Читать книгу Police in America - Steven G. Brandl - Страница 25

The ability to make an arrest is a critical but basic form of police authority. Citizen’s noncompliance with the law may lead to arrests being made by officers. Further, officers have discretion about other critical actions, such as whether or not to use physical force on citizens and what type of force to use. As discussed in more detail later in this book, many scholars argue that police authority to use force is what differentiates the occupation from all others. Workers in no other occupation can use “essentially unrestricted” force against citizens.²³ The use of force, especially deadly force, is often the most controversial discretionary decision made by police officers. Even if the force was legally justified, its use is often controversial. This fact has been repeatedly and dramatically highlighted with recent incidents in which the police have used deadly force against unarmed subjects. From these incidents have come calls for police reforms and especially for the use of body-worn cameras to provide greater transparency, accountability, and control over police actions in deadly force situations (see Technology on the Job feature on page 7).