Police Violence

What are the rules of policing?

When exercising their powers police must comply with their states’ obligations under international law to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, such as the right to life, liberty and security of person, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and the freedom of expression. But many of these rights are being violated through police use of unlawful force and other unlawful conduct, which might include beatings, racial abuse and reckless use of less lethal weapons, as well as unlawful killings and torture.

Legality, necessity and proportionality are crucial principles in policing. How and when police officers may use force are outlined international laws and standards that govern policing. In addition, the principles of precaution, non-discrimination and accountability also govern the exercise of police powers, in particular the use of force.

What laws and practices exist to govern police practices?

Clear human rights standards on policing are contained in the following key documents:

• The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials is a key international instrument or set of guidelines that deals with police use of force. It requires police officers to, as far as possible, apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of force and firearms. It further states that police officers may only use lethal force when strictly necessary to protect themselves or others from the imminent threat of death or serious injury, and only as a last resort, when other options for de-escalation and less harmful means of force are insufficient.
• The UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials outlines the responsibilities of law enforcement officials to not only uphold the law, but also to respect and protect human rights in their duties. It further states that they may use force only when strictly necessary and to the extent required for the performance of their duty.

Based on these two legal documents Amnesty International has developed its Amnesty International Use of Force – Guidelines for Implementation of the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by law enforcement officials. They draw on national laws, regulations and training documents from 58 countries to provide recommendations intended to help governments to implement the UN Basic Principles and ensure effective, human rights-compliant policing.

The UN Guidance on Less-Lethal Weapons in Law Enforcement sets out guidance on the lawful and responsible design, production, transfer, procurement, testing, training, deployment and use of less lethal weapons. These include police batons, tear gas, water cannon and Tasers – weapons that are sold as an alternative to the kind of conventional weapons, such as firearms, that immediately kill.

When is force unlawful?

Police must be guided by the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination at all times. Any use of force that does not comply with these principles is unlawful.

The principle of legality provides that the use of force must be resorted to in compliance with domestic legislation and only for a legitimate law enforcement purpose as established in law.

Necessity means using force only when strictly necessary, and only to the extent required to achieve a legitimate objective. Police officials must, as far as possible, attempt to use non-violent means first. Verbal commands, negotiation, warnings, or simply keeping a safe distance – are all ways to achieve an objective without resorting to the use of force. And when they need to resort to force they must use the least harmful mean still likely to be effective. The use of force must stop as soon as they have achieved their objective or when it becomes clear that the objective cannot be achieved anymore.

Proportionality means that there should be a balance between the type and level of force used and the harm that it can cause to an individual taking into account the threat posed by the individual. The harm caused by the use of force may never outweigh the damage it seeks to prevent.

When resorting to the use of force, police must respect and protect the human rights of every person without discrimination, and they must never use force against individuals out of prejudice or with direct or indirect discriminatory intent.

Force used by police in an arbitrary or abusive manner that isn’t aimed at achieving a legitimate objective but is instead intended to punish, torture or abuse, or that is otherwise unnecessary or excessive, is therefore unlawful.

Use of less lethal weapons

From Argentina to Zimbabwe, police routinely use unnecessary and excessive force to repress peaceful demonstrations. This is often achieved through the misuse of less lethal weapons, such as kinetic impact projectiles, tear gas, stun grenades and batons.

An Amnesty International report, based on research in over 30 countries, documented how thousands of protesters and bystanders have been maimed and dozens killed by the often reckless and disproportionate use of kinetic impact projectiles at close range. Horrific injuries caused by these weapons include eye loss, gruesome burns, skull fractures, broken ribs and punctured lungs.

Discrimination and policing

Amnesty’s research shows that human rights violations by the police could happen to anyone – petty criminals, protesters, student activists, and people who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, it is most often poor and marginalized people who get killed, beaten, raped, humiliated or otherwise abused by police.

In the USA, racist policing has led to the shocking deaths of George Floyd, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner and many other unarmed Black people. The increasing use of facial recognition systems puts Black people at further risk of false arrest and unlawful use of force.

In Mexico, women arrested by police in the “war on drugs” have been subjected to rape, sexual assault and other forms of torture, such as electric shocks to the genitals, as a means of getting them to “confess” to serious crimes. In the Philippines, poor and destitute people suspected of using or selling drugs have been shot by police as they begged for mercy.

LGBTI people around the world are subjected to routine harassment and abuse by police. In 2017, for example, authorities in the Russian republic of Chechnya unleashed a wave of attacks on people believed to be gay or lesbian. Dozens of gay men in Chechnya were abducted and tortured by the police. Many were killed at secret detention sites.

Unlawful force during arrests and detention

Amnesty International has long documented evidence of police using unlawful force during arrests. Individuals can be beaten with fists, clubbed with batons or kicked in the face, even when they show no resistance and pose no risk to the police. Electric shock weapons are frequently used in such in context, including when the person does not present any threat to anyone, and often in a repeated and prolonged manner with the highly abusive “stun mode” (applying the weapon in direct contact mode to the body) that should be prohibited altogether.

Unlawful force can continue in detention, inside police lock ups, interrogation rooms and prisons. In many instances, torture and ill-treatment are meted out by officers as “punishment” for talking back, appearing uncooperative or to a coerce a confession.

During the Woman Life Freedom uprising in Iran in 2022, security forces, which include the police and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, committed widespread torture and other ill-treatment against protesters and bystanders. This included the harrowing use of rape, including gang rape, and other forms of sexual violence against detained protesters.

Policing protests

Around the world, we are witnessing the increasing militarization of the police and the misuse of force by police to suppress protests. In many places, the police are responding to protests with armoured vehicles, military-grade aircraft, surveillance drones, guns and assault weapons, and stun grenades.

States have an obligation to ensure that everyone can enjoy the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, including through protests. They have an obligation to respect, protect and facilitate peaceful protests.

There are clear international human rights standards for police conduct during protests which Amnesty International has summarized in its Guidelines on the Right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly:

• It is the role of police to facilitate peaceful protests. A certain degree of tolerance, including of unlawful behaviour, may be required to avoid unnecessary escalation and ensure the effective protection of human rights. If tensions arise, law enforcement officials have the duty to de-escalate them and actively protect protesters and others from violence.
• If some protestors engage in violent actions, this does not turn the otherwise peaceful protest into a non-peaceful assembly. Police should ensure those who remain peaceful can continue protesting.
• Acts of violence by a small minority do not justify indiscriminate use of force.
• If the use of force is unavoidable, police must use the minimum force necessary to achieve a legitimate objective.
• The decision to disperse a protest must be a last resort – and it may only be carried out when there is a pressing need and when all other less restrictive means have proven to be unsuccessful. Dispersal does not automatically justify the use of force and protesters must be given the opportunity to leave voluntarily. Before the use of any less lethal weapons, protesters must be warned and given the opportunity to follow the dispersal order.
• Tear gas or water cannons have wide-area effect and may only be used in response to widespread violence and where more targeted means have failed or are clearly insufficient to contain the violence. An audible warning must be issued prior to their deployment, and protesters given adequate time to disperse voluntarily. Tear gas must not be used in enclosed spaces, from above or in excessive amounts, and must never be fired directly at protesters.  Similarly, police must not use water cannons in high-pressure mode to target people at close range or aim directly at their heads or faces. Water cannons may never be used or aimed at individuals who are restrained or unable to move.
• Kinetic impact projectiles, such as rubber and plastic bullets, may only be used when necessary to prevent violence against persons and only in a carefully targeted manner against individuals engaged in such violence. They should never be fired randomly at a crowd.
• Firearms are not suitable for crowd control and should never be used to disperse a protest. Even if some protesters are violent, the police may only use a firearm as a last resort to stop an imminent threat to life or serious injury.

Impunity

Amnesty International has documented in many countries how police officers who unlawfully kill or injure people often get away with it. Sometimes there is no investigation, or police threaten the judiciary, witnesses or survivors and pressure them to drop charges. In other cases, laws give police immunity. This creates a climate of impunity in which police can commit such acts without any fear of negative consequences.

All allegations of human rights violations by the police must be investigated and those suspected to be responsible must be brought to justice. Accountability is essential to ensure lawful and human rights-compliant policing.

What is Amnesty International doing to help?

Amnesty International documents cases of unlawful use of force by police worldwide. This could be through the misuse of ‘standard police equipment’, such as rubber bullets and police batons, which puts people at unnecessary risk of harm. Amnesty International is campaigning for a ban on the production of and trade in abusive tools that are designed to torture, such as direct contact electric shock devices and spiked batons, or law enforcement equipment that could be used for legitimate purposes but are often used to commit torture and other ill-treatment.

In our flagship Protect the Protest campaign, we are working to expose when the right to protest is being violated through police use of unlawful force. We have designed an online course to raise further awareness about human rights when it comes to policing.