introduction

A selected number of issues critical to “police violence” will be the focus of this article.

• What leads to the use of “unnecessary force” against what groups of people, and

• What can we do to eliminate the use of “unnecessary force”?

There are advantages to starting in the “middle” as one seeks to understand and prevent police violence. Once the use of unnecessary force starts within a system, an evolution begins. Groups and individuals learn by doing. When they help others they are likely to learn from that and become more helpful. When they harm others and use force against others, they are likely to change as individuals and as groups. And it becomes easier for them to use force later on. This is a problem inherent in the work of police officers and others working in the broad field of security because their work sometimes requires the use of force. So that is already the starting point for the possibility of the development of the use of more force.

When individuals use force, especially excessive force, they have to justify it somehow. One way to justify it is to devalue your victim, even more than you may have devalued that person before. It then becomes easier to harm him or her even more. Another facet of the same process, which may seem to be paradoxical at first glance, is imputing great strength and power to the “identified victim” by demonizing him or her, so as to justify what you plan to do by the supposed need to protect yourself.