Police brutality

Police brutality is one of several forms of police misconduct which involves undue violence by police members.Widespread police brutality exists in many countries and territories, even those that prosecute it. Although illegal, it can be performed under the color of law.When used in print or as the battle cry in a black power rally, police brutality can by implication cover a number of practices, from calling a citizen by his or her first name to a death by a policeman's bullet. What the average citizen thinks of when he hears the term, however, is something midway between these two occurrences, something more akin to what the police profession knows as 'alley court'—the wanton vicious beating of a person in custody, usually while handcuffed, and usually taking place somewhere between the scene of the arrest and the station house....may use force only if necessary and justified and only by such means and to such extent as are reasonable relative to the interest which the police seek to protect. Any assessment of the justifiability of such force must also take into account whether the use of force involves any risk of bodily harm to third parties.The Malta Police Force issued a statement detailing what had happened, in which it claimed that Mr Calleja acted aggressively, refused to take a breathalyser test, ignored police orders and used foul language.The man said his son was in a bar in Paceville when police went up to him because he was smoking. The man claimed that the police roughly manhandled his son, handcuffed him and threw him into a van where he was beaten up and suffered from lacerations to the head as well as bruised ribs and muscles.'The customer ended up on the ground beneath a number of officers who were trying to arrest him.In the ensuing verbal exchange the officer, Defence lawyer Rachel Tua said, made offensive remarks about the accused's father. Robertson was then allegedly thrown to the ground by the officer, who slammed the man's head on the ground, the lawyer said, also claiming that the accused had his injured arm cruelly twisted while he was being handcuffed. She denied the prosecution's assertion that Robertson had assaulted police, adding that his friends had witnessed the incident and would be summoned to testify. Tua told magistrate Vella that the police refused to allow Robertson to speak to her during his arrest, instead holding him overnight and taking a statement the next morning – with the police officer who allegedly delivered the beating present in the interrogation room. The police had not even told him why he was being arrested, she said.'…absolutely necessary and when less dangerous means have proved ineffective, and provided that their use is proportionate to the circumstances Police brutality is one of several forms of police misconduct which involves undue violence by police members.Widespread police brutality exists in many countries and territories, even those that prosecute it. Although illegal, it can be performed under the color of law. The term 'police brutality' was in use in the American press as early as 1872, when the Chicago Tribune reported on the beating of a civilian under arrest at the Harrison Street Police Station. The origin of 'modern' policing based on the authority of the nation state is commonly traced back to developments in seventeenth and 18th century France, with modern police departments being established in most nations by the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Cases of police brutality appear to have been frequent then, with 'the routine bludgeoning of citizens by patrolmen armed with nightsticks or blackjacks.' Early large-scale incidents of brutality occurred during labor strikes, such as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the Pullman Strike of 1894, the Lawrence textile strike of 1912, the Ludlow massacre of 1914, the Steel strike of 1919, and the Hanapepe massacre of 1924. Portions of the populations may perceive the police to be oppressors. In addition, there is a perception that victims of police brutality often belong to relatively powerless groups, such as minorities, the disabled, the young, and the poor.