Patch Goes to the Citizen Police Academy: Week 2

With police-involved incidents like the deaths of Oscar Grant and Charles Hill, one of the most controversial topics when it comes to police is how force is used to subdue another person.

But does the community at large really know why and how police use force in certain situations?

In our second class with the Newark Citizen Police Academy we found some of those answers.

Imagine: A person under the influence of drugs not following police directions. That person is angry, yelling and takes a fighting stance.

What does a cop do next?

What does that cop know about that person? Does the person have training in fighting? Is the person in the right state of mind? How much strength does this person have?

These are the types of questions that Det. David Lee and Det. Chomnan Loth said officers are trained to consider when they make contact with people.

And their number one priority is to ensure the safety of themselves and the community at large.

Police are trained, however, to assess a situation and take some steps to get someone to stop what he or she is doing that is considered dangerous before force is used. This training is conducted annually within the Newark Police Department.

These steps include verbal directions, chemical agents, hand and control holds, impact weapons, electronic weapons, K-9 units and lethal force.

The main lessons learned are that not everyone follows police directions without fighting and a situation can turn threatening quickly.

The detectives emphasized that the most difficult situations to handle deal with people under the influence of alcohol or drugs. See an example here. 

Citizen Police Academy members also had a chance to assess a crime scene. We learned what types of evidence there are and what evidence can say about a crime.

It can take hours for a crime scene to be analyzed. Police log the scene with photos and videos. Each piece of evidence is marked while the scene is documented.

Evidence includes fingerprints, DNA, personal belongings, weapons, hair fiber, computers and electronics.

There is also a difference between patent and latent evidence. Patent being visible to the naked eye while latent has to be developed to be visible (like fingerprints).

And if you’ve ever seen cops waiting before entering a crime scene, it might be because they are waiting for a search warrant to be approved.

Why?

Because that gives them authority to seize property regardless of whose property it is, so that all items collected is lawfully seized.

Crime scenes are often assessed in three steps: making observations, developing a theory and calculating whether that theory can be disproved.