"When an officer meets resistance from a suspect, that officer is legally authorized to escalate the level of force employed, depending on the resistance received from the suspect."
"In addition, officers are taught to control their emotions in volatile confrontations and to utilize force only as needed."
"The very nature of their position at the front-line means they often find themselves in the most violent of situations. Such dangerous situations rely on instinct and even self-defense to keep situations from getting out of hand."
"Although police would ideally use the minimum amount of force to subdue a criminal or a crowd without excessively endangering themselves or bystanders, it can be very difficult to judge the risks posed by an assailant in a split-second."
"Police officers are finding themselves in life threatening situations with criminals. During these situations the officers have to use excessive measures to control the situation."
"...excessive force should be allow for the safety of the officers lives. "
"Many officers come to a scene and don’t know what is going on. When approaching a scene they try to measure the danger level before entering to call extra officers to help. But when an officer cannot measure the scene is when problems occur"
Solutions
"To reduce the occurrence of such incidents, better training and accountability mechanisms have been put in place."
"The most important issue regarding use of force is whether it was justified and consistent with the resistance being offered."
"organizations have gone to great lengths to minimize the number of instances where officers employ excessive force."
"Police stations, city hall and other government venues must be protested against and marched on after every incident of police brutality."
"We must use our cameras every time police harass us to catch them in the act. Then we can use the Internet and the viral media to expose these actions worldwide."
"Politicians who do not address issues like police brutality must be voted out of office."
"We must use moderate police organizations to work with the police to stop police brutality."
"We need to take legal action as well. The best way to hurt police brutality is by hitting them in the pocket. If the police keep on getting sued for brutality they’ll be forced to deal with the issue. Every incident of police brutality should be reported to both the government and the media."
"The first thing to bear in mind about the "homework" community residents have to do in order to build a strong case for reform is that obtaining the most relevant information on the activities of your police department can be a tough task. "