issues: Law Enforcement: Case 1: The Rodney King Incident and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Retrieved June 5, 2015 from myeclassonline.com

Wittie, M. C. (2011). Police use of force. Politics, Bureaucracy & Justice, 2(2). Retrieved June 5, 2015 from http://www.wtamu.edu/webres/File/Academics/College%20of%20Education%20and%20Social%20Sciences/Department%20of%20Political%20Science%20and%20Criminal%20Justice/PBJ/2011/2n2_03Wittie.pdf

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One problem with force escalation on an incremental, or "plus one" basis is that it places both the officer and the suspect in greater danger with each level of escalation.  My personal opinion is that in the extreme case it can encourage suspects to resist, as they attempt to game the arresting officer's level of commitment to the encounter.

Going back to Rodney King, since the use of the chokehold as a control method had been banned, the option left to the officers was the baton, which as Group 3 pointed out, the officers thought they were acting in accordance with law in using.  In the trial, the judge found that only the last 6 baton strikes were illegal.

Had the officers been able to use the chokehold, would the encounter have been less brutal?  After the King incident, LAPD reconsidered the issue, "considering reviving a form of the chokehold--effectively banned nine years ago--as a safer tool than the baton in subduing combative suspects in non-life-threatening situations" (Rohrlich, 1991, para. 1).

The problem, of course, is that EVERY use of force method presents risks of injury and death.  People have died in baton beatings, they have died from chokeholds, people have died from Tasers, they have died from rubber rounds, and they have died from pepper spray.  There is no such thing as a 100% non-lethal option.  And yet, police must use force in the performance of their duty.  Ergo, there will always be deaths resulting from the "non-lethal" subdual of suspects.

This does not make it moral or legal to use excessive force, however, what a cop in extemis and an ambulance-chasing lawyer would consider "objective reasonableness" are always going to be very different things.

Rohrlich, T. (1991, September 2). L.A. Police Considering Reviving the Chokehold :  Law enforcement: Advocates say its use is safer than the baton. Opponents say it can kill, and has. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/1991-09-02/news/mn-1113_1_police-commission

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What I would have to do would be to look of number of deaths in an arrest situation and then compare that to the number of deaths in an arrest situation where the suspect resisted arrest.   There are always going to be instances in which a cop overreacts or takes out personal frustrations on a prisoner;  this is just as much a facet of human nature as is crime itself.
But how prevalent is that as a percentage of arrest related deaths?  if you look at the vast majority of publicized cases, the subject is resisting arrest during the incident.  Any use of force can result in death; use of pepper spray can cause respitory problems, using a chokehold on a resisting suspect can result in an air cutoff as opposed to a blood cut-off, etc etc.
How about pursuits?  A panicked driver fleeing arrest is speeding and looking at the emergency lights in his mirror and plows into a tree.  Is this this police's fault?

This is a personal opinion, but if someone is resisting arrest, and he gets killed, I don't really care.  I watched the video of some idiot getting shot last week during the floods;  the deputies were yelling at him to get out of floodwaters, and he tried to tackle the deputy.  I have no sorrow for him.  People put themselves and the policeman in danger, and then expect miracles from policemen who may be weaker than the subject, exhausted from the many hours of overtime police in budget crushed jurisdictions are expected to work, or surprised from a sudden attack, and then expect that policeman to make some Hollywood martial art move or the Vulcan nerve pinch and make a clean subdual.  That is not realistic.

Do we want to lower arrest related deaths?  Minimize law enforcement contacts.  End the War on Drugs.  Do away with the 175,000 regulations and petty ticketing.  Stop arresting people for not mowing their lawns ( I quit using Reddit after a 4 day argument in which people though it was just grand to put people in jail for an unmowed lawn).  Worry about mala in se crime and public safety.

Do we want less  conflict between the black community and police?  Go back to ending the Drug War, which causes of 60% of street contacts between police and black men  (unsourced, I have to look this up)

The cops have a job to do; using force is part of that job.  If criminals were cooperative in the first place, we wouldn't need police.  Hell, NORMAL citizens can be uncooperative under circumstances.  Here is a video of use of force in crowd control

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UamMIKpW_NY

Not criminals, just belligerent drunks.  However, if the idiot that got peppersprayed had asthma, he could have died.

Use of force has potentially lethal consequences.  Stupid people will instigate use of force incidents in numbers that will make future deaths a statistic certainty.

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This kind of propaganda does lead to a demoralized police force.  NYPD officers turned their back to Diblasio after he showed up at a funeral he was asked not to attend (Schabner, 2014).  Many NYPD officers feel that the officer (whose funeral that was) was murdered in an atmosphere of hate partly fueld by previous remarks of Diblasio's.
This is a nation-wide affair; "rank-and-file brethren in police departments nationwide, says police feel under siege and demoralized by the bias against them" (Bello, 2014, para. 4).  Policemen understand thst there is a "select group out there now who are making us out to be the bad guys"
(Bello, 2014, para. 11).
Bello quotes a police union leader who says that this bias is preventing police from doing their job; "
"The biggest fear now is that police may become so afraid of getting in trouble that they won't take risks when answering calls" (2014, para. 21).
This result of this hesitance is higher crime rates.  In Baltimore, where the union admits that the police are "under siege" (CNN, 2015, 2:10), the police are afraid of getting arrested for performing their duty.  As a result, "Arrests have dropped sharply" and the city has had a record amount of murders (PoliceOne. 2015, para. 3,1).  This is a pattern repeated in New York, Ferguson, and every other city in which this anti-police propaganda has been employed.

Bello, M. (n.d.). “It can be fearful”: Police feeling under siege. Retrieved June 7, 2015, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/22/police-react-shootings/20773395/

CNN. (2015, May 28). Baltimore union: 'Police are under siege'. Retrieved June 7, 2015 from
http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/05/29/exp-baltimore-police-freddie-gray-crime-marquez-dnt-erin.cnn

PoliceOne. (2015, May 31). Baltimore sees its 40th homicide in May, a record month. 
Retrieved June 7, 2015 from http://www.policeone.com/patrol-issues/articles/8559540-Baltimore-sees-its-40th-homicide-in-May-a-record-month/

Schabner, D. (2014, December 27). Hundreds turn their back on de Blasio at NYPD Officer's funeral. ABC News.  Retrieved June 7, 2015 from http://abcnews.go.com/US/nypd-officers-turn-back-de-blasio-cops-funeral/story?id=27851746 

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The incident was misrepresented completely.

At the following link, at approximately 25% down the page, there is a frame by frame breakdown of the video at the time the officer drew his gun.  Two people approached him rapidly and one mimed drawing a gun on the officer, at which point the officer drew his gun.

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2015/06/09/the-facts-behind-the-mckinney-pool-fiasco-part-ii/#more-102081

from your article, para. 7 
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/17/local/la-me-sheriff-clique-20120517

"Despite the disturbing allegations, sources say there is currently no evidence that the men were involved in improper shootings or other misconduct"

I think this comes down to cultural and personal expectations of police work.  The majority of cops join up to fight crime.  That is going to reflect in those officers'  attitude to the use of force ( and this goes back to the Hobbesian part of the we/they viewpoint in the other discussion).  Taking criminals off the street is a "win" in that viewpoint.  In addition, the proper use of lethal force is about as intense and objective  test of professionalism in police work as there can be.  I can see a policeman being proud of having successfully resolved that situation, even if most cops would rather not take life.

On the other hand, I understand that there is a mentality that police should resolve enforcement situations with the least amount of force as possible, and preferably none.  The people that have this mentality would be horrified of the first mentality.

When examples of officers that subscribe to the first mentality are brought to public attention, there are going to be more people that hold the second mentality, and there will be a public outcry.