Police brutality has been around for many years and has recently become one of the most controversial topics in the United States of America. The rise in awareness began in 2014 when a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri fatally shoot 18 year old Michael Brown killing him. The shooting lead to the creation of the movement “Black Lives Matter.” Can police justify their reasoning behind what happens? Is race the reason behind the shootings?
Police brutality is consider the act of a police officer abusing his/ her power against a person while arresting them or during a response to a call. One of the earliest cases documented occurred in 1991, it was the beating of Rodney King, a man who was being pursued on a high speed chase involving Los Angeles police officers. The video recorded by a man standing in his balcony showed proof that Police beat and caused 11 fractures. 4 officers went on trial and were connected with the beating of King. The fact that 17 other officers were not charged led to violent riots that went on for a few days and caused the death of 50 people. Another case that can be brought up is the shooting of 22 year old Amadou Diallo on February 4,1999 who was gunned down in New York by police officers who were searching for an alleged rapist in the neighborhood in which Diallo lived. When Police officers confronted him in front of his door Diallo reached for his wallet and was fired at 41 times and was hit 19 times which killed him almost instantly. People in
Police brutality is a very widespread topic through all religions, all kinds of different cultures and all races. People believe that police officers use their powers and their badge to hold them to a higher standard then the average civilian. I belief that its all up to interpretation and the many experiences we go through that define a bad cop from a good one. If we judge all police officers from one bad cop how do we expect to change? Its a never ending cycle that has to change and heres some examples on how we can do so.
The United States of America has many horrible police officers. This has created a stereotype that all police officers are terrible. One of the main reasons police officers have been target lately is, because many innocent people are harassed by them daily. There are multiple ways to classify these police officers as horrible being, but police brutality, corruption, and how they handle violent protest are three of many classifications.
Recently, our country has undergone tremendous suffering due to police brutality. Some police officers are taking the law into their own hands and intertwining their personal views and stereotypes on the black community. They are committing inhumane crimes on African Americans and our justice system is allowing it to continue. Several police officers are noticing that if they commit this crime out of pure hate it is acceptable and the courts will rule in their favor. It continues to happen because there is no punishment for their wrong doing.
Police brutality and police militarization have become a hot topic in the United States of America. There are many cases where police officers motives are being questioned, leading the public into an uproar. Just to name a few of these cases, we have Micheal Brown from Fegurson, Missouri, that started it all, which took place on Augest 19th, 2014. We also have Eric Garner from New York, taking place July of 2014. July of 2016, Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge and Walter Scott from South Carolina in April of 2015.
Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict defines police brutality as the use of excessive or unnecessary force by police against the public. Excessive force is explained to be any behavior or force beyond what is reasonably necessary in order to control a situation. It is a common misnomer that people believe some police use excessive force more often than not. What’s more concerning is most of the time people believe that this excessive force is usually focused upon the African American men, women, and children. This misnomer is typically found to be found in city settings where the population consists of mostly African Americans. The population make up causes the common belief to seem more true than it may otherwise appear.
Many police brutality instances occur through traffic stops. There are many stories that have surfaced over the past few years where black people have been pulled over for something as simple as driving slightly over the speed limit. Shortly after, the police officer uses excessive and brutal force which later we're able to witness through dash cam footage on the police car. Police officers often claim this was self-defense, and they aren't punished for it. This allows for police to believe they are above the law, and they can treat people of color with such disrespect when they are undeserving of
Police brutality is defined as excessive or unnecessary force by police officers towards civilians. For decades, the civilians have mostly been African Americans. Up to the present time, society has witnessed African American lives become unjustifiably taken without any legal consequences. The police officers acquitted verdict overshadows the unwarranted death of African American deaths. The recurring cycle of undervalued African American lives is due to a history of prejudice, racial profiling, and inexperienced and racially biased officers.
In the United States, the murders of innocent, unarmed African Americans have led to the uprising of the Black Lives Matter movement, however, did this endanger the lives of police officers? In my opinion, yes it does endanger the police force but the police were the same ones putting black people in danger in the first place. Americans today are either completely for the movement or against, you never really encounter a between of them. Then, there are some people that believe in the protests but are not for the violence. My whole life i’ve heard, “Treat people equally and fairly.” and when I think about that I wonder… if all people had that mindset, then black lives matter wouldn’t be a thing.
A man is in his car and is pulled over for having a suspended license, and for going 60 on a 40 road. The officer walks over to the car to see the man crying. The man claims that he was rushing to get to a relative's funeral. When asked to get out of the car he resists and the police officer grabs his arm. The man yanks his arm back and the officer pulls him out of the car and brutally beats him.
Did you know this year alone, 323 Americans were killed by police and the number is still currently growing, according to CopCrisis. com? In fact, most of these killings were from police brutality. The term “police brutality” was introduced as early as 1872, when Chicago Tribune reported om the beating of a civilian under arrest at the Harrison Street Police Station. However, Police brutality has been a serious issue for African Americans ever since slavery ended. This brutality started to rise rapidly in the 1960s. From the Civil Rights era of hoses, tear gas and dogs, to the iconic recording of Rodney King, an African-American taxi driver who was internationally known after being beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers following a
Over the years, the United States has faced many cases of police brutality. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday forcing them to make split-second decisions expecting the worse, but hoping for the best. Therefore, police brutality severely violates human rights in the United States. Police officers have one of the hardest jobs America has to offer. They have to maintain public order, prevent, and identify crime. Throughout history, the police community has been exposed by violence in some way or another. Police officers have been suspects in dangerous shootings, severe beatings, fatal chokings, and unnecessary killings. The history of police brutality is repeated, going through stages of violence, corruption, and
It seems as if today's Police are out to kill our black men. Police are killing innocent men in front of children, in front of other citizens, in broad daylight just anywhere and just getting away with it. This isn't the first nor the last situation where a police officer has killed a citizen in cold blood. Police brutality has been going on for decades. Back in 1988 the rap group NWA came out with a hit song called F*ck The Police. In the song the rapper(s) state real life actions the police were doing to young black teenagers and men in their communities. It’s not only that these officers are making us scared but we’re nervous. It’s also not just white cops there hispanics, blacks, latinos all races are turning on their own kind but for what ?
Police brutality and racism are real issues going on in America. There have been numerous articles and reports, regarding this topic. The article “Body Cameras Won’t Stop Police Brutality. Eric Garner is only one of Several Reasons Why” by Hansford Justin explains how body cameras do not stop the police from being violent. A second article “8 Horrible Truths About Police Brutality and Racism in America Laid Bare by Ferguson” by Rosenfeld Steven focuses on facts, quotes, and trends about abusive policing. There are a wide variety of articles out there about issues of police brutality and racism. The two I choose was very informative, stated facts, purposes, and supporting details to help the readers understand the harsh reality on what’s happening in the police force.
Police brutality is the use of excessive and unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians. Police brutality can be present in many ways. The most common 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. Black people are mostly affected by white cops. Cops are given a lot of scope in performing their obligations. Since they are relied upon to ensure general society and stand up to possibly rough people, they can lawfully utilize physical, and even fatal, power in specific situations. Be that as it may, an officer who uses power when it is not called for, or who utilizes more constraints than is important to perform his or her occupation, may go too far into police ruthlessness. Police brutality should be controlled and stopped because its getting out of hand and is killing our African American youth.
Many people believe police officers do not have the right to use force when apprehending an individual. Therefore, it is critical that officers make sure that they are performing their duty per the departments policy, before using lethal or non-lethal force to apprehend an individual, which may be classified as police brutality by society. An officer makes a pledge to protect and serve the community for which they are employed. Every time an officer is dispatched to a call there is a sense of uncertainty of what they will encounter. With technology at our fingers tips videos surface which may or may not capture the onset of an officers contact with a suspect. Which results in the media portraying police brutality happening more than it actually does. Many people are quick to judge an officers use of force to apprehend an individual who is not complying with the officers orders, as abusing their powers and police brutality. However, there are laws and regulations that grant officers the right to use the amount of force necessary to apprehend an individual. California Penal Code 835(a) states, “Any peace officer who has reasonable cause to believe that the person to be arrested has committed a public offense may use reasonable force to effect the arrest, to prevent escape or to overcome resistance. A peace officer who makes or attempts to make an arrest need not retreat or desist from his efforts by reason of the resistance or threatened resistance of the person being arrested; nor shall such officer be deemed an aggressor or lose his right to self defense by the use of reasonable force to effect the arrest or to prevent escape or to overcome resistance.” (penal code book). Police officers are judged and criticized for using deadly force, because it is believed that officers are meant to serve and protect, not cause harm to others. Getting an exact number of individuals who die as a result of deadly force employed by police officers, is difficult. However there are genuine and authentic sources that can help provide an estimate of deaths caused by law enforcement officers. For example, The CDC Mortality Report and The FBI Uniform Crime Report are responsible for keeping a record of the number of individuals