Police Brutality And Its Effect On Citizens

-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 brutality and office involved shootings have sparked national debate and created a strain between police officers and citizens. Recently, there have been more home videos that display acts of aggression by police officers. These police officers often use excessive forces or a condescending tone towards people of color which is why there needs to be a better way to mend police and civilian relationship. People should be able to trust the police in their communities rather than fear them.

As of September 1, 2015, in the United States police officers have killed 776 people and 161 of those people were unarmed at the time of their death (MintPress). There have been too many incidents where police officers have injured or killed someone that could have been prevented. Using maximum force with a suspect has become a routine in many confrontations. Officers have not been given the proper training to deal with individuals and how to handle them without using a weapon. If they were given more training on how to deal with situations resulting in using a weapon to stop an individual during certain scenarios police brutality situations would decrease, lives would be saved, and police would get their good reputation back. However, police departments would have to spend more money on re-training. Some people agree with police brutality and think that a civilian deserved their punishment, which is not right because no one deserves to be beaten or killed. Situations involving police brutality have been increasing throughout the years, which is a problem that must to be solved.

The contemporary social problem I would like to conduct sociological research on is the use of excessive force used by members of the police department in recent unconscionable shootings of unarmed civilians. With all the recent attention that the people of Ferguson Missouri and New York City have been able to rise on this issue, making it a media sensation, it seemed like a good topic to discuss. Police brutality is an egregious, ongoing problem in our society that, until just recently, has been accepted as a sad fact of life by the people it affects and is largely ignored by the rest of society, including politicians and the mass media. Police brutality affects the people that society has come to stigmatize such as minorities, the mentally ill and impoverished people, more so than the well off or middle to upper class white people.

Recently police have come under fire for the deaths of many unarmed African American males. This has broken the trust between civilians and police and torn our country apart. People are frustrated about the killings of unarmed citizens and how it seems every officer can get away with killing an unarmed suspect. Back in 1994 a law was passed that required the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to record date on police involved shooting and deaths by police officers. Except where are the numbers that would show there is an increase in unarmed African American deaths from police officers?

The heated issue of police brutality and police officers violating civil rights has extensively covered media headlines for several years. Hundreds of people are killed every year by police officers, and many of these cases bring up issues of police brutality. More often than not, it is usually a white police officer and an african american offender encounter that sparks media attention. The shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri is just one of these cases that has caused a major divide in the United States. Michael Brown was fatally shot by Officer Wilson after an unfriendly encounter in the streets. Those who believe that Officer Wilson made the right decision in shooting Michael Brown, point to the fact that the grand jury chose not to indict him. Although Darren WIlson was not charged after the shooting of unarmed Michael Brown, some people believe that his actions were unlawful and he should have received some sort of punishment for his wrongdoing. Acknowledging all of the facts of the investigation, Officer Wilson did not act properly in the circumstances of the time.

When you think of the police, your opinion may vary. Let me ask you a question about our police force. But keep this in mind, in October 2015 alone, there was 81 deaths by the police. With that being said, who’s to protect us from whose protecting the block? I don 't care who you are, you have to be able to realize nowadays that the police brutality is getting out of hand, that the power surge is growing and growing. Look around, there 's an increase of civilians death via cops, an increase of reports of police wrongdoing, and an increase of more officers standing trial for a case relating to police brutality.

A young man’s brutal death at the hands of the police is found justified in a court of law due to his “suspicious” appearance: a black hoodie and his hands in his pocket. An elderly woman is fatally shot in her home for her relation to a suspected criminal. A married man with two toddlers is choked to death after a minor traffic stop by an officer who later claimed that his unarmed victim was wielding a gun. These people all have a few commonalities: the color of their skin, their presumed guilt at first sight, and their ultimate unjustified death administered by the law force. These are not uncommon occurrences. Due to the staggeringly disproportionate rate of African-Americans killed by the police, and the underlying rampant racial profiling, police brutality towards blacks in America must be called to light.

In all of the articles reviewed, the youth emphasizes danger, prejudice and dehumanizing encounters with police officials, seven out of the nine articles revealed the police encounters as controlling, and six out of nine articles reported the police as being ineffective (Nordberg et al., 2016, pp. 144-145). The minority youth experiences in these police encounters were negative and caused the youth to feel as though the police were not there to serve or protect them from violence (Nordberg et al., 2016, pp. 144-145). This article can be of great benefit to anyone that seeks to bridge the gap between the police department and the community. The report can help provide a better understanding of the youth encounters with police officials and inform authoritative officials of the current issue they face to help promote better practices amongst police

Police brutality has been causing nothing but chaos since the problem arose. This is a problem that needs to be fixed before its effects get out of hand. When American citizens are killed due to police brutality, it causes a lot of distress. In a way it causes a grey cloud of anger, sadness, and depression. This feeling spread out between whole communities is not good. Police brutality is knowing right from wrong which we were all taught as kids. This also causes issues because not all people were raised the same, everyone should know killing an unarmed suspect who poses no threat is not necessary. The negative effects that come from police brutality are plentiful yet there are some positive. You have excess rioting, the uproar of distrust between citizens and police officers, and on a positive note peaceful

Police Brutality, the use of excessive force commonly physical, but also in forms such as: false arrest, racial profiling, surveillance abuse, sexual abuse, verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer. This is a ruthless act and issue that continues to be a major problem for both people in law enforcement, but majorly to the public and is life threatening. It is a saddening act that jeopardizes the civil rights of citizens and the rights of people around the world. Police officers are supposed to protect citizens and have more powers than the average citizen: they have the power to arrest, seize property, and the use of deadly force if necessary. Many officers abuse those powers. In doing so you would think they would be prosecuted accordingly but “Thousands of incidents of brutality go unreported each year” (Young Communist League). Police officers have now gotten above the law it seems. Police corruption and perjury is common within the brutality. Also, police brutality a major issue and common in African Americans, people of the LBGT community, people with disabilities and other minority groups in the society.

Age old problems continue to surface because minorities are unfairly targeted. People mainly focus on how police treat black or spanish people. If you look on social media or on the news, you see that the majority of stories about how cops treat black and latino people and the whole Black Lives Matter movement. People are mostly focused on how the minorities are being treated and that plays a big role in why police brutality is still surfacing today. Another reason is that consequences for police misconduct sometimes is not taken seriously. For example, “in central New Jersey, ninety nine percent of police brutality complaints are never investigated. Every one out three cops are convicted, while the conviction rate for civilian rates are double

It is ironic that standing up for human rights is now being done by kneeling to the ground. More football players have joined Colin Kaepernick in taking a knee to protest injustices such as police brutality and systematic racism. The continuous silent protest has been deemed as unpatriotic, seeing as how politics should be kept out of the workplace. Though the two sides are widely contrasted, understanding different perspectives and reasonings may influence a change, not only with the topic at hand, but also within our society. The act of kneeling as protest has become so watered down from its original purpose that no one knows what it really means now.

Justice has become nothing more than a word in American society. Badges allow militarized police officers to brutalize and kill unarmed citizens. Police brutality is not a new issue, it first appeared in 1872 when the Chicago Tribune reported the beating of a civilian by a police officer. Although police brutality has been present for decades, the severity has tremendously increased in the past twenty years. It is critical for citizens to become aware of the growing statistics and casualties of the epidemic. By educating Americans on the problem, it may lead to preventing further incidents.

Out of those 346 people, 30% of the victims were unarmed, and fewer than 1 in 3 black people killed by police in America were suspected of a violent crime and allegedly armed. It’s clear that there is a problem amongst police. I believe not only does it have to do with the racial factor, but with the superiority and power that police abuse. Over centuries, people of African descent or people of color- have endured violence in many prejudice ways. Today, police officers are using excessive force, deadly beatings and shootings, that are in no way excusable. In history, violence against certain races, today, police brutality, had been and is still used to suppress blacks and protect the power for the government and “superior” white races. Since