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Essay On Policing Our Communities

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Policing our Communities On April 4, 2015, a black man was pulled over for a burned-out taillight in North Charleston, South Carolina. Upon being stopped the man occupying the vehicle exits it and enters into a physical altercation with the police officer. The two men begin to fight when suddenly the perpetrator breaks free and begins running away from the officer. As he gets further from the officer something falls to the ground. Soon after the officer fires his weapon, striking and killing the man. The words shots fired ring out across the radio. The man killed that day was Mr. Walter Scott, an unarmed 50-year-old father of four. The man held accountable for his death, North Charleston police officer Michael Thomas Slager. At face …show more content…

Altercations and shootings like the Scott case are happening all over the country, they are being fueled by emotion, the media, and distrust. When something between a citizen and an officer happens often times the first instinct is for the public to respond with anger instead of an open-minded approach. Examples of this can be seen through condemning the police immediately and sometimes through violence. Often times these outbreaks of anger are linked to lack of knowledge regarding the situation and making general assumptions.
Law enforcement has tried to combat this issue by making departments more transparent and making info more accessible to the public. A vital part to establishing this transparency is found in the internal affairs division on a department (ICMA). When there are complaints brought against a department or officer, the internal affairs unit is a non-bias party to assess the facts and complaints to help bring about a solution. It is imperative that internal affairs do this by sharing openly with the public what they are investigating, why, and what they are finding. When this is done in a timely manner after a complaint is filed the community will have better faith that the internal affairs unit is “corrupt” and they are just protecting their own (Firescience). When departments

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