Police Discretion, Use of Force, and De-Escalation
Greg Jones
Helms School of Government, Liberty University
CJSU 200: Introduction to Criminal Justice (B05)
Professor Jackson Bragg
June 10th, 2024
Police Discretion, Use of Force, and De-Escalation
Police Officers are unique by profession because of their abilities to deprive one of their
constitutional rights. Surely, we’ve all seen the movie Spiderman, and remember Uncle Ben’s
famous line to Peter Parker, “with great powers, come great responsibilities.” In my opinion this
famous movie quote is a great representation to law enforcement because the lawful authority
police are given over citizens. However, with this power, police officers are equally responsible
for how it’s applied. This week we examined the use of force application from two incidents
captured on officer’s body cameras from Ashville, NC, and Baltimore, MD.
In8Bohm and Haley: Introduction to Criminal Justice, Chapter 7 titled "Policing in
America", the subsection "Issuing in Policing" it defines discretion as the exercise of individual
judgement, instead of formal rules, when making a decision. Bohm and Haley also highlight the
tactic of de-escalation, which these two characteristics are imperative for police officers when
considering use of force incidents.
In the Ashville, NC incident two police officers made contact with a black male,
identified as Johnnie Rush for jaywalking (N.C.G.S. § 20-174). When considering the factors in
this case, the observation of Mr. Rush jaywalking was the legal basis for the stop at which point
is a seizure under the Fourth Amendment. As we continued to watch the video both officers had
two different versions of discretion, whereas one officer was going to cite Mr. Rush to de-
escalate the situation, the other officer decided the take him into custody. This led to a brief foot
pursuit followed by a struggle to take Mr. Rush into custody. We learned that use of force is
examined under the “objective reasonableness” standard from Graham v. Conner (1989).
In addition, most agencies use of force policy mirrors the Use of Force Continuum
provided by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). In this incident, it can be argued, that Mr.
Rush posed an immediate threat to officers due to him actively resisting his arrest by flight along
with the unknown of him being armed. We then see an amount of force used as a result of the
Mr. Rush’s inability to comply. As a result, officers employed a Conducted Energy Device
(CED), or taser, along with strikes to Mr. Rushes body and head. After review of the Ashville,
NC body camera, I would agree that the officers’ actions in the case were reasonable to gain
compliance, and did not violate Mr. Rush’s Fourth Amendment seizure. In contrast, because the
use of force was reasonable does not excuse any violation of departmental policy and/or civil
liability.
In the Baltimore, MD incident officers respond to a call of a black male holding a knife
insisting officers shoot and kill him. An article titled “Suicide by Cop” written on the National
Library of Medicine website, suicide by cop is a term used to describe an incident in which a
suicidal individual intentionally engages in life-threatening and criminal behavior with a lethal
weapon or what appears to be a lethal weapon toward law enforcement officers or civilians to
specifically provoke officers to shoot the suicidal individual in self-defense or to protect
civilians. During the Baltimore, MD encounter we see great restraint by officers in addition to
de-escalation tactics of crisis intervention techniques. At the time the subject in this case poses
more of a threat to himself based on his own statements and expectations of officers. Unlike the
Ashville, NC incident the subject in this case was verbally non-complaint and makes no
deliberate action(s) to justify use of force. After review of this video, I would agree the officer’s
actions were reasonable and the officer(s) exercised great use of de-escalation tactics.
From a biblical worldview the discretionary powers of police can be beneficial to
citizens. In8Bohm and Haley: Introduction to Criminal Justice, Chapter 7 titled "Police
Recruitment and Selection", the subsection "Qualities of a Successful Police Officer" it explains
the importance of compassion. Psalm 85:15 states… “But you, Lord, are a8compassionate and
gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Police Officers should
embody these same characteristics of the God they serve when using discretion during critical
and non-critical incidents which benefits all citizens they encounter.
References
Bohm, R and Haley, K. (2021). Introduction to Criminal Justice (Tenth Edition). McGraw-Hill
LLC.
N.C General Statute/20-174 (1965).
https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_20/gs_20-174.html
Rehnquist, W.H. & Supreme Court of The United States. (1988) U.S. Reports: Graham v.
Connor et al., 490 U.S. 386.
National Institute of Justice (2009, August 3). The Use-Of-Force-Continuum.
https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/use-force-continuum
Hutson, H. R., Anglin, D., Yarbrough, J., Hardaway, K., Russell, M., Strote, J., Canter, M., &
Blum, B. (1998). Suicide by cop.8Annals of emergency medicine,832(6), 665–669.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9832661/
New International Version. Bible Gateway,
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalms+86%3A15&version=NIV
accessed on June 10th, 2024
