Reasonable Use of Force For the Occupy Movement

Reasonable Use of Force
For the Occupy Movement

If the Occupy Movement
had a mascot, who do you
think it would be?

?
We might be on to something…

This is Lieutenant John
Pike, a police officer at
UC Davis.

Through the power of
the internet, he has
become lovingly known
as…

Reasonable Use of Force For the Occupy Movement

Lt. John Pike

 Became the face of opposition to the Occupy
Movement
 Demonstrates how far social media has come in
the capacity to spread ideas
 Rallied Occupy members and garnered
unwanted publicity for UC Davis campus

Gap

 Amount of force law enforcement agencies apply
to the Occupy Movement

 Amount of force public deems as necessary to
employ

Perception of force

 Deciding how much force is reasonable or
necessary is difficult
 Every situation is different

 Public judges that decision after the fact knowing
all the variables

UC Davis and Occupy Oakland

 Two different Occupy incidents

 Highlight the difference between accepted levels
of use of force

 Is there a solution to minimize damage to society
and maintain respect for authority?

What happened?

 According to the Huffington Post, UC Davis
chancellor, Linda P.B. Katehi orders campus police
to remove the Occupy encampment(Cherkis)

 Police move in to remove tents with minimal arrests
and incidents

 Protesters surround police and shout that they will
let the cops go pending release of arrested students

What happened?

 Police spend upwards of 15 minutes giving out
warnings to protesters that they would be
required to use force if they did not move

 Prime example of current tactics by police
officers being out-of-date and insufficient to
resolving Occupy movement conflicts

What happened?

 According to The New York Times, Occupy goal
was to move the protesters to the vacant Henry
J. Kaiser Convention Center(Maslin Nir)

 Police confront protesters for destroying
construction barriers

 Protesters respond with bottles, metal pipe,
rocks, spray cans, improvised explosive devices,
and burning flares

What happened?

 Officers respond with smoke, tear gas, and
beanbags during the arrest of 20 people

 Night ends with protesters breaking into City
Hall, breaking windows and property, and
burning an American flag in front of the building

Whose fault?

 Tensions escalated quickly

 Would this have been a problem if police just let
Occupiers take the vacant building?

 Do we blame the police officers for provoking
retaliation and causing property damage?

Too little…

 Runs risk of failing to apprehend the suspect

 Endangers themselves, fellow officers, and the
public if the suspects resists violently

Use of force doctrine

 Law enforcement agencies had to create a
doctrine to determine acceptable use of force

 Strike a balance between security needs and
ethical concerns for the rights and well-being of
intruders or suspects(Use of force)

Double standard

 Decision is complicated

 Citizens expect the police to be aggressive in
the enforcement of the criminal law against
serious offenders(Alpert 486)

 They also expect the police to show restraint
when they or those they know are involved

Technology

 Tasers
 Pepper spray
 Etc…

 Use of force becomes a moving target

Davis and Oakland

 Errors of judgment
 Escalated conflicts
 Bad publicity for police officers
 Negative publicity for protesters
 Could have been handled better

At UC Davis

 It is clear that pepper spray was not necessary
for the police to leave

 The main objective of removing tents was
already complete

 Didn’t take into account that their actions would
be spread around the internet like wildfire

But…

 Occupy protesters should not have surrounded
the cops in the first place

 Undermined the peaceful image of the protest
and begged for retaliation

At Occupy Oakland

 Protesters got out of hand immediately

 No justification for escalation besides mob
mentality or lack of personal judgment

 Exhibits an image of immaturity and lack of
respect for authority and private property
 Don’t burn the American flag. For real.

Should police have backed off?

 Argument: Conflict and damage would have
been kept to a minimum if police had backed off

 Argument is weak
 Should police let bank robbers do as they please
because confronting them could cause a
shootout?*

*I know that is a hyperbole

Mediation Observations

 Finding the middle ground requires a
fundamental change in the approach of law
enforcement

 Need a change tailored for Occupy protest
circumstances
 Public needs to understand the difficulty of
deciding when to use force and how much

For UC Davis

 Police should have erred on the side of caution

 Risk to officers and public was minimal

For Occupy Oakland

 Police were forced to respond with force

 Police blamed after the fact for causing the
chaos

 Public should contemplate the double standard
presented and temper bias toward police

Works Cited

 "UC Davis Pepper Spray – What Really Happened". YouTube.com.
28 November 2011. Timasu. 1 April 2012.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhPdH3wE0_Y&feature=related>.
 "Use of force." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
11 January 2012. Web. 1 April 2012.
 Adams, Kenneth, et al. Use of Force By Police: Overview of National and Local
Data. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs,
National Institute of Justice, 1999. Print.
 Alpert, Geoffrey P., and William C. Smith. "How Reasonable is the Reasonable Man?:
Police and Excessive Force." The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
85.2 (1994): 481-501. Print.
 Cherkis, Jason. "UC Davis Police Pepper-Spray Seated Students In Occupy
Dispute." The Huffington Post. 20 November 2011. Web. 1 April 2012.
 Maslin Nir, Sarah, and Matt Flegenheimer. "Hundreds Held in Oakland Occupy
Protest." The New York Times. 29 January 2012. Web. 1 April 2012.

Reasonable Use of Force For the Occupy Movement

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