There is no excuse for police brutality and the use of physical force “always has to be” out of necessity, says Commissioner of Police, Mohamed Hameed.
Condemning an act of terror by a police officer that got a man killed in the United States of America, Hameed wrote that police use of physical force always has be “proportionate”, “legal”, “accountable” and “out of necessity” to secure observance of law and restore order.
He wrote that it should “always” be linked to a policing objective, to protect the public from harm.
The Police Commissioner used the hashtag “Can’t Breathe” at the end of his Twitter post on Sunday afternoon, and this comes at a time the death of an African American man, George Floyd, in police custody in Minneapolis, US, has triggered public outrage worldwide.
In a video footage circulating, an officer is seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck while he was handcuffed and pinned to the ground. Floyd is even heard pleading the officer that “I cannot breathe” before he eventually succumbed to the long eight minutes of torture.