An Analysis Of The Police Brutality

Police brutality and office involved shootings have sparked national debate and created a strain between police officers and citizens. Recently, there have been more home videos that display acts of aggression by police officers. These police officers often use excessive forces or a condescending tone towards people of color which is why there needs to be a better way to mend police and civilian relationship. People should be able to trust the police in their communities rather than fear them.

-By definition the term police brutality is “applied in the context of causing physical harm, it may also involve psychological harm through the use of intimidation tactics beyond the scope of officially sanctioned police procedure.” In today’s society we have police known as riot police, who are known throughout the world to use extreme force. Statistics show almost every time the riot police are involved in crowd control, there is at least one fatality and multiple injured. This is why I believe this is one of the most important issues in the World today. Police are there to protect us but from April 2009 to June 2010 in the United States there were 5986 reports of misconduct from police officers. Police brutality has today’s citizens doubting the police department, and how they go about their arrest. Police brutality is an everyday occurrence, especially in cities where there are large communities of Blacks, Latinos and Asians.

This academic paper will discuss and examine the code of ethics and security case study. This paper will examine police brutality in New Orleans. The case will be examined from the perspective of the four different ethical theories. The four ethical theories are ethical relativism, ethical egoism, deontological ethics, and ontological ethics. The analysis will determine how the different perspectives support or condemn the conduct in the case study. The analysis will reveal which ethical theory resolves the particular ethical issue or issues from Criminal Justice Ethics 2e, Case Study 1.1, Police Brutality in New Orleans.

This movie Directed by Paul Haggis who also directed Academy Award Winning "Million Dollar Baby" and had also won an Academy Award for this movie as well puts a twisted story in this film. This movie is trying to symbolize what goes on in the world today in regards to racism and stereotypes. He tries to make a point on how societies view themselves and others in the world based on there ethnicities. This movie intertwines several different people's lives, all different races, with different types of beliefs. Such ethnicities include Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Middle Eastern. This movie includes conflicts on both sides of the picture from cops and criminals as well

The brutality of the police force has been a long worldwide problem, but especially between the years of 2012-2016. Black people are being unjustly beaten and shot in plain sight for doing nothing while being unarmed. Journal of African American Studies “Blacks are viewed as deserving of harsh treatment in the criminal justice system” (482). “Black males with more “Afrocentric” features may receive longer sentences than blacks with less Afrocentric features like lighter skin and straighter hair”(482). Nowadays it is important to know about the police force. It’s important to know our rights as citizens and be careful around cops. Not everybody is good, but not everybody is bad also. In The New York Amsterdam News 21 people were killed by Chicago police in 2008. Entire families were being attacked. They believe it’s because of their skin color and how they are different. The year of racism started off with the world seeing the police murder of Oscar Grant. “The media have pushed people away from hearing the issue of police brutality, and it has fallen off of the radar screen.”(2) “You can’t give in. They will try to make an example out of you, try to break your spirit!”(2) African Americans say do not trust the cops with anything. “They will ruin you.”(2)

First, it is crucial to note that police brutality is not synonymous to racism against a particular group. However, there is a stigma that police often racially profile a specific African Americans. In February 2015, two cases of police brutality did not involve African Americans; instead the two victims were a Hispanic shot and killed in Washington State and an Indian-American severely paralyzed in Alabama. Even with this considered, of late, a majority of police brutality cases have involved minorities and specifically African American males. Cases such as Michael Brown and Freddie Gray have sparked a cultural uprising. These trigger event inspired the protests and riots against police brutality demonstrating collective action and physical violence, but the idea of police brutality is much larger than these individual cases, since it is a reoccurring cycle.

“I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” These were the last words of Eric Garner, a middle-aged African American man. Garner died at the hands of multiple police officers who were trying to restrain him for selling cigarettes. These sorts of images are showcased on television way too often. To the point that some people feel helpless, they know that they alone do not have the power to overthrow the superiority of an officer. So they have really no choice but watch the tragedy unfold. Also fear that if they interfere, that they may be the next victim. “I am most struck by the behavior of the EMTs, who stood along with the police and did nothing as they watched Eric Garner die” (Williams 10). Although some people deny that police brutality is a problem, recent studies and events (such as the one listed above) prove that ultra-aggressive police officers, militarization of police agencies, and the effects of racism have increased police brutality.

As of September 1, 2015, in the United States police officers have killed 776 people and 161 of those people were unarmed at the time of their death (MintPress). There have been too many incidents where police officers have injured or killed someone that could have been prevented. Using maximum force with a suspect has become a routine in many confrontations. Officers have not been given the proper training to deal with individuals and how to handle them without using a weapon. If they were given more training on how to deal with situations resulting in using a weapon to stop an individual during certain scenarios police brutality situations would decrease, lives would be saved, and police would get their good reputation back. However, police departments would have to spend more money on re-training. Some people agree with police brutality and think that a civilian deserved their punishment, which is not right because no one deserves to be beaten or killed. Situations involving police brutality have been increasing throughout the years, which is a problem that must to be solved.

Recently police have come under fire for the deaths of many unarmed African American males. This has broken the trust between civilians and police and torn our country apart. People are frustrated about the killings of unarmed citizens and how it seems every officer can get away with killing an unarmed suspect. Back in 1994 a law was passed that required the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to record date on police involved shooting and deaths by police officers. Except where are the numbers that would show there is an increase in unarmed African American deaths from police officers?

It feels as if nothing has changed about police brutality over the years. The usual cycle is that juries acquit the police, cops get their jobs back, and brutality happens again. One of the most broadcasted cases of police brutality, was the beating of Rodney King. On the night of March 2, 1991, a bystander named George Holiday, videotaped the moment when five officers used excess force on an African American man named Rodney King, beating him with batons as he struggled on the ground. Also, it was recorded that an officer stomped on King’s shoulder causing his head to hit hard against the asphalt. Holiday sent the videotape to a local TV station and soon sent shock waves around the world, catapulting police brutality and race relations in the United States to center stage. Most viewers who watched the tape revealed the brutal and senseless beating of a hopeless drunk. After debating for seven days over the fate of the officers, on April 29, 1992, the clerk announced the final verdict, the five officers were not guilty.

A young man’s brutal death at the hands of the police is found justified in a court of law due to his “suspicious” appearance: a black hoodie and his hands in his pocket. An elderly woman is fatally shot in her home for her relation to a suspected criminal. A married man with two toddlers is choked to death after a minor traffic stop by an officer who later claimed that his unarmed victim was wielding a gun. These people all have a few commonalities: the color of their skin, their presumed guilt at first sight, and their ultimate unjustified death administered by the law force. These are not uncommon occurrences. Due to the staggeringly disproportionate rate of African-Americans killed by the police, and the underlying rampant racial profiling, police brutality towards blacks in America must be called to light.

The general argument made in the article is that over the years there have been so many accounts of police brutality against students that haven’t been acknowledged. More specifically it argues that police officers that don’t know how to handle large crowds or protests in a nonviolent way then they should have to go back to school to learn better ways. It states "Tear-gassing students while they sought refuge in their rooms was an act of terror by the police. Someone has to explain and justify why they needed to chase the students from the hostels. Chase them to where?" In this passage it is suggesting that police brutality needs to be ended and those officers who have commited these acts should be held accountable. In conclusion, its belief

The majority of the main characters were also drug users. At the end of the film one of the rappers, Eazy E, is diagnosed with AIDS and dies. How does this movie relate to our class (be as detailed as possible since I may not know it)? This movie relates to various topics we discussed in class because it portrays various different factors relating to the causes of health inequities in the African American population.

Although this film is disadvantaging to many people, it is also very beneficial. I think people that come from the lower class or an abusive household can really benefit from this film. The main point of this film is to show people that you can achieve anything you want to do no matter what background you come from, and although it might be hard because of economical/ personal issues you are not less of a person than anyone and you can still be successful. I love the idea of success because it doesn’t really have a set definition. You don’t necessarily need money to be/feel successful. You can work at Subway and still be successful while a twelve time Oscar winning actor can be successful. You sort of carve out your own success and make your own definition for it. This movie will also teach people that they are not on their own. Although you might think nobody is there for you, when you enter a room you don’t know what everyone is thinking or how everyone feels; you might now even know everyone. It is kind of like when you’re putting together a puzzle, you put certain pieces together and you get closer to finishing and you just need to keep trying to solve the puzzle because if you give up you just wasted your money on a puzzle

There's things I’ve blind to or shielded from until my father told me. For example, I remember the night he got pulled over for making a left turn on a yellow light completely different. I remember seeing the flashing lights pulling up behind us, my dad getting out the car and coming back. At the moment I had my Gameboy in hand and was ignorant to police brutality. So our experience was very different. It was his 7th year in America and he had become a good driver. He followed the rules religiously and made sure he knew it was ok to do something before he did it. Before he got out the car he asked why they stopped him and they said he made a left turn on a red light. Even though he clearly turned when it was yellow. He told me they brought him outside put him against the patrol car and began to rough him up. They couldn’t find anything so they had to let him go, but he still had to pay a $300 fine.