Police Brutality Analysis

-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.

Police Department. The members of the gang unit insist that the citizens on the street know why they are out there and know they are there to protect them, but that it not the case. For example, in one scene an officer is seen pulling at a man’s waistband in order to look into his underwear! That is extremely invasive, and not a part of the normal procedures that are allowed when making a reasonable suspicion stop. Officers are supposed to search the outside of the clothing, not in the pants, and definitely not in their underwear.

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

Since the 70’s police departments like Spokane Washington, I believe have proved that police visibility or presence in the community along with transparency working hand in hand with the community, have had a positive effect on preventing crime and providing communities with a sense of security (The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment. (n.d.).

Once someone reaches a level of reasonable suspicion, police officers are allowed to stop and frisk the suspects. If they are still thought to be participating in illegal activity it becomes probable cause and then the suspect will be arrested and interrogated. Due to Miranda rights people have the opportunity to speak with an attorney before being questioned and may also have one present while being questioned.

Some people think assigning officers to communities can be rewarding and some people think it is a form of punishment. Whatever the case may be, people need some form of protection. Crime is very real. Today’s violence seems to go far past those standard reasons. As humans, people tend to overlook or forget who are there to protect the society from disorderly people. The good order of a community is important to those who lived and worked in the community. In other words, the little things matter to a person in his or her community. There will always be a person who cares and will take charge in the community.

Community relation issues across the nation have been increasing and causing many conflicts between law enforcement and communities. There has been so much disorder between communities and law enforcements not agreeing on how situation have been handled. Both the community and law enforcements having different perspectives on making decisions without ever looking at the others side and acknowledging each other’s reasoning behind their actions. Racism, responsibility and morals are some of many terms that are yet to be sorted out within all these communities that have on going conflicts. The relationships between a community and its law enforcement is important, although it is the police job to enforce, it is also the communities job to enforce all day and everyday (Russell).

Over the recent years, police have been one of the organizations to be associated with the largest cases of misconduct. Police brutality can be termed as the process of misuse and abuse of authority by the police. The rising cases of police brutality are causing more harm to the public, compared to the actions perpetrated by real criminals. Although police claim that it’s sometimes necessary to curb crime, the process is illegal and police officers should be charged just like any other criminal offender. It should be the responsibility of the justice system to establish effective strategies to deal with the rising illegal activities in order to restore public trust in the law

Many factors can contribute to this problem the police force is having with police officers abuse of power, one of them being the psychological health of police officers where they aren’t fit to serve and protect the people they sworn to protect. After the shooting of an unarmed woman at Capitol Hill, The National Allegiance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) started what is to be the most Comprehensive Police Officer mental health program in the country, this 40 hours crisis intervention program is available in 45 states as well as the district of Columbia, excluded are the state of Delaware, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas and Rhode Island. Needless to say a few departments are working hard to improve the quality and integrity of their officers to eliminate the raising percentage of officers committing abuse to those who they sworn to protect.

When looking at the Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) website we see that it provides information to law enforcement departments around the country giving them information on how to deal with a significant amount of community problems (Problem-Oriented Policing, 2017). The website of POP shows in details community issues such as vandalism, street prostitution, and domestic violence for law enforcement departments to gain ideas how they can be addressed. There have been large numbers of police departments that have taken advantage of the enormous amount of resources provided to them by the POP two such departments the Oakland Police Department in Los Angeles, and the other being Lindgate Police Department in Nevada (Calgues, 2015).

Police Brutality is a problem that seems to happen more and more as years go on. It

certain crimes and there are some that are better left to them. They can handle a

The police have lost trust among the people they serve. This is because of the controversial use of excessive force when handling people. In some

In recent years, society has heard cases of police brutality at an increasingly shocking rate, thus creating a sense of distrust among communities towards police officers and other authority figures. As the first line of defense against crimes such as home invasions or crimes against persons, police officers are expected to be an ally towards victims; however, it seems that society is now viewing officers as the perpetrators of crimes as opposed to the protectors. This has already posed an issue because community members are choosing not to seek police help when needed, and when they do decide to seek help, forgoing police assistance results in being uncertain of where else to go.

There is a perception of distrust between law enforcement and the community. This distrust stems directly from the dangerous words police use when communicating with the community. (Willis, 2015, p.) Simply choosing better words can help build relationships between law enforcement and the community. It is necessary for law enforcement to have trust with their community. There are many things that hinge on the police-community relationships, the ability of law enforcement to perform their duties, are the most important. Law enforcement must be willing to rely on the public to observe the law. They must always demonstrate absolute impartiality to the law.