Category | Police brutality
Disturbing statistics on police brutality
Since 2000, at least 540 people in New Jersey have died during an encounter with the police. Researchers found that 500 of these incidents occurred with officers on duty and 40 happened with off-duty officers. Nationally, estimates indicate that at least 30,000 people have died during encounters with police since...
Police misconduct is pervasive in New Jersey
Police officers must do more than enforce the law. They must follow it. Law enforcement officials who engage in abusive behavior could face disciplinary actions and civil and possibly criminal complaints. The public likely realizes that some police officers might engage in unlawful or unconstitutional behavior, but few may realize...
Cops shouldn’t view body-cam video before writing reports
Body-cam videos reveal extensive information about a crime that is in progress. A video shows what the suspect was doing at the start of the encounter, how the police officer reacted and what the results were. Although it’s meant to mitigate bad behavior from officers, some individuals decide to view...
What is qualified immunity as it applies to the police?
A popular topic of conversation of late is qualified immunity and how it impacts police officers. There are many misconceptions about what this actually means and how it can help people who believe that they have had their rights violated by the police. Furthermore, every state, including New Jersey, has...
What to do if a police officer pulls your vehicle over in New Jersey
Whether you are in New Jersey or elsewhere in the nation, having a police officer ask you to pull over to the side of the road can be an unnerving experience. You might be aware of something you have done wrong, such as exceeding the speed limit or allowing a...
Anger can lead to police overreactions
The reason that we feel anger is because it’s a natural response. When you feel threatened in some way, anger powers an aggressive and often selfish mindset. For most people, this is a common response even to a mild issue — like getting stuck in a traffic jam on the...
Police officers should attempt to de-escalate a situation
It seems that, all too often, police officers rush to take aggressive action to resolve a situation. They see everything as a conflict. They may even escalate tensions as they try to get people to comply. This is the wrong approach, some experts claim, saying that officers should focus instead...
Factors that contribute to how police officers react
When police officers react to a situation, it happens in a split second. They make quick decisions that can have a lasting impact. For instance, if the police react too aggressively, the situation could escalate to one of stark police brutality. When considering the engagement after the fact, even the...
Study finds that police behavior influences other officers
Wondering how likely a police officer is to use excessive force? One way to find out is just to look at the other officers that he or she works with. According to a new study, which focused on officers in Chicago but could apply all over the United States, the...
Have you suffered injuries at the hands of police?
You may understand that New Jersey police and law enforcement across the country must at times use force to do their jobs. It may be important to quickly subdue those who are a danger to themselves or others, and it is sometimes necessary to overpower someone who is trying to...
Does police brutality stem from a lack of training?
Whenever you hear about cases of police brutality, you probably find yourself asking how it could possibly have happened. How did the situation escalate to that point? How could an officer who may have had a completely clean record get to the breaking point and essentially assault a civilian? There...
POLICE MISCONDUCT–PROTECTING YOUR RIGHTS
Law enforcement officers play a critical role in promoting and ensuring safety and security in our society, but they are public servants, and that means they serve all of us. Most police officers see this as a sacred duty, but far too often, law enforcement officers see themselves as above...