How Should Police Officers Use Deadly Force

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Police Use of Deadly Force

It is impossible to evade using deadly force in police work. Police officers must take justification of the use of force before deciding to use force on a suspect. In general, the use of force is justified when it is necessary to make an arrest, detain a suspect, or to protect an officer. The amount of force used cannot exceed what a reasonable person would be consider necessary. Sometimes it’s difficult to interpret if using the force was reasonable. A general definition of reasonable in deadly force is based on objective facts and logical conclusions that the crime is about to commit.

Police and officials need to have a clear understand of the differences between justifiable and excessive especially when applying to deadly force. Whenever an officer executes a deadly act, the judge have to determine if the force was justified or excessive. Currently, in the news, police officers and higher authorities are justifying their actions instead of calling them excessive. It is very important for police officers to think before taking any actions. However, it is also important to know what the “shoot-to-kill” mindset is and why it is only used in specific situation.
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The mindset of “shoot-to-kill” mean that an officers should be ready to use their gun when the situation gets out of hand. An example of when the “shoot-to-kill” mindset is when the attacker tries to take the gun or threaten the officers. In that instance, the officer would have the permission to take his weapon and shoot the attacker even if they were not necessarily in possession of the gun. At that moment the officer’s life would be in danger, therefore, he/she would have to react quickly to the