By Lou Reiter, LLRMI Co-Director and Director of the Public Safety Internal Affairs Institute Most police recruits come from the same group of Americans who don’t know anything about the Korean Conflict or Vietnam War and may think that World War II was a Tom Hanks’ movie.  Yes, some police academies may briefly discuss Robert Peel’s ‘first professional policemen’ Bobbies that began in 1829 and ‘Peel’s Rules.’  But what about in America?  Does our police history affect today’s policing and our community’s attitudes towards the police?  Could a better understanding of the history of American policing give a new recruit [...]

On February 11, 2020, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided Smith v. Adams et al.[i], in which the court examined whether officers used excessive force under the Fourth Amendment when they shot a fleeing suspect’s car and tased him after he crashed.  The relevant facts of Smith, taken directly from the case, are as follows: Late one evening, officers from the Evansville Police Department responded to a 911 call about shots fired and a group of people fighting. Officers Adams and Hollins were first on the scene and saw three people, including Smith, arguing near a parked car. They [...]

On January 7, 2020, the Court of Appeals of Georgia decided In the Interest of C.B., a Child[i], in which the court examined whether an officer had sufficient reasonable suspicion to justify the pedestrian stop of C.B.  The relevant facts of C.B., taken directly from the case, are as follows: The record reflects that at about 10:00 p.m., while driving on Highway 19 in Glenwood, Georgia, a police officer saw a person, C.B., wearing a backpack and walking on the side of the road. The officer knew that there had been numerous break-ins within the last two weeks in Glenwood, [...]

On January 23, 2020, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided Baker v. Fermon et al.[i], which serves as an excellent review of the law related to probable cause, searches of a person’s body for drugs, and malicious prosecution.  The relevant facts of Baker, taken directly from the case, are as follows: Baker was a passenger in a car stopped on September 27, 2014 around 2:30 a.m. by John Fermon, a Bloomington, Illinois, police officer. (Baker does not contest the validity of the car stop.) At this stage, we construe in Baker's favor the evidence of the events that followed. See [...]

On January 21, 2020, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Hoke v. Anderson et al.[i], in which Sara Hoke and Amanda Hoke, two sisters, sued several officers for excessive force under the Fourth Amendment for, among other things, allegedly failing to properly decontaminate them after spraying them with pepper spray. The incident that gave rise to this suit took place in 2016 in Austin, Texas, after the Southwest Festival.  Sara and Amanda Hoke, twin sisters, attended the festival and, when the bars closed at 2:00am, thousands of people took to the streets, including the Hoke sisters, who became involved [...]

On January 23, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Del Valle v. Thorne and Del Valle v. Zastrow[i], in which the court examined whether two deputies were entitled to qualified immunity for an alleged use of excessive force under the Fourth Amendment.  The relevant facts of Del Valle, taken directly from the case, are as follows: In September 2016, Thorne and Zastrow, who were then Sonoma County deputy sheriffs, responded to a neighbor's call about a domestic dispute at Del Valle's house. The neighbor reported that the dispute sounded verbal, not physical, and that Del Valle's wife sounded [...]