4th December 2014

5 points of reform for Police usage of physical force against people suspected of committing a crime.

1. Police usage of the 'choke-hold' method or strangulation or beating with batons when detaining a person must be made illegal. A baton would only be necessary if the Police were outmatched by the physical size of the person threatening Police.

2. Citations to appear at a Police station are sufficient to get a person to appear in a Police station, and would give a person the chance to attend the Police station with a friend or lawyer, rather than Police dealing with the person at their own pleasure, be it in a person's home, in public or at a Police station.

3. Police should be trained to back off from a person who acts aggressively whenever possible. Many people would simply walk away from any confrontation if the Police walk away. Police could then use CCTV to follow the person and issue citations to appear at a Police station or choose to arrest a person at a later date.

4. Police should only be given the right to draw their gun if a person points a gun at the Police or a member of the public, or who attempts to attack Police or a member of the public with a dangerous object or a deadly weapon such as a knife.

5. When absolutely necessary Police could use sleep dart weapons rather than a standard gun with lead bullets. Lead bullets ricochet and sometimes pass through a person, which can put other people near by in danger of being hit by the bullet ricochet. If the person being shot has committed a crime, then the person should be alive and well to be given the chance to seek legal advice and stand trial if necessary,

If introduced into Law, the 5 points of reform listed above (1-5) would greatly reduce a large percentage of people injured and killed by Police methods of detaining suspects. It should be of utmost importance that the deaths of people caused by Police methods is stopped, so that justice by the Court system can be applied where appropriate. Beatings and executions of people are barbaric and archaic, and have no place in a modern society which is struggling to introduce and maintain humane ways to exist in safety.

Police stations could also have one or two legal representatives who are not Police officers to ensure the safety and procedures of Police during the administrative process at the station...there are plenty of young law students who could be assigned to the task. These are but a few suggestions of reforms that need to be made in the way that Police behave in specific situations. I started writing this as merely a comment on a Facebook wall after the protests deaths of American Eric Garner. I remember the protests and riots in the United Kingdom in the summer of 2011 which were started over the shooting death of a black British man by Police. The shooting, the name and the protests are greatly forgotten. The riots which followed the protests lasted for 4 or 5 days after the man Mark Duggan was killed by Police. (read here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_England_riots )

So these 5 point reforms which I list shouldn’t just apply to America, but across the World. Why should the authorities be allowed to use so much force, particularly deadly force at their own discretion? Admittedly there are some instances when criminals shoot their guns, and Police would rightly defend their own lives to save Police at the scene, and to save members of the public from facing the same fate, but the candid and casual usage of forceful tackles, sitting on a person’s back, the choke-hold or strangulation of the suspect could be eliminated in the majority of cases. Police should also do more checks on just who they are confronting to ensure the safety of the person in question, and medics could be called to stand-by just in case of an emergency, and that is also where things could be changed, because Police medics differ from independent hospital medics, and hospital medics would be better equipped to deal with most emergencies, although calling upon hospitals to deal with the numerous injuries caused during the Police arrest of a suspect would strain medical services. Yet there are many medical students who could be used to be the stand-by medics to arrive at the scene of the arrest if required- it would be an experience for the students and ensure correct and unbiased treatment of a suspect.

The law students can keep their eyes on Police procedures at the Police station to ensure an injured person is not further hurt. Police medics can deal with other members of the Police force. These are ways to ensure the safety of the people, and not leave the whole arrest, medical application and judgement in the hands of Police. If the Police are allowed to conduct their own methods uncontested, then these instances of people being hurt, seriously injured or killed by Police will always happen, and protests in New York over the deaths of people killed by Police are just the start of a movement that should be called the ‘Humane Police Reforms’ - or something like that...

Protests cannot end without result. It is up to the people in America to take this to the Whitehouse, to call loudly for these reforms, and to see lawmakers back the reforms. And it has to happen quickly- because things can change overnight. The Presidential veto and Presidential powers to implement change can happen very quickly- and perhaps there has never been a better man than who currently resides over the Whitehouse who would oversee the reforms to the Police forces across America. When things change in America, the whole World listens, and the World is listening plenty to America,