Law Enforcement–Perpetrated Homicides. Tom Barker
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Law Enforcement—Perpetrated Homicides
Policing Perspectives and Challenges
in the Twenty-First Century
Series Editor: Jonathon A. Cooper,
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
In many respects, policing has evolved over the last two centuries; yet issues that concerned policing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries continue to be salient to contemporary law enforcement. But how these challenges are manifest to the police today are distinct, as society and politics, too, have evolved. And so understanding the role of police in society, the behavior and organization of law enforcement, the relationship between officers and civilians, and the intersection of theory and praxis remain important to the study of police. To this end, volumes in this series will consider policing perspectives and challenges in the twenty-first century, around the world, and through a variety of disciplinary lenses. Ultimately, this series “takes stock” of policing today, considers how it got here, and projects where it might be going. Policing Perspectives and Challenges in the Twenty-First Century will be of interest and use to a variety of policing scholars, including academics, police executives, and others who study law enforcement.
Titles in the series
Electronic Community-Oriented Policing: Theories, Contemporary Efforts, and Future Directions by Xiaochen Hu & Nicholas P. Lovrich
Law Enforcement—Perpetrated Homicides: Accidents to Murder by Tom Barker
Police Use of Excessive Force against African Americans: Historical Antecedents and Community Perceptions by Ray Von Robertson & Cassandra Chaney
Law Enforcement—
Perpetrated Homicides
Accidents to Murder
Tom Barker
LEXINGTON BOOKS
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Published by Lexington Books
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available
ISBN 978-1-7936-0190-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-7936-0191-9 (electronic)
Contents
1 Policework Occupation and Police-Perpetrated Homicides
3 Accidental LEO-Perpetrated Homicides
4 Justified Police Shooting Homicides
5 Non-lethal Use of Force? Taser-Related Homicides
6 Suicide by Cop
7 In-Custody Police-Perpetrated Homicides: Jails and Lockups
8 Killer Cops: Overview
9 Sexually Motivated Killer Cops: Police-Perpetrated Sexual Murders
10 Domestic Violence Homicides: Killer Cops
11 Rogue Killer Cops: Two Categories
12 Into the Future
Index
About the Author
Most of those who helped me on this book will remain anonymous. They are former law enforcement that shared my desire to cut past the professional rhetoric of police apologists to describe the dark secret of law enforcement–perpetuated homicides. Until the law enforcement community comes to grips with this social justice issue and rids the police occupation of these minority trouble-makers, the Morally Dangerous Occupation will never be recognized as a profession. I once again acknowledge the special help of BSJ who made it all possible.
Policework Occupation and Police-Perpetrated Homicides
Introduction: Police LEO Homicides
The term “police homicides” is used in the popular and academic literature to describe two views of police homicides. The first view presents law enforcement officers (LEOs) as victims who die at the hands of a felon. A second view sees LEOs as the perpetrators of homicides. The latter police homicides result from accidents, justified legal interventions, or criminal action by LEOs on-duty or off-duty when facilitated and related to their official position as defined by law. These homicides with LEOs as perpetrators are the focus of this inquiry.
LEOs Defined
LEOs aka police officers are paid public officials with the extraordinary powers of arrest who perform public safety functions of patrol, traffic control, investigation and detention at the local, county, state, federal, or special district levels. The operation of the U.S. policing system is historically defined by its foundation in our English heritage and the current definition of the dangerous classes by the elites. Our English heritage served as a model for a policing system that resulted in limited authority circumscribed by law. The fragmented system would be largely local. The inherent fragmentation allowed “police” or law enforcement agencies to expand by legislative definition at the local, state, federal, and special district (Walker, 1983; Barker, 2011).
Police violence by these LEOs includes a variety of violent behaviors against others, including police-perpetrated homicides—a subset of the larger category of police violence. To identify police-perpetrated homicides as a part of police violence we first define homicide.
Homicide
Homicide is the killing of a human being by another human being, and depending on the circumstances, the act may be accidental, justified, or criminal. The definitions of accidental, justified, and criminal homicides are important for the classification of police homicides (Harmon, 2008). Police accidental homicides not the result of reckless or negligent actions are generally ruled excusable and not subject to criminal sanctions, depending on the circumstances. Accidental—no criminal intent by the slayer—homicides that involve reckless or negligent actions by the slayer are prosecuted as criminal homicides. Justifiable homicides are commanded—executions