Explaining Police Use of Force
The practical progressions and collective approach in research on police use of force, as depicted in the early chapters, has been the backbone on which our theoretical framework stands on proposing a comprehensive theoretical concept to heighten the understanding of what police use of force entails. The previous studies on police use of force were imaginative, containing the amount, the scope, and the type of force used; noticeably, a lot was learned about the use of force. However, this chapter proposes a theoretical construct in line with what was learned in the early chapters and expounded on the previous proposals. This chapter also suggests how future research on police use of force should be carried out using an interactive model.
Interactions
The interaction between the police and the citizen is vital in understanding their behavior; this is only possible if the theoretical constructs that yoke this behavior are not ignored. The mandatory decisions that pertain force and detentions should not be examined independently while disregarding common aspects that tie these acts together in an interactive context. Most research in the past has focused on attitudes, character, and demographic issues of both the police and the suspect, lacking a guiding concept. In this regard, an authority maintenance theory is proposed, explaining what has been learned concerning the police’s interactions and the suspect that affects force. It provides the guiding principle on impending research on police use of force. This theory explains the interactions from a normal and relational viewpoint; it unveils the overstated duty played by the authority in suspect police interactions while recognizing the trepidations of police in upholding their authoritative position in their interactions.
The Authority Maintenance Ritual
The authority maintenance ritual can be explained as a situation where the police must exercise their authority. The citizen is expected to submit to that authority; this explains the interactions between the police and the citizen. The interaction ritual helps to ensure that the notion of oneself remains and that the players can expect each other’s anticipations while interacting. It simply encompasses consistent give-and-take actions and feedbacks that support the anticipations of those involved, a process called reciprocity. When the principle of reciprocity occurs, it shows that the parties have neglected the aim of reciprocal benefit into individual goals taking priority, when the principle of reciprocity breaks down during an interaction, police using force, or the suspect choosing to resist.
The Theoretical Tradition
This theory was developed by Goffman (1959, 1961) in explaining the projected and unintended actions that happen in social interactions. In police suspect interactions, it’s obvious that the police is alleged to have more authority or is superior according to the legal and power of the state when compared to that of the suspect, and the convenience comes in when the suspect defy the police commands, recreating themselves as persons refusing the principle of moral and lawful community. What is expected normally is that power is unequal. Meaning reverence should be expressed inversely downward as opposed to upward, with the highly ranked person not expected to show the same kind of response compared to the lowly ranked. This theory helps provide the basis for inspecting police use of force in a police-citizen interaction, instead of the police behavior, which is a dependent variable.
The Authority Maintenance Theory
This theory entails three developmental stages, formulation of general concepts, development of set propositions inferred by the authority maintenance ration, and presumption of testable hypotheses derived from propositions. Social positions and the status that people expect and occupy in social systems give a person authority compared to individual positions. Therefore citizen police encounters should be taken as an interaction practice rather than as a distinct affair. The encounter between the police and the suspect should be treated as a distinctive interaction because what standardizes their interaction is the balance of authority since the prospect and behavior tend to disrupt the principle of reciprocity.
When Does the Resistance or Force Escalate?
During an encounter between the police and the suspect, there are usually expectations held by them, leading to high levels of force or resistance until one of the party’s changes its expectations; this may be voluntarily or involuntarily. The suspect may decide that they have had enough and decide to surrender, or the police may be overwhelmed by the suspect and decide to let the suspect run away. Likewise, the suspect may opt for passive resistance by either hiding from the police, approaching officers’ movement, or verbally repelling officers’ orders.
Conclusion
Their obligation in society weighs the determination to understand the police use of force. The type of violence shown by the police has led to a theoretical basis of the findings called authority maintenance; however, this is not enough as it will necessitate additional research and testing for its full development, though, it is an improvement towards understanding the routine interactions between the police and the suspect that eventually results into the use of force. Knowing more about the police use of force helps to equip police officers to respond when they meet defiant suspects.
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