1. Reasonable Use of Force
For the Occupy Movement

2. If the Occupy Movement
had a mascot, who do you
think it would be?

3. ?
Bland…

4. ?
Cliché…

5. ?
We might be on to something…

6. This is Lieutenant John
Pike, a police officer at
UC Davis.

7. Through the power of
the internet, he has
become lovingly known
as…

8. PEPPER SPRAY COP!

12. Lt. John Pike
 Became the face of opposition to the Occupy
Movement
 Demonstrates how far social media has come in
the capacity to spread ideas
 Rallied Occupy members and garnered
unwanted publicity for UC Davis campus

13. Gap
 Amount of force law enforcement agencies apply
to the Occupy Movement
 Amount of force public deems as necessary to
employ

14. Perception of force
 Deciding how much force is reasonable or
necessary is difficult
 Every situation is different
 Public judges that decision after the fact knowing
all the variables

15. UC Davis and Occupy Oakland
 Two different Occupy incidents
 Highlight the difference between accepted levels
of use of force
 Is there a solution to minimize damage to society
and maintain respect for authority?

16. UC Davis

17. What happened?
 According to the Huffington Post, UC Davis
chancellor, Linda P.B. Katehi orders campus police
to remove the Occupy encampment(Cherkis)
 Police move in to remove tents with minimal arrests
and incidents
 Protesters surround police and shout that they will
let the cops go pending release of arrested students

18. What happened?
 Police spend upwards of 15 minutes giving out
warnings to protesters that they would be
required to use force if they did not move
 Prime example of current tactics by police
officers being out-of-date and insufficient to
resolving Occupy movement conflicts

19. Occupy Oakland

20. What happened?
 According to The New York Times, Occupy goal
was to move the protesters to the vacant Henry
J. Kaiser Convention Center(Maslin Nir)
 Police confront protesters for destroying
construction barriers
 Protesters respond with bottles, metal pipe,
rocks, spray cans, improvised explosive devices,
and burning flares

22. What happened?
 Officers respond with smoke, tear gas, and
beanbags during the arrest of 20 people
 Night ends with protesters breaking into City
Hall, breaking windows and property, and
burning an American flag in front of the building

24. Whose fault?
 Tensions escalated quickly
 Would this have been a problem if police just let
Occupiers take the vacant building?
 Do we blame the police officers for provoking
retaliation and causing property damage?

25. Use of Force

26. Too little…
 Runs risk of failing to apprehend the suspect
 Endangers themselves, fellow officers, and the
public if the suspects resists violently

27. Too much…

28. Use of force doctrine
 Law enforcement agencies had to create a
doctrine to determine acceptable use of force
 Strike a balance between security needs and
ethical concerns for the rights and well-being of
intruders or suspects(Use of force)

29. Double standard
 Decision is complicated
 Citizens expect the police to be aggressive in
the enforcement of the criminal law against
serious offenders(Alpert 486)
 They also expect the police to show restraint
when they or those they know are involved

31. Technology
 Tasers
 Pepper spray
 Etc…
 Use of force becomes a moving target

32. In Hindsight

33. Davis and Oakland
 Errors of judgment
 Escalated conflicts
 Bad publicity for police officers
 Negative publicity for protesters
 Could have been handled better

34. At UC Davis
 It is clear that pepper spray was not necessary
for the police to leave
 The main objective of removing tents was
already complete
 Didn’t take into account that their actions would
be spread around the internet like wildfire

35. But…
 Occupy protesters should not have surrounded
the cops in the first place
 Undermined the peaceful image of the protest
and begged for retaliation

36. At Occupy Oakland
 Protesters got out of hand immediately
 No justification for escalation besides mob
mentality or lack of personal judgment
 Exhibits an image of immaturity and lack of
respect for authority and private property
 Don’t burn the American flag. For real.

37. Should police have backed off?
 Argument: Conflict and damage would have
been kept to a minimum if police had backed off
 Argument is weak
 Should police let bank robbers do as they please
because confronting them could cause a
shootout?*
*I know that is a hyperbole

38. Mediation

39. Mediation Observations
 Finding the middle ground requires a
fundamental change in the approach of law
enforcement
 Need a change tailored for Occupy protest
circumstances
 Public needs to understand the difficulty of
deciding when to use force and how much

40. For UC Davis
 Police should have erred on the side of caution
 Risk to officers and public was minimal

41. For Occupy Oakland
 Police were forced to respond with force
 Police blamed after the fact for causing the
chaos
 Public should contemplate the double standard
presented and temper bias toward police

42. Questions?

43. Works Cited
 "UC Davis Pepper Spray – What Really Happened". YouTube.com.
28 November 2011. Timasu. 1 April 2012.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhPdH3wE0_Y&feature=related>.
 "Use of force." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
11 January 2012. Web. 1 April 2012.
 Adams, Kenneth, et al. Use of Force By Police: Overview of National and Local
Data. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs,
National Institute of Justice, 1999. Print.
 Alpert, Geoffrey P., and William C. Smith. "How Reasonable is the Reasonable Man?:
Police and Excessive Force." The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
85.2 (1994): 481-501. Print.
 Cherkis, Jason. "UC Davis Police Pepper-Spray Seated Students In Occupy
Dispute." The Huffington Post. 20 November 2011. Web. 1 April 2012.
 Maslin Nir, Sarah, and Matt Flegenheimer. "Hundreds Held in Oakland Occupy
Protest." The New York Times. 29 January 2012. Web. 1 April 2012.