The United States Supreme Court has written the legal standard for police use of force in the Graham and Garner cases. The standards and clear and explicit in all courts in the United States to legal experts and criminal justice practitioners, but can be confusing to the general public. It is time to create a standard that any person can apply to individual cases. Here are two recent cases, which made national news, to put “The Common Sense Standard” to the test.
Case One
In a call to Wichita, Ks. Police, the male caller claims to be holding hostages at a residence and is threatening to kill them. When officers arrive, an unaccompanied male walks out of the front door and raises his hands in the air. Applying the Common Sense standard, is this male a hostage or the hostage taker? Not enough information to reach a valid judgment? Okay, more information is needed. The male refuses to comply with the commanders of officers and then drops his hands. Is this person a threat? You have one second to decide. If you choose to take no action and an officer is wounded or killed by the man, can you live with that result?
Case Two
A Louisiana school board is holding a meeting. A teacher has used up her allotted time and is told to sit down. She continues her rant about salary and is asked to leave. When she refuses and continues to yell, police are notified. A town marshal arrives and asks the woman to leave. She refuses and continues her rant. The Common Sense test must now be applied.
The Board of Education has three options. The can:
1. Shut down the meeting and turn off the microphone
2. Let the teacher continue her rant until she tires out.
3. Call police to remove her from the meeting.
Options 1 and 2 deprive others attending the meeting from being heard on issues which are important to them.
The police officer has three options. He can:
1. Ignore the requests of the board and take no action.
2. Continue to ask the teacher to leave, even though she has made it clear she will not comply.
3. Physically remove the teacher. When the teacher physically resists her removal, the officer has to escalate his use of force to remove her. As the resistance escalates, so too does the force the officer is required to use.
The Common Sense test is very simple and can be applied to the videos shown on the television news. More importantly, many videos do not provide enough information to make a valid judgment. Therefore, judgment should be withheld until more information is available.
Reaching a conclusion on the validity of an action is made from a climate controlled area where information can be assessed and evaluated. But the real question is whether the officer(s) in a fluid situation are operating with the same information and time to reach a decision.
Try the Common Sense test the next time you see a police video.