PBS Frontline Documentary : Policing The Police

Gaines, L. K., & Kappeler, V. E. (2014). Policing in america (8th ed.). (S. Decker-Lucke, Ed.) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America: Anderson Publishing. Retrieved January 2017

After watching the documentary on Policing the Police provided by Frontline, I have come to realize that community policing rather and the use of a task force is a better approach when trying to get guns and drugs off the street. Subsequently, I do not believe that officers can realistically get guns and drugs off the streets without violating citizens’ rights. Based on related articles from The New Yorker and PBS, and first hand experiences from the narrator in the documentary I will be able to provide insight into my own opinions and thoughts about the issues at hand. This essay will also provide insight into the pros and cons of using community policing rather than using a task force. Also, this essay will touch on the

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)

This is proof that there is racial discrimination in law enforcement that affects police brutality. This also reinforces the culture of people of color being less human than white people, which takes its roots all the way back to slavery in America. When slavery was still prevalent in the United States, white people believed that black people(slaves), did not feel pain like they felt pain. After slavery was abolished, black people were still strongly regarded as inferior to white people and white people still saw them as wild creatures rather than human beings. White people saw themselves superior to every other race of people, so it was common for them to mistreat other races that weren’t white. This mindset is not as strong as it was in the past but, it is still strong enough to affect the choices police officers make during interactions with people of color. As a result of discrimination at the police level, many people have turned to court system’s to reach justice.

policies that are currently in place to reduce tension between police officers and the minority groups that they serveLaw enforcement officers and the community have been disconnected. Violence and brutality of any kind, particularly at the hands of the police who here to protect and serve our communities. When Ferguson, Missouri exploded after the police shot an unarmed black teenager, the tension between the community and its protectors was laid bare. Ferguson is not the first and certainly not the last community forced to bridge that chasm. In South Carolina a policeman shot an unarmed black male who was stopped for a seat belt violation. The cop asked the male for ID, who then reached under his seat to retrieve his wallet, but was shot in the leg by the cop before he could take out his ID. When the body cam video was reviewed it shows that the trigger happy cop probably was in fear of his life, however it is also obvious that the cop shouldn’t have felt threaten as the behavior of the black male involved nothing unusual. Many would say if the driver was white the cop would have not reacted the way he did.

Throughout the last one hundred and fifty years, there has been a history of tension and conflict between the police and minority communities in the United States. In principle, the police exist to enforce the law and protect all citizens regardless of race or ethnic background, yet police departments across the country have been repeatedly accused of targeting and harassing racial minorities, and of failing to root out racist attitudes and practices within their ranks. In recent years, high profile cases such as the beating of Rodney King in Los Angles and the assault on Abner Louima in New York have only served to heighten concerns over the mistreatment of minorities by the police, resulting in widespread calls for major legal and institutional reforms. The recent shootings of Michael Brown, Ezell Ford, Eric Garner, and Terrance Crutcher underscore the danger Black men and boys face when they cross paths with law enforcement officers. In the absence of a coordinated national strategy, state and local police departments have largely been left to develop their own solutions to the problems of policing minority communities and improving cultural sensitivity amongst their officers. Many departments have sought to reform recruitment and selection policies in the hope of attracting greater numbers of minority applicants, while others have instituted diversity training and education programs aimed at improving police understanding of minority cultures and communities. To date, however, these efforts have yielded mixed results. Some departments have achieved notable successes, but on the whole, relations between the police and minority communities across the country remain strained. of cultural diversity and the police.

Many of the problems and conflicts between the community and the police are based on situations involving police misconduct and race. Other issues occur because of an experience one has had with the police because he or she is minority. Early resentments from White officers cause a different outcome when handling a police situation that involves a different race as oppose to his or her own. This begins to shape the perception of the residents that witness these actions. It has been shown that an officer’s attitude and behaviors when dealing with a minority is harsher and unfair. Several situations like the Rodney King story and police brutality where a minority was the victim is viewed by the public and discriminatory behavior solely caused by a person’s race or ethnicity. This creates distrusts and suspicion with regard to the way a police department handles these issues. The public is disappointed and reluctant to construct a relationship with his or her fellow officer.

An analysis by the NYCLU shows that innocent New Yorkers have been subjected to police stops and and street interrogations more than 4 million times since 2002, and the Black and Latino communities are the target of these approaches. Even though the New York Police Department are cutting the crime activities by 29%, other large cities are getting better results without using the stop and frisk policy. Martial Arts Instructor, Tauren Murphy believes that the NYPD uses stop and frisk to cover it’s real intent. Murphy states “The vast majority of the time, it’s a way to harass young men of color. The shootings are unfortunate, but there should be more police in the community, working with the community and not just showing when there is trouble.” Residents of Bronx believe that if there are just more police around in general then the numbers of shooting will go down because no one is going to risk getting caught when there are so many officers around. Many people have said that they would not even go to the police for help because they distrust them that much, this “proactive policing” that is going on is just driving a deeper wedge between the police and the community. Ray Kelly, police commissioner says that “about 70 percent to 75 percent of the people described as committing violent crimes-- assault,

Recently, there has been much in the media about clashes between African Americans and the police. Two such cases, being the shootings of Michael Brown and Laquan McDonald - both incidents resulting in public outrage. These cases result in questions about racial profiling by police. Through research, it is clear that African Americans are the target of racial bias by many police departments in the United States; in order to remedy this situation, law enforcement agencies need to (and are beginning to) undergo scrutiny on their interactions with the public and, additionally must receive training on diversity.

Did you know that about 88 percent of all Stop and Frisk incidents result in finding the victim to be “clean” meaning ruled completely innocent without cause for an arrest? Remember this statistic and several others that I give you, because they are alarming. Currently, the Stop and Frisk situation in the United States seems to be at a crossroad. The Stop and Frisk practice originated during the 1950’s, when crime rates were at an all-time high within cities. The purpose of this practice was to help eliminate crime off the streets within these major inner cities. This practice was used by law enforcement during a time where racial segregation and racial tension began to build up; and a feud between black citizens and white law enforcement grew rapidly. Unfortunately, we still today live in a world where individuals often times find themselves in the middle of a “wrongdoing” in the eyes of the law enforcement. The results of these situations through history have not always turned fatal, but recently it seems that the end result from these situations do so. How many of you are aware of the incident that occurred between Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black Staten Island male, and the New York Police Department (NYPD)? For those of you who are not, victim Eric Garner was approached by the NYPD under the suspicion of selling untaxed cigarettes. This led to a Stop and Frisk altercation between

This video showed the public how the police brutally beat a man that was defenseless. The video spread ramped around the whole news community and a title of the LAPD became known as the most hated cops in America. In LA, there was a problem with racial profiling and police brutality but the blacks were never able to prove the police’s wrong doing. With the video, the blacks felt that this could be an open door to showing the world how the LAPD really acted.

As much as we don’t want to admit it, racial profiling from police has been going on in America ever since the early political policing era in the mid 1800’s. With racial disparity within the criminal justice system, I would be approaching how blacks and Latinos are targeted and approached in a more aggressive manner than that of a white American. I would also be approaching how Latinos and blacks are more likely to be frisk and stopped by police for no valid reason, besides racial profiling. Also those police not having probable cause and physically harms individuals. Blacks and Latinos are more likely to be stopped and frisk at a higher rate than other races. Latinos and blacks are approached while walking in their own neighborhoods, also

The main conclusion from this article is that the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) is unconstitutional in its policing. The cases utilized are incidences in the City of Baltimore and the Baltimore City Police Department. The methodology consisted of interviewing various actors within the City of Baltimore and the BPD. The researchers also participated in ride-alongs and heard from people in the wider Baltimore community. Many documents were also reviewed. This source contributes to the debate in that it is like the Macpherson report in its critique of the police and their practices. This source helps me refine my question by making me look at the police department culture of whichever cases I will eventually investigate.

The cops, the justice system, courts, these things have one thing in common, people and communities look towards these things to keep peace and serve justice the right way. In the last couple of years however, the cops and the justice system have been exposed by the public because of their unjust ways of handling certain situations. There have been many different videos, pictures, and other things that suggest that the police are basing some of the actions that they take based on race. There is a movie that depicts this in a very good way, this movie is a biopic of the death of Oscar Grant, the movie is called Fruitvale Station directed by Ryan Coogler. The most important scene of the movie shows Oscar Grant, portrayed by Michael B Jordan, in a Train station where he is on the train, there is a guy there from another rival gang which picks a fight with him and he throws the first punch at Oscar, Oscar fights back and the cops are called. The cops arrive, and the hostility is on, the cops stop Oscar’s friends and Oscar gets back on the train as he tries to escape, it does not work. The cops

Hispanic Americans suffered similar fate as African- Americans in racial profiling. The media portrayed them as part of gangs and selling drugs. This group is more likely to have a strong group identity and view the police officers as “gringos” or foreigners (Aguiree , 2004). They already look at the police officers with negativity due to increased activities of deporting illegal occupiers (Davis & Hendricks, 2007). The police officers may be influenced to believe that this group is at higher risk of breaking laws and do not understand Hispanic Americans’ culture.