Excessive use of force by police personnel has become a key problem in modern policing. Various cases of excessive use of force have arisen and the judiciary needs to deal with such cases more often. It is these incidents that receive the most attention from the media, which can unfortunately overlook successful police operations. Therefore, this article will delve deeper into the escalation of use of force by police personnel. It seeks to define what “excessive force” means and the different methods used by police to subdue a suspect. Finally, this article will examine how departments seek to reduce incidents of excessive force within their ranks (Kitaaeff, 2011). We can isolate various elements of force and examine each element separately. The first and most obvious is the use of a weapon. Weapons include, but are not limited to, guns, batons, pepper spray, and Tasers (although the last three are generally not deadly). The use of such weapons unanimously falls into the category of “force”. Guns obviously constitute a higher degree of force than other weapons such as batons, Tasers, or pepper spray. The question is whether possessing a gun can be construed as a use of force, or whether simply removing the gun and pointing it at a suspect constitutes a use of force. In some cases, even police dogs can be considered a use of force if they are used to subdue a suspect. Constraints are another element of strength. Restraint includes handcuffs, leg cuffs, and more drastic forms of restraint such as handcuffs (Johnson, 2007). Perhaps one of the most famous and landmark cases involving excessive use of force by police officers is the Rodney King case in 1991. In that case, Los Angeles police officers were accused of unreasonably applied...... middle of paper...... force should only be used when the need arises, and the situation calls for deadly force. Police forces should use this power discreetly. In light of this, legislation and policies should seek to regulate the use of deadly force rather than eliminate it. Preventing police officers from using force would leave them unable to deal with adverse and violent situations. Additionally, advocating for the use of non-lethal force would give criminals an advantage as there are no restrictions on their use of deadly weapons (Jefferis, 2011). Hopefully this wasn't too boring or this isn't the third article you've read on this topic. I recently found out that my firstborn will be here on May 24th, next month we will find out his gender and I couldn't be more excited. But don't rely on my facial expression to gauge my level of enthusiasm, 12 years of military service has more or less left me speechless..