Police officer's primary responsibility is to protect and serve citizens and communities, not to abuse the power that they were given to hurt innocent people. For personal enjoyment or a personal vendetta. Some states have the “Stand-Your-Ground” laws, which allows innocent citizens the right to use deadly force to defend and protect themselves. But what if they were protecting themselves from police brutality. Police brutality can be has been going on for many years. But recently has become a bigger topic for discussion. On whether the police officers are the ones at fault or not. However, there are many things that factor into police brutality. Police brutality can be caused by certain things such as a psychological problem, hatred …show more content…
As a consequence police use more force on black kids than white ones”( Craig Debrah). From this study, you can see that officers are not being rational or focus on diagnosing the situation if the suspect is a minority. This is the belief that all officers have certain biases against certain minorities. Which mean they will act differently in certain scenarios. For example, a white officer will be quick to chose lethal force in a situation that involves a minority. However, the belief is they will give a white person the benefit of doubt. Which an officer should never do, they must hold all races on the same pedestal. Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic in the U.S. It has led to things such as riots, protesting, and movements such as “Black Lives Matters” and many others. One of the first ever most controversial police brutality cases was the Rodney King case. “Five officers pummeling Rodney King with batons more than 50 times as he struggled on the ground outside his car. The recording immediately sparked outrage” (Flatow Nicole). King was pulled over for speeding at gunpoint. Everyone who was in the car was arrested in the proper manner, where Rodney faced a different fate. He got out of the car and experienced 15 minutes of what he calls “ the worst 15 minutes of his life”. During that 15 minutes, he was tasered and hit with a baton more than 50 times. He suffered many severe
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.
Police brutality and the use of force is a big problem in American today, so police departments are taking a few steps to prevent this from happening. There are multiple cases where some police officers’ actions are questioned, leading to an untrusting public. No matter if it was racial, hate, a mentally unstable police officer, or the police officer was just doing their job, there’s an easy way to find out now. Body cameras are being used in various cities and states and have proved to keep the level of police brutality and injustice down.
Recently there have been many conflict emotions when it come the topic about police brutality. Police brutality is where men or women from the police force use an excessive amount of force or abuse towards people in the community. Whether it was done with for the right reasons of wrong reasons, many agree that the amount of police brutality in our country in this past few years have risen where citizens either fear or are angered at the police. Some on the other hand could say that it is not all of the cops fault. It takes two to tango, so the other person involved must have had an impact on why the outcome was so brutal. But people also must realize accidents do happen. This is an issue that has a lot of controversy and not a lot of attention
The Plan for American JusticeDue to the growing abundance of evidence clearly demonstrating that brutality and racism are prominent issues within the United States police system, coupled with the fact that the majority of officers who commit such crimes are never indicted, the Federal government must adopt certain reforms to remedy this situation. There are countless proposals and ideas aimed at solving this issue of police brutality, but there is one formulation of plans that would seem to be the most effective. The United States Federal Government should make it a law that each and every policeman wear a body-worn camera and mic, therefore recording all actions and interactions. This would create definite lines between what is right
When it comes to minorities, the United States has been through a lot. Situations that essentially divide the country. Some of these situations include slavery, segregation, fighting for equal rights, and even now in the twenty-first century we’re divine based on whether we should kneel or stand. All across the nation there are conversations surrounding the protesting of police brutality specially against black citizens that typically ends up in severe brutality or in most cases murder. As of October 13, 977 innocent minorities were murdered due to police brutality. Some call into question whether or not this protest is strictly about the protest of police behavior or if it’s a blatant disrespect towards our country as a whole.
With the acquisition of these new military equipment, officer training had to adapt to the new equipment and tactics. Police departments have recently come under enormous scrutiny for their excessive use of force on individual. The cases of Eric Garner, Philando Castile, and Michael Brown serve as examples of the endemic police culture which continues to target and hurt minorities. Thus, are police departments prepared and is it justified for them to use military equipment in the wake of the constant discoveries of police misconduct throughout the nation ? D’Espostio in her study found that
Police abusing their power is certainly not a recent issue, and public outrage over such cases is most definitely not a recent development. On March 3, 1993, four police officers were filmed beating Rodney King, an unarmed black 25 year old, resulting in a broken leg and multiple bruises. All four officers were acquitted of the beating by a predominantly white jury in April of 1992. Once the word got out, the city of Los Angeles was consumed by a devastating riot that lasted three days. As a result of the riot, 55 people died and over 2000 were injured. This example proves that the issue of police
blacks if they feel safe I this country, many of them will say “no”. In the country, the growing rate of police brutality against the young black continues to be an issue. Many blacks had been killed by the police officer for reasons that were not good enough for them to be shot and killed. According to the data collected for the counted, black males aged 15-34 were nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed by the law enforcement (Jon Swaine and Ciara McCarthy). An example is the case of Freddie Gray who was illegally arrested by the police on Baltimore Street, and was maltreated during the time he was arrested and the time he was taken to the hospital which caused his life because sustained a spinal cord injury. Also, the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson because he stole a cigarette in a store of the area was inappropriate. The punishment that is attributed for stilling cigarette is far from the death penalty. The officer did judge his color and shot him to death. Recently, many other cases like these two mentioned had happened in the black communities, making the blacks to feel unsafe in their country with the law enforcement whose principal roles is to protect them.
Trump then explains that the left “came violently attacking the other group” without naming who the “other group” was- once again evading the labeling of the white supremacist group. Trump goes one step further in digging himself into a hole by claiming, “You said there was hatred, there was violence on both sides.” Realizing his mistake, he entirely shifts the conversation by comparing Robert E. Lee and George Washington as a justification for his argument. Senator Cory Gardner tweeted, “Mr. President–we must call evil by its name. These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism." Overall, it took Trump two days to denounce neo-Nazis, contributing to the growing rift between Americans. His lack of timeliness brings forth more doubt of his so-called disapproval toward white supremacists. Even his denouncement was measly: not reprimanding the group that was clearly in the wrong. The absence of admonition creates a mentality of supremacist groups that they are truly superior and can do as they please. David Duke, a white nationalist leader, went as far as to thank Trump for the blaming violence in Charlottesville on the “alt-left.”
Every other week we hear about the police taking a life and how the suspect was thought to be “armed” or “dangerous” but quite frankly that's rarely ever the case. They’re usually “misjudged” or “mistaken”. Police brutality is a problem because police abuse authority, presents a double standard, show repeatedly documented excessive force, Coincidentally all the victims are African American males; Something doesn't add up. Police are “suppose” to serve and protect everyone no matter the age, sex, religion, or race but are the main ones killing us. Police use excuses like it was a “accident”. Yes, I totally agree accidents do happen but not when there are multiple bullets being fired. According to protocol police are trained to injure not kill! Standard Police officers have enough weapons, excluding firearms, to do their jobs and keep the peace. For example, pepper spray; known to be extremely effective and detain the suspect. Another weapon possessed is the taser; known to be immensely effective and detain the suspect with great force, not deadly but great! We even have the billy club. A couple hits with that thing would make any man back down especially an unarmed one! My question is why is the first reaction a gun when police possess many other weapons that are less likely to kill?
“ I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.” Those three words have created an epidemic of videos taken during police altercations with citizens. Demonstrations and protests have occurred as a direct result of this incident. The video is compelling and in my opinion shows excessive force, giving support to the suggestion of police brutality. However, once the footage was clearly edited to skip directly to the altercation, it seemed to lose some credibility. What really happened before the officer placed Mr. Garner in the choke hold? Why was the video edited to skip to the choke? Factors that may never be known, except by those that were actually involved. A body camera on each officer at the scene would have been crucial in obtaining all evidence of what really transpired. Every officer should be equipped with a body camera as part of standard uniform attire.
On July 28, 2017, President of the United States, Donald Trump, made a speech in Long Island informing police on how to handle criminals. He encouraged police to use more physical contact and not to be as cautious when they take individuals into custody. He states, “When you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put your hand over them?” Like don’t hit their head, and they just killed somebody – don’t hit their head. I said you can take the hand away, okay?” For the past few years, America has witnessed a steady increase in police brutality among people of color. Many police have shot and killed African Americans because they felt “threatened” by almost anything these people did. When police were taken to court for the killings nearly every one of them got off free after the trial. This has caused many black people in America to feel discriminated against and inferior to other races.
Police brutality is one of several forms of police misconduct which involves undue violence by police officers. This is a problem, it is very dangerous and is also becoming more of an issue as time goes on. Police brutality can sometimes lead to deaths or someone being seriously injured. Some officers use extremely too much force when is not needed. It exists in many countries and territories, even those that prosecute it. It seems as if they target young African Americans more than any other race. Once a young black teen is killed it’s like nobody seems to care or as if it’s not a big deal but if it was the other way around then the cop would most likely be fired on the spot without any say so. “Often police officers build up negative feelings towards certain races, sexes, or religions. Officers tend to get the idea that if one or a few people treat them with disrespect, then other people of that same sex or creed will behave the same. Race consistently plays a key role in police brutality in the United States.”
Racism is as American as baseball. I’ve been thinking about that phrase since I saw it on tv. The banner that got fans removed from the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics baseball game was about a problem that is so deeply rooted in American culture. Maybe it wasn’t the time and place, but if it wasn’t a big deal then why did so many Americans take offense to the banner? Racism has always been around, but it is far more exposed now due to poor leadership and inadequate consequences to racist’s actions. Police brutality is the result of racism in America, and racism within positions of power.
In recent years there has been a rise in police brutality against African America men and women across the United States. Well-known incidents include the shootings of Michael Brown and Tamir Rice and the deaths of Sandra Bland and Eric Garner. All of these cases have a variety of accounts of what happened from the police offices and eyewitnesses that were on the scene as it happened. This creates problems because nobody is sure who is telling the truth, though there has been video evidence that helped exposed corruption among the cops. With these troublesome cases, many people are calling for policemen to wear body cameras while they are on duty. Having body cameras would help solidify events that took place that causes a police officer to use force or shoot at a person. However, there are some that are concerned about privacy issues for the officers that have to wear the body cams. People feel that it is wrong to have cameras constantly recording an officer when he or she is not on a call. While this may appear as a problem there are ways for police officers to have body cams that are not recording, or at least not saving data, at all times. There are some body cameras that are constantly recording and deleting footage until an officer activates it and then the camera saves everything from the moment it is activated until it is stopped.