In addition with fighting local crime, many police chiefs were tasked with "interviewing" immigrants of Middle Eastern descent. Analysts worry that the imagery of "terrorist" and "immigrant" will be a potent source of increased uses of excessive force (Bai and Tang 2002)
A similar case happened in Houston in 1998, resulting in the death of unarmed Mexican national Pedro Oregon. (Novick 1999)
In one case, the jury returned a hung verdict against a known "hitter," despite the baton marks on the back of the victim. Even more disturbing, members of the jury joined the defendant at the celebration party, held after the trial (Turrow 2000)
¶ … Excessive Force Since September of 2011, "federal prosecutors are targeting a rising number of law enforcement officers for alleged brutality" (Johnson, 2007)
For instance, there was a study examining the role of police psychologists in the effort to control police use of excessive force. The study identified "functions of psychologists that had relevance to officers' mental health, specifically their use of excessive force, and presented their recommendations on how best to predict, remedy and prevent excessive force" (Scrivner, 1994)
Given the increase in excessive force by police, it inevitably leads to the question: why is this happening? Excessive force is a concept that does not have a concrete definition; but there are some levels of force by cops that are thought to be excessive based on the circumstances that they are confronted with. "Excessive force," according to ABC news, is a "slippery metaphor" and "experts say it's any force beyond what's necessary to arrest a suspect and keep police and bystanders safe" (Segan, 2011)
For example, questions in regards to the use of police batons are such that ask if the officers followed procedure and did they cease use of the batons once they had subdued the individual and did they break any bones. In regards to the use of tasers, the questions are such that ask why the taser was used and did the person merely verbally become combative or did, they "pose an actual threat and how many times the individual was shocked and did they already have handcuffs on? In regards to the use of pepper spray questions include why the spray was used and was it sprayed at close range into the mouth or nose and did the officers let up when the individual "was in obvious respiratory distress?" (Burris, 2012, p
Moreover, somewhat counterintuitively the constitutional standards for permissible force depend entirely upon the custodial status of the alleged victim of force -- that is, whether the victim is a pretrial detainee, a convicted criminal, or a free citizen." (Wiley, 2011, p