How Does Police Brutality Affect Our Society

-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.

African Americans get the most brutality in communities. “Over the last 500 years people of different race, especially African Americans, have encountered a pattern of state sanctioned violence and civil and human rights abuse. To enforce capitalist exploitation and racial oppression the government and its police, courts, prisons, and military have beaten, framed, murdered and executed private persons, and brutally repressed struggles for freedom, justice, and self-determination. (Sundiata,1)”. The African Americans began to fight back against the beating of their race with riots. These riots and brutality started during the middle 1900’s. The government also takes the responsibility for the actions and non-actions of the police officers during race riots and rebellions. But why do blacks feel like they get beaten and harassed by law enforcement? Over the years, police have come to a conclusion that just because someone of a different race is in a luxurious car, they must be dealing drugs or looking for trouble in the community. Law enforcement isn’t trying to harass the community by pulling

Police brutality has been a major issue since slavery. In slavery people, mainly whites, were able to do anything to black people without having to deal without dealing with the consequences. Families were destroyed, people died, babies were killed, and many unknown factors still to this day that will never be known. When slavery was abolished, it did not end right away. It took several years and still is not abolished if you look at in a political way. People of power, mainly white, were not happy that a black person could be seen as equals. This is the main reason why they feel it is okay to lash out at black people. There are several major issues that are causing and epidemic in The United States. However, the main issue that seems to be the most discussed is about police brutality in the black community. “Police brutality is the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians. “Excessive use of force” means a force well beyond what would be necessary in order to handle a situation. Police brutality can be present in a number of ways. The most obvious form of police brutality is a physical form. Police officers can use nerve gas, batons, pepper spray, and guns in order to physically intimidate or even intentionally hurt civilians. Police brutality can also take the form of false arrests, verbal abuse, psychological intimidation, sexual abuse, police corruption, racial profiling, political repression and the improper use of Tasers”

their victims are people of color. Over the year police brutality has increased, but not much is

The rate for police brutality has not successfully decreased, in fact, according to the article “Racism and Police Brutality”, by Cassandra Chaney and Ray V. Robertson NMPSRP, “months of April 2009 and June 2010 there were 5,986 reports of misconduct, 382 fatalities linked to misconduct, settlements and judgments that totaled $347,455,000, and 33 % of misconduct cases that went through to convictions and 64 % of misconduct cases that received prison sentences.” The victims are usually black, in cases like this. Blacks feel like all cops don’t care about them or really see them as human beings, which creates tension and miscommunication. The miscommunication makes cops believe they have the right to be more physical or brutal, but some don’t realize it is all caused by police methods and treatment towards Blacks. People say such things like “cops are pretentious douche bags. Officers may have a dangerous job buy y choose a line of work where most off hates you” (Chaney, and Robertson 488), these are people’s thoughts, feelings, and beliefs toward

In America, police brutality is on the rise. 1297 Americans in 2014, 1307 in 2015, and 506 this year have died due to police brutality (Police Brutality Statistics). African American individuals are three times more likely to be killed in comparison to a white individual (Mapping Police Violence) . This issue has targeted black individuals because of their race. It has reached a point where many cops are not charged or convicted for their violence towards black individuals.

“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened” (John F. Kennedy). Police Brutality is a violation to the Federal Civil Rights Act. If cruelly beaten, kicked, and thrown by a person who is supposed to ensure the law, will you then trust them afterwards? Will your rights be valid then? Officers wear the badge and uniform which will make them feel superior making them think the law is in their hands and can twist and change it as they please. Jessica Watson-Crosby comments on the police brutality history and says, from the point of view of its victims, police were seen as protecting the upper classes. Police violence only came under scrutiny when “decent” people became victims, usually accidentally. As you see the chaos created by officers has been in the United States for a long time and has worsened over time. “Police are guaranteed a steady living. Unlike other workers , they typically are not threatened by layoffs or pay cuts” (Watson-Crosby). All who did not give their opinion over the authority were left unharmed and for the ones who spoke to let their rights be known were not as lucky. “Many police see themselves as part of the upper classes “the enforcers of social value” even while the upper classes see them as ignorant brutes. As a rule, the upper

“More than 920 people have been killed by the police in 2015. Black Americans are more than twice likely to be unarmed when killed. Excessive force is one of the most common forms of police misconduct. For every 1,000 people killed by police, only one officer is convicted.”

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.

Police brutality is a problem in our society mainly because there are police officers that are getting away with not only physically hurting innocent people, but murder as well. In the past year, there have been between 865-939 cases of people being shot and/or killed by cops (Calacal 1). Racial profiling is one of the main factors in this problem. African Americans and Latinos are the people we see being abused by police on the daily. So far this year, 215 African-Americans and 94 Latinos have been killed by police. Data shows that a black person is 3 times more likely to be killed by a police than a white person. Several officers

Police brutality has been around for decades. In the 1960’s, African Americans were seeking to declare their rights to vote, march, or enter desegregated school caused conflicts with the white Americans and were trying to deny any Black citizen from joining anything that included white citizens, but because the African Americans knew that violence was not the answer to their

In the past year there have been 300+ fatal shootings between police and African Americans some of the most famous cases are Michael Brown of Ferguson Mo, Eric Garner of New York, Tamir Rice of Cleveland, Eric Harris of Oklahoma, and Freddie Grey of Baltimore all of these men were shot and killed by police, only 2 out of the 5 cases have the police

The increase in police brutality reflects negatively on society. Police officers should maintain charges when they abuse their power of authority. Police brutality mostly happens to young, small, and poor kids in the streets that do not live in a home with their biological family (Berezina 2). Police treat young street adults as if they do not know how to act. Police brutality appears to be rampant because of racism, lack of training and a shortage of effective consequences.

Out of those 346 people, 30% of the victims were unarmed, and fewer than 1 in 3 black people killed by police in America were suspected of a violent crime and allegedly armed. It’s clear that there is a problem amongst police. I believe not only does it have to do with the racial factor, but with the superiority and power that police abuse. Over centuries, people of African descent or people of color- have endured violence in many prejudice ways. Today, police officers are using excessive force, deadly beatings and shootings, that are in no way excusable. In history, violence against certain races, today, police brutality, had been and is still used to suppress blacks and protect the power for the government and “superior” white races. Since

Police brutality has adverse effects on society in its entirety and, hence, there is need to stop these acts so as to improve cohesiveness and the observation of the law in society.