Police Altercation Research Paper

Police brutality is one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in the United States and it occurs in every community. The job of a police officer is to maintain public order, prevent, and detect crime. They are engaged in a dangerous and stressful occupation that can involve violent situations that must be controlled. In many of these confrontations with the public it may become necessary for the police to administer force to take control of a situation. Sometimes this force takes the form of hand to hand combat with a suspect who resists being arrested. Not all police officers in communities are good cops. At least once a year the news is covering a story about a person

In the aftermath of the Rodney king beating a lot of things changed with police on the field. “In the wake of the Rodney king case; cameras became standard equipment in patrol cars all over the nation” (Marcou). In doing this police now cannot cover up an incident that they were a part of. “As far as citizens recording police, there is still much disagreement about how it should be handled” (Marcou). Nowhere in the constitution does it say the citizens cannot film stuff that is happening outside their house. “When it comes to training, officers are told “have your camera going at all times. A professional police officer has nothing to fear from being recorded and always act as if you are being recorded, because in today’s world you probably are” (Marcou). Thanks to cases like Rodney Kings, law enforcement is much more aware of misuse of force in the field.

Since these multiple cop shootings and cases of police brutality, many people have lost faith in the police force and do not trust nor respect them. In a survey from about a year ago, people were asked how the police do on holding other cops accountable for their actions, and 65% of the respondents said the police do a poor job of doing so.(Chumley) In an editorial about a New Jersey police chief pondered why nobody trusts the police anymore, Deo Odelecki gave this explanation “I don’t know what to tell you chief. It’s not us pointing out all the disrespectful, violent things cops do every day that is making you look bad. It’s the cops doing those disrespectful violent things and chiefs, like you, covering up for them that is making you look bad”(Odelecki). This sums all the police mistrust in one quote, police committing violent and unnecessary things and other police officers trying to cover it up. If the police were to wear body cameras and fix their behavior, the trust in police would eventually be

In the past couple years the media has been focusing a lot of its attention on police officers. Sadly they make police officers out to be horrible people who act solely on their hatred for certain races, but in reality police officers are there for the safety of the citizens. In any profession there will be people who are there for the wrong reasons, and this is true for police officers as well. Although most police officers focus on the safety and wellbeing of the citizens, some police officers are in for their own selfish and personal reasons. As a result they act immoral and unethical. These are what the media calls bad cops. Because of the misconduct of a few police officers, the public now proposes police officers wear body cameras. The use of body cameras proves to be a valuable asset in the incrimination of justice because of its many benefits, few downsides, and overall public approval.

involved. This creates a predator to prey relationship where the police is the predator and attacks

One potential problem lies in the ability to tamper with the recording equipment. If an officer has access to turn the camera on and off, the potential exists to essentially “edit out” unwanted portions of the encounter by turning the camera off. The same holds true for cell phones. With the ability to edit videos online, a person that wishes to show the “victim” in the most positive light edits out anything that would throw a negative light on the victim’s actions. Also, the angle of the video can vastly affect the perception of the viewer. How many times has a video surfaced in the media depicting the negative aspects of an encounter? Then, at a later date, a complete copy of the video or a video from a different angle surfaces and reveals that what was originally thought to be an episode of unwarranted use of force turns out to be a volatile encounter where the officer’s safety was at risk. Additionally, when the media highlights negative videos of police encounters, it raises citizens’ distrust of officers in general, regardless as to whether their local department was involved or not. This increased level of distrust, particularly in minority communities, can serve to heighten an officer’s unease about entering the community, even when responding to a call for service. This distrust increases tension between the officer and the community which can

The topic that I am proposing is police brutality. Are police officers committing police brutality or are they just doing their job? We as a community are hearing more and more about police brutality in the United States. It is really common to see on the news or social media videos of police brutally beating individuals that seem not to resist arrest or even with their hands up in the air as a sign of surrender. My intended audiences are, communities, and police departments. Communities need to understand why this is happening and if there is going to be any change. On the other hand, police departments need to not more a blind eye any more when these situations occur and start disciplining the officers. I am a true believer of

It is easy for police to get caught up in the idea that it is them against the rest of society (Barkan, 2012). Many citizens in today’s democratic society have a negative or fearful view of our law enforcement. Think back to grade school, who was that one kid in class that everyone was annoyed by or despised? Most people would answer the teacher’s pet or the tattletale. We have grown up from a young age to have a negative view towards those that get us into trouble when we think we can get away with something we know is wrong. In the adult world, the police force can equate to those tattletales.

Police brutality against black men in America is thought to be something that does not exist anymore due to the civil rights movement in 1955-1968. Unfortunately, a statistic shows a black suspect is killed by a white police officer twice a week. (McKay) “While African-Americans constitute 13.1% of the nation’s population, they make up nearly 40% of the prison’s population. Even though African-Americans use or sell drugs about the same rate as whites, they are 2.8 to 5.5 times more likely to be arrested for drugs than whites.” (Hudson) These statistics confirm that not only are black people more like to be victims of fatal police brutality, they are also more likely to be convicted for a crime as well.

Most people in the United States of America do not realize the harmful effects of police brutality. Police brutality is the use of any excessive force exceeding the reasonably necessary force to accomplish a lawful purpose. Not only are these effects physical, but they are psychological and even moral. The police victimize innocent people based on their ethnicity. The reason this scenario is being stated is to show how police are harming the very own citizens they have sworn to protect.

“To protect and to serve.” This has been the motto and duty of law enforcement agencies since their creation. The earliest police forces were established in England during the early 1800’s. These law enforcement agencies were established in order to help the people. However, not long after the first one was established, the first known case of police brutality was documented. Excessive use of force by a police officer dates back to the late 1800’s. Since then, thousands of innocent people have been improperly and cruelly treated by law enforcement officers. The United States has one of the highest rates of police brutality in the world. Though

Media is one of the main methods of spreading the news about police brutality. Thus, the messages that are created are at the mercy of the individual person who writes the story for that source. Depending on their framework, a message can be delivered with the influence to intensify or reduce the effect of a situation. Many news sources like, CNN, Fox News, and NBC have made multiple reports about police brutality. For example, recent articles accessible on the Internet read as follows: “Police brutality toward Latinos us unacceptable,” “The dangerous militarization of our police,” and “Paintings shows the casual violence of colonial masters [in reference to police brutality].” These are some of many examples that the media has molded the

People tend to think that law enforcement officials are too rough when it comes to the use of force. This is a reason why the use of body cameras is important in law enforcement. The use of body cameras made complaints towards police officers go down quite a bit. A couple years ago in Rialto, California police officers started wearing body cams “....since then, citizen complaints against police officers have dropped 88%” (Raasch, 1). Therefore, citizens know that they are being watched, and can’t make anything up. Also “As a general rule of thumb, people tend to behave better when they know they’re being watched” (Police perspective, 1). If the suspect does not care that they are being watched, then the use of force becomes a defense tactic for the officer.

Violence is among the leading causes of death, one way to look at all of this violence is to blame human nature. But violence never simply “break out” and if we're so naturally violet why does the military have to go to such great lengths to break down an example will be the soldiers or marines.

The face of police has been used differentially throughout the world. Some place of the world sees the police has intimidating and or controlling. All that give it a bad reputation and are seen as the problem to society. The law enforcement profession is different all over the world. There is more to the law enforcement profession than just fighting crimes and putting the bad guy away in prison. The law enforcement should also be seen as the protectors of individual freedoms of expression, religion, or association. The way police do their jobs has a significant effect on citizen trust and legitimacy. There are ways to help change and build a better relationship between the police and the community or society. One way is community policing and that is because community policing can help prevent crimes, strengthen trust and, bring the community and police together.