Criminal Justice Research Professor Adler Learning Objectives ? Introduction ? Literature Review ? Hypotheses ? Methods ? Conclusion ? References Introduction ? *Introduce us to your topic and research question – tell us the need for your study* Literature Review ? *Give 3-4 important facts from your literature review* Hypotheses ? *List your 1-3 testable hypotheses* Methods ? *List the methods you will be using for your future research* Conclusion ? *List your future policy implications and why this research is important to you* References ? *List all of your sources* What Impact Does Current Police Training Methods Have on Excessive Force? Cameron Traina 4/29/21 Banner ID- 916309858 Introduction The police use of excessive force has received more attention from researchers, activists, policymakers, and politicians in the last two decades

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Criminal Justice Research Professor Adler Learning Objectives ? Introduction ? Literature Review ? Hypotheses ? Methods ? Conclusion ? References Introduction ? *Introduce us to your topic and research question – tell us the need for your study* Literature Review ? *Give 3-4 important facts from your literature review* Hypotheses ? *List your 1-3 testable hypotheses* Methods ? *List the methods you will be using for your future research* Conclusion ? *List your future policy implications and why this research is important to you* References ? *List all of your sources* What Impact Does Current Police Training Methods Have on Excessive Force? Cameron Traina 4/29/21 Banner ID- 916309858 Introduction The police use of excessive force has received more attention from researchers, activists, policymakers, and politicians in the last two decades. This is following the increased incidents of police brutality where civilians lose their lives at the hands of police officers (Hamilton, 2017, p. 1168). Undoubtedly, police use excessive force infrequently. The use of force is a component of policing work (Prusinski, 2015, p. 859). However, some police use force improperly. This creates tension between the police and the public. Indeed, the use of excessive force is the source of the fraught relationship that police have with the public. June last year, American police killed a black man, Lloyd Floyd (Tamkin, 2020, p. 32). The aftermath was an uprising that put the American police under global scrutiny. Most studies have been focusing on the impacts of police use of excessive force (Ouellet et al., 2019, p. 682). However, scant research has been done on what influences police use of deadly force. Some researchers have examined police's personal characteristics, the working environment of police, racism, and the weapons that police use (Patton et al., 2017, p. 348). None of these researches have led to a conclusion on what leads to police use of excessive force. The focus of this research will be on current police training methods. The use of force is one of the components of police training. In this regard, police are shown how, when, and the amount of force to use (Martinez, 2020, p. 85). They are trained in different techniques of using force during in-service training, academy training, and field training (Hamilton, 2017, p. 1169). There are circumstances when police are justified to use excessive force. Unfortunately, most police officers end up using excessive force indiscriminately in all situations (Martinez, 2020, p. 87). This extensive training has a significant effect on how police approach policing. The current police training methods prepare police more for using excessive force than to deescalate situations or overcome their individual bias. Literature Review Excessive Police Force Force in policing is the effort made by police to compel an unwilling individual to comply with instructions (Hamilton, 2017, p. 1170). State laws have been defining excessive force differently. This makes the conceptualization of excessive police force vary from one state to another and from one police department to another. Nonetheless, the reasonableness standards are used to determine whether the police use of force is excessive or not. In this regard, reasonable implies force proportional or necessary to respond to a certain situation (Miranda, 2018, p. 1684). The use of force more than that is taken as excessive force. However, the use of this standard to define excessive force raises a debate on the quantification of the police force. Essentially, there are no universal guidelines on police use of force. Even when the individual departments make policies to this effect, the police end up overstepping them (Flood, 2020, p. 60). This is because the limits of the application of force are not clear. Some police departments use the criteria of bodily harm to determine police use of excessive force (Hamilton, 2017, p. 1173). To this end, they prohibit their police from causing bodily harm to the civilians. However, this criterion is so broad since not every police use of excessive force can lead to bodily harm. Other departments use death as the criteria. This criterion is also vague since not all excessive police force can lead to death. Nonetheless, most of the incidents where police use excessive force lead to violation of human rights (Hamilton, 2017, p. 1170). It is on this ground that the public lose their confidence in the police. This reduces the legitimacy of the police. Since the police are professionals, they should use force appropriately (Patton et al., 2017, p. 346). When each police take responsibility for this, the public outcry regarding police use of excessive force will come to an end. Training Use of force in policing is allowed. Indeed, the use of force is one of the aspects of police training. Force is not to be used at all times. In this regard, police are trained on how to use force. They are trained about the force that is appropriate in different situations. Essentially, excessive force in policing is to be used to counter threats (Ouellet et al., 2019, p. 680). The suspect or civilian could be posing a significant threat to the law enforcement officer. At that point, the police are justified to use excessive force (Hamilton, 2017, p. 1168). Unfortunately, the current training methods do not train police on how to assess threats (Patton et al., 2017, p. 348). As a result, police end up seeing any civilian making some resistance as a threat. Subsequently, they end up using excessive force on them (Roiphe, 2017, p. 514). Threat assessment should be incorporated in police training. To this end, police should be given instructions in a classroom setting on how to identify a threat and respond to it. Then, they should be given practical scenarios outside the classroom. The officer should use the force option that is appropriate to the scenario he or she is in. Certainly, this training not only prepares the police on how to use force but also makes the police comfortable using various force options (Prusinski, 2015, p. 856). Research shows that they take the force options that they are most comfortable with. Most police are most comfortable with the deadliest force option (Aushana, 2019, p. 370). They consider it less risky to them compared to others. Therefore, the current police training methods do not expose police to various uses of force scenarios. Against this backdrop, police end up resorting to shooting and gunfire when responding to a demanding situation (Gross, 2016, p. 159). There is a high disparity in police training in the United States. Some police departments offer a high level of training to their police officers. Some recruit individuals with a college degree. Policing in the 21st century has changed. There is a great concern about professional policing (Prusinski, 2015, p. 858). This policing can only be achieved by having adequately trained police officers. Many criminal justice experts regard professional policing as the solution to many problems that policing has been having, such as using excessive force (Gross, 2016, p. 159). In the pre-service training, individuals aspiring to join the police go to a police academy. They learn various aspects of policing like how to use force, write reports, and pursue vehicles. The training can take two years (Shjarback & White, 2016, p. 38). The training in the academy mainly focuses on policing procedures (Prusinski, 2015, p. 855). The in-service training happens after an individual is recruited to become the police (Miller et al., 2021, p. 233). The main focus of this training is on the use of force. The training equips the police with firearm skills. By the time the police are completing the training, they see the police work as deadly (Miller et al., 2021, p. 235). They can’t hesitate to use deadly force in a scenario that they perceive threatening. Because of this, the incidents of police use of excessive force continue increasing (Prusinski, 2015, p. 859). The curriculum employed in the current police training methods prepares police to respond to crime after it has been committed (Shjarback & White, 2016, p. 39). This is in line with traditional policing. Modern policing is more proactive rather than reactive (Shjarback & White, 2016, p. 37). This is where police collaborate with the community members to prevent a crime from happening. Since the current training methods prepare police for reactive policing, police end up using excessive force (Hamilton, 2017, p. 1169). Reluctance on Use of Excessive Force The current police training methods make police less reluctant to use excessive force. Every training seeks to change the individual’s thinking and behaviors. Most training applies operant conditioning techniques (Gross, 2016, p. 157). Police training is not an exception. The current training methods use desensitization techniques. They have dehumanizing effects on the police. They condition police to think that civilians are fewer humans (Hamilton, 2017, p. 1166). In light of this, police use derogatory terms to address suspects. More so, they use excessive force that disregards their meaning. For example, the method used in firearm training involves the firearm instructor telling police to shoot moving targets (Shjarback & White, 2016, p. 35). The police do extensive exercises in this. They are given rewards for shooting the target. This practice conditions them to develop a shooting incident. In light of this, they develop confidence in using a firearm to respond to threatening people (Tamkin, 2020, p. 30). The high confidence in their shooting abilities reduces their reluctance to use firearms. Certainly, it is not a must for police to use excessive force. Indeed, there are police who retires from their career without using force at any instance (Rawski & Workman?Stark, 2018, p. 610). Such police are reluctant to use deadly force. Unfortunately, the current training methods make police more aggressive (Prusinski, 2015, p. 858). They become less reluctant to using deadly force when they are in threatening situations. Certainly, there are many force options available for use in these situations. However, because police don’t have the reluctance to use excessive force, they end up shooting at the perceived enemy (Flood, 2020, p. 62). This is what has made police shooting incidents more prevalent today. Hypothesis The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the current police training methods on excessive force. Police behavior is partially influenced by police training. The use of force is one of the police's typical behaviors. Following the increased complaints in the public that police are using excessive force, this research was carried out to establish whether the training methods used in police academies could contribute. The literature reviewed revealed that there is a positive relationship between police training, and police use of excessive force. The use of force is a part of the training in the police academy. However, police are to make decisions on when and where to use excessive force. The application of excessive force is necessary on rare occasions. This implies that police who apply excessive force go beyond training. He or she engages in police misconduct. To achieve the purpose of this study, the trainers’ and police’ perception of excessive force needs to be evaluated. If there is a match, then it is the training that influences the police to use excessive force. This is because the trainers will have changed the perception of the police trainees on the use of force. Training in police academies is done by different officers, with different qualifications. There are academy instructors and field instructors. Academy instructors train police in general policing activities. This includes the roles and responsibilities. Most importantly, they teach police how to relate with the public. The field trainers on the other hand train police the policing skills to apply in the field. This includes how to use various police equipment. According to the literature reviewed, police use of excessive force is covered in the two aspects of training. The field trainers and academic instructors in police academy have a positive perception of the police use of force. As a result, police trainees have a positive perception on the police use of force. Methods The study used a self-reported survey instrument to collect the data for this study. These surveys were to be given to the officers who agreed to be participants in this research. The research design used was non-experimental. Since the interest of this study is the perceptions of the trainers and the trainees on the use of excessive force, my target was the police academy. The training was the independent variable, while police perception was the dependent variable. I chose two police academies in Florida. The reason why I chose two is to ensure the credibility of the data collected. The data from the two police academies is not supposed to be much different. In each academy, I had a sample of 30 police. Thus, my sample size was 60 police officers drawn from two police academies. I recruited the participants of this study in each police academy through email solicitations. I asked for emails of 60 police officers from each police academy. These were emails of police in different ranks, from the trainers to the trainees. In my email solicitations, I indicated the purpose of the study was entirely academic. I sent the emails to 60 police officers in each academy. I did this to ensure that I got the sample size of 30 police officers that I wanted. The response rate was quite impressive. Many police were willing to participate in the study. I randomly chose 30 police from those who responded in each police academy. Subsequently, I sent the self-reported survey to the 60 participants. The survey was designed to assess the participant’s perception of the police use of excessive force. I sent them through emails. The participants were supposed to answer the surveys and then send them to me through email. Instructions for answering and delivering the survey were clear. Conclusion The police use of excessive force has been central in media and policy debates. Media has been highlighting the various incidents of police brutality in America. This triggers public opinions and civil rights actions. To this end, there have been numerous protests by the public demanding police reforms to be done to stop the police from using excessive force. The policymakers in the past have been reluctant to attend to these concerns. However, following the police's increased condemnations, the policymakers have now become keen on police reforms. Essentially, ending the police use of excessive force requires addressing the root cause of excessive force use. This research hypothesized that training is the main cause of police brutality. Police training mainly focuses on the use of policing equipment. Police trainers perceive the use police use of force as normal and very necessary. The academic instructors have a positive perception of the police use of excessive force. In light of this, the syllabus used in police academies mainly empathizes on the use of force. Unfortunately, it does not condemn the police for using excessive force indiscriminately. Legally, police should use excessive force in certain demanding circumstances where their lives are in danger. Using excessive force otherwise is police misconduct. However, many police engage in misconduct unconsciously. The impacts of training are far-reaching. Training that focuses on force transforms the trainee's behavior and attitude. In light of this, the trainee becomes violent. Police training has made police violent. As a result, police use excessive force or violence in all situations instead of using it in particular situations as required. Effective police reforms should start at police training. There is a significant disparity in police training in the United States. Some police agencies train their police more on firearm skills. With these skills, police cannot hesitate to use deadly force. Certainly, policing has many aspects rather than the use of firearms. Escalation strategies can help to achieve policing outcomes more conveniently. These strategies do not cause harm to the public. Sadly, the police training, both the in-service training and field training, are more reactive. They make police less reluctant to using excessive force. This makes police use tactics that have dehumanizing effects on the members of the public. This is because police don’t see civilians as humans. Changing the police training method and content is the only solution. The training should balance between the use of force and escalation techniques. More importantly, police should get some training on human rights. Police brutality causes a violation of human rights. This is the reason why human rights activists have been at the forefront in condemning police. With such training, police will use excessive force rarely. Specifically, they will use it in circumstances where both their lives and that of the public are endangered. Because of the frequent use of force by police, the public has lost confidence in the police. In this regard, the public has a deep hatred for police. Changing the nature of police training will have farreaching impacts on police. It will restore public confidence in the police. Subsequently, it will improve the relationship between police and civilians. The topic of this research is important to me because it provides a new perspective of looking at the issue of police brutality. Last year, America police received a global attention for use of deadly force on the unarmed civilians. Since then, there has been a debate in the public, academia and Congress on police brutality. Most of these debates focus on the policing equipment and police ethics as the causes of police brutality. The reforms initiated by the police agencies to address police use of excessive force have been revolving around these areas. Similarly, the Congress’ proposals on police reforms focus on policing equipment and policing ethics. In light of this, I feel that the root cause of police brutality remains unaddressed. Police will be hesitant to use deadly force against civilians if the training focuses on de-escalation techniques. References Aushana, C. (2019). Seeing Police: Cinematic Training and the Scripting of Police Vision. Surveillance & Society, 17(4), 367–381. Flood, E. (2020). The Path Forward on Policing Reform. Trial, 56(9), 58-65. Gross, J. P. (2016). Judge, Jury, and Executioner: The Excessive Use of Deadly Force by Police Officers. Texas Journal on Civil Liberties & Civil Rights, 21(2), 155–181. Hamilton, M. (2017). Excessive Lethal Force. Northwestern University Law Review, 111(4), 1167–1184. Martinez, A. (2020). Building Better Cops: The killing of George Floyd In Minneapolis has prompted police departments around Florida to review their policies, procedures and training. Florida Trend, 63(9), 84-90. Miller, K., Shramko, M., Brown, C., & Svetaz, M. (2021). The Election Is Over, Now What? Youth Civic Engagement as a Path to Critical Consciousness. Journal of Adolescent Health, 68(2), 233–235. Miranda, A. P. (2018). “Where There Is a Right (Against Excessive Force), There Is Also a Remedy”: Redress for Police Violence Under the Equal Protection Clause. UCLA Law Review, 65(6), 1678–1751. Patton, C., Asken, M., Fremouw, W., & Bemis, R. (2017). The Influence of Police Profanity on Public Perception of Excessive Force. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 32(4), 340–357. Prusinski, T. (2015). When Does Force Become Excessive? Touro Law Review, 31(4), 851–870. Rawski, S., & Workman?Stark, A. (2018). Masculinity Contest Cultures in Policing Organizations and Recommendations for Training Interventions. Journal of Social Issues, 74(3), 607–627. Roiphe, R. (2017). The Duty to Charge in Police Use of Excessive Force Cases. Cleveland State Law Review, 65(4), 503–517 Shjarback, J., & White, M. (2016). Departmental Professionalism and Its Impact on Indicators of Violence in Police–Citizen Encounters. Police Quarterly, 19(1), 32–62. Tamkin, E. (2020). The fires keep burning: How the killing by police of George Floyd convulsed the United States. New Statesman (1996), 149(5523), 28-34.