A New Year's Resolution: Don T Call The Police

Patrick and Hall in “In Defense of Self and Others” write, "If effective law enforcement is to be maintained, the race must not be to the swift. The fleeing criminal, regardless of his offense, must be considered the author of his own misfortune.” Policemen only use force in response to the situation they are in. Day to day Police men and women have to make difficult choices. The decisions they make often lead to controversy. Two sides are then created. On one side, there are people that believe police are bullies that do as they wish; the other side believes officers act as they see fit and do the best they can to keep the public out of harm's way. “The Etiquette of Police Brutality” by Rion Amalcar Scott represents the first view and

38 people in Queens watched a woman named Kitty Genovese get stabbed and they did not call the police according to “37 Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police” by Martin Gansberg. People follow the majority of people because they don’t want to do anything out of their comfort zone. Fear, ignorance, or following the crowd can keep people from taking action and speaking up to save the person in danger. When someone is in danger of being wrongly hurt, the bystanders are responsible for calling the police to save the person in danger. They shouldn’t put themselves in danger, but they are obligated to report the incident.

The main purpose of the law enforcement is to maintain order and enforcing the laws. The police are given one toughest tasks in the world, and that is with preservation wellbeing of the public. When dealing with people that those that violate the law and situations that creates, the police are authorized to use as much as force as necessary and within reason to protect themselves and others. It is sometimes quiet difficult for the public to understand what is reasonable when it comes to the use of force. It is very easy to watch a video and judge when you are not in the situation or do not have the level of training that officers are given.

Now one way to prevent things like this from happening again is to train the young and inexperienced police officers the correct and effective way to judge the use of force. An officer must reasonably believe it is necessary to shoot to kill to defend him or herself or someone else from imminent death. It’s a call made in the blink of an eye, in tense and uncertain circumstances, sometimes limited by distance, distractions or darkness. And it brings to bear all of the officer’s experience, awareness and, perhaps most important, training. The question is how do we do this? How do we prepare our officers for the real world? Half a second. According to experts, that’s how much time an officer has to pull a weapon when confronted with someone perceived as dangerous and about to inflict harm. Studies show that it takes a quarter of a second for an officer to recognize a threat, such as when a person is reaching for a gun, and another quarter-second for that officer to draw his gun. It takes another .06 seconds to pull the trigger. One place that is trying to make a difference and make those

Police officers are individuals who enforce the law upon their community to ensure that their citizens remain safe. In the past couple of years, officers of the law have been involved in acts of brutality that seem to go beyond the proper measurements of protection for their citizens. Policemen are supposed to protect their citizens from danger and from harm, not impose a threat on them. The fact that officers have a history of abusing their power indicates that their trust amongst the community has been corrupted. Those who have been affected of police brutality feel as though they have been deceived. They no longer feel that police officers will protect them, but rather abuse them, and that is a problem. We have began to live in a community in which an individual feels frightened when seeing a cop, rather than feeling protected. Some individuals may argue that police brutality is not a problem due to the fact that it is not consistent enough to catch the attention of needing a solution. However, that idea means little when the level of brutality has led to the death of several innocent victims in some cases. We must not wait for there to be a pattern of death at the hands of police officials to consider this a problem. One death indicates that preventive measures must be taken to ensure that these officers are no longer put in the position to abuse their power to begin with.

Whenever a police car goes by, I instantly think about two things: One, that someone is hurt and possibly not surviving, and two, I feel paranoid more than “protected.” If a cop is behind me while I am driving, I instantly think I’m doing something wrong…..even if I am driving perfectly legal. Whenever a cop car, a fire truck, or ambulance goes by, for a few seconds I wonder where they are going. The sirens peak interest for just a short amount; but then I forget all about it and go on about my day. I feel sorry for them, but I’m safe. On the opposite side, cops are fearful during most traffic stops. While the opinions on cop safety and cop brutality can be argued until time stops, The Harvard Courant states the tension felt by cops with the issues has become evident in the fact that traffic stops has decreased by at least 4% since last year. Motorists are seeing police as more aggressive than ever before, and additionally, they are instigating confrontations while having video footage ready. Both sides of the situation seem to be led by fear.

Sometimes people fail to realize we need law and order in our communities. Again, those in the law enforcement are not above the law. We all need each other’s support in a community and riots is not the answer. The police are there to protect, keep citizens safe and show the society the importance of law. Despite that some police officers brutally took certain people’s lives, today it creates a lack of trust for them. People no longer respect or cherish police presence. The Louisiana flood is a proof that communities need the presence of law enforcement officers. The police showed their commitment by extending their hands to rescue even those could have challenged them during recent the Louisiana riot.

Police-citizen violence and related concerns are prime topics of conversation wherever law enforcement professionals gather to discuss problems. Many police departments have made reviewing their use of force a top priority. And major civil rights organizations have made a priority of responding to police use of deadly force. When a law enforcement agency practices racial profiling, it gives the wrong impression that whites are considered to be law abiding citizens while blacks and Latinos are considered to be criminals. Racial profiling policies set up law enforcement agencies as enemies of communities that they serve. Unlike racial profiling, community policing has consistently been shown to work. The better the relationship between residents and police, the more likely residents are to report crimes, come forward as witnesses, and otherwise cooperate in police

Police officers are often viewed as oppressors and unjust by the community, when in reality they are just doing their jobs. The job of a police officer is to apprehend criminals and detect crime, and the maintenance of public order and to the extend and complication of this duty police officers often need to make split second decision that is not often view by the public as what we call “self-defense” which is a right we all have as human beings and stated in the Universal Declaration of

It comes to the point where no one becomes safe as one walks outside the front door of the house. Leaving the minorities questioning if they will ever be safe in the streets again. Not everyone in the world is a criminal, but it only takes one person to ruin and blame the whole race. Police brutality is an everyday case and there has yet nothing to be done to help reduce nor stop the violence. Often people critic the duty and the responsibilities that a police officer has in this county. Their duty is far from just eating donuts and drinking coffee. The first thing someone does when they feel like their life or someone’s life is in danger, is call 911 expecting that the law enforcement appears on the scene in .0 seconds. Even then a

I believe that limiting the power of the police to use deadly force makes the officers job more difficult. Limiting the power makes the officers job more dangerous from the point of the suspect knowing the officer is unable to respond correctly to a situation. If an officer is unable to use the force necessary for certain situations, it not only endangers the officer’s life but the lives of citizens around them. The officer’s ability to assist the public may also be limited. Why would the public want to call the police who will be unable to use deadly force to assist them?

Since a very young age we have been taught to put our trust into police officers. If we are in distress, they are always there to help since it is their job to protect and serve the common citizen. So what happens when the individuals we are supposed to trust to bring justice are the ones causing the injustice we see in the news? Recently, several police officers have been under fire for their excessive use of force. The number of casualties caused by police officers in the recent years have citizens demanding a reform in the system that officers work under.

Although, officers seeing that they are handling the situation well they are not looking at the scenario in a different perspective; they don’t realize that choking, beating, or killing somebody that is not an authority is not going to affect society in some way. Most police officers feel that they are being “disrespectful” by the people by, asking for badge numbers, videotaping

When a man gets robbed on the dark streets of the city he can resist and fight back. When a woman gets raped she can resist and scream for help. When the family home gets burglarized, family can call the police or use other means for protection. But what could a person do, be that man or a woman, if he/she is a victim of crime committed by law enforcement officers? Any resistance will only be met with further escalation of physical and emotional punishment in addition to criminal charges that will surely follow that person in courts. There is no use to cry for help because nobody has the authority to fight police. The channels for accountability for renegade police officers are limited and unfortunately more often then not two thirds of

In recent years, society has heard cases of police brutality at an increasingly shocking rate, thus creating a sense of distrust among communities towards police officers and other authority figures. As the first line of defense against crimes such as home invasions or crimes against persons, police officers are expected to be an ally towards victims; however, it seems that society is now viewing officers as the perpetrators of crimes as opposed to the protectors. This has already posed an issue because community members are choosing not to seek police help when needed, and when they do decide to seek help, forgoing police assistance results in being uncertain of where else to go.