Police Brutality, By Renee Montagne Interviews Mark Puente

There is no question that police brutality, when it occurs, is one of the most egregious violations of public trust that a public servant can commit. Police officers, those individuals taxed with protecting the public from danger, should never be in a situation where they pose a threat to the public. Furthermore, there is no question that police brutality occurs. Moreover, generally when there are allegations of police brutality, there has been some type of underlying violent incident. In addition, while issues of brutality may seem clear-cut to a disinterested observer, it is critical to keep in mind that law enforcement officers are not presented with textbook examples of the appropriate or inappropriate use of force, but real-life scenarios involving quick decisions. There are many arrest and non-arrest scenarios where officers need to use force to protect self or others; and the degree of force required may be greater than what a disinterested observer would assume. Another recurrent issue in debates about police brutality is that racial bias appears to be a motive behind police brutality. When one considers that minorities are disproportionately likely to be arrested and convicted of crimes, one would expect to find a disproportionate number of minorities among those alleging police brutality. Therefore, while acknowledging that police brutality, when it occurs, is a serious problem, the reality is that most

The justice system’s failure to prosecute police brutality is a hot topic since most riots and acts of public violence surround this issue. One of the obstacles with prosecuting police brutality is a lack of evidence. As stated by Andrew Walter in an overview of police brutality, the failure to prove police brutality cases “stems from...difficulty in

Police brutality is an epidemic in America that has not subsided despite numerous attempts to ensure that officers will be held accountable. Many calls for reform have been discussed, but unfortunately, nothing substantial has been done. In the first six months of 2017 alone, 492 citizens were shot and killed by police officers (Jenkins.) “These numbers show us that officer-involved shootings are constant over time,” Geoffrey Alpert, a University of South Carolina criminologist said to The Washington Post. “Some places go up, some go down, but it’s averaging out. This is our society in the 21st century,” (Jenkins.) It is profoundly difficult to say what could be done to make sure law enforcement are held properly accountable for their brutality.

Police brutality is still persistent and is one of the most crucial human rights violations in the United States. Over years, police officers have acted in ways that have made individuals wonder if they are doing their job correctly with proper procedures. Unjustified shootings, beatings, fatal chocking’s, and abusive treatment have all contributed to the present dilemma of police brutality. Most of these cases go unreported, unnoticed, or have been dealt with injustice.

It is never a bad time to discuss matters of police brutality since at any given time some American gets pulled over or chased down the streets. When the police get hold of him, they probably will use excessive force in getting him to the ground and cuffing him, they might beat him a little bit in the process, just at the scene or maybe later at the station, or they just might kill him. This is the brutal truth of the reality in the American streets. One can never understand clearly the brutality of the police through mere reading of statistics. A search in the YouTube and the videos uploaded would make you want to treat the police differently. The past few months has seen the police in the news for all the wrong reasons. It is for this reason that this paper sets out to explore the subject of police brutality on the American public.

Over the years the rate of police brutality has increased in America. It has become one of the biggest headline in today’s news. Many African-Americans have become victims of police brutality. From young teenagers to mothers and daughters, even babies; whether the encounter was direct or indirect, all of which has encountered a form of police brutality. It’s not that the African-American community hates the police it’s their actions that we are upset and frustrated with. It’s their actions of beating, injustice shooting and killing of our brothers and sisters that have us protesting and rioting. How many more of our family members and loved ones must become a new hashtag or headline before the act of police brutality is a problem? Charles Dent argues that not all cops are bad and that we should support the police and not bash them. I agree with the point that not all cops are bad, but it’s not the police that are being bashed it’s the act of police brutality which they partake in that we don’t like and are protesting.

Police brutality, when it occurs may be one of the most significant violations of public trust. Police officers, those individuals taxed with protecting the public from danger, should never be in a situation where they pose a threat to the public. Furthermore, there is no question that police brutality occurs. Moreover, generally when there are allegations of police brutality, there has been some type of underlying violent incident. In addition, while issues of brutality may seem clear-cut to a disinterested observer, it is critical to keep in mind that law enforcement officers are not presented with textbook examples of the appropriate or inappropriate use of force, but real-life scenarios involving quick decisions. There are many arrest and non-arrest scenarios where officers need to use force to protect self or others; and the degree of force required may be greater than what a disinterested observer would assume because a huge percentage of detained criminals are under the influence of drugs at the time of their arrest and detention, which may increase pain resistance, decrease judgment, and enhance strength and/or energy. Another recurrent issue in debates about police brutality is that racial bias appears to be a motive behind police brutality. When one considers that minorities are disproportionately likely to be arrested and convicted of crimes, one would expect to find a disproportionate number of minorities

History has shown that not only is police brutality and profiling nothing new—especially to minorities—but it is also a problem that is unlikely to go away. Some research hypothesized that due to the dynamics of our society, such as social and emotional variables, fighting police brutality is a losing battle. In their writing, Malcolm Holmes and Brad Smith (2017) concluded “the social circumstances that shape the emotional responses characteristic of police-minority interactions seem to make certain adverse outcomes inescapable, given the structure of inequality in America.” Police brutality and its relationship with minority communities has been the center of research beginning with the Wickersham Commission in 1931. (Ruffin, 2016) The Commission found officers routinely tortured and beat arrested citizens to obtain confessions. This regular practice had a negative effect on the opinion of law enforcement among minority communities.

Police brutality has been an issue that has affected people in both the past and present. The concerns have proven to have extensive and significant impacts on the United States Supreme Court in case law decision-making. Today, the people are deeply affected by police brutality due to the amount of mental fear that sets inside when passing, being stopped and questioned by police officers. Though it is not evident in every police-citizen encounter, however, the incidents are still increasingly occurring. For these reasons, there is a growing mistrust and disrespect from the citizens for the criminal justice system and all police officers. Additionally, the issue has caused turmoil within large populations that have protested out of their frustrations,

​Undoubtedly, the world in which we live in today is more united in comparison to previous generations. Overall, however, its essential to continually focus upon how we as a society should continually embrace these ambitions in efforts to create equal opportunity to all. Although racial injustice in America has in fact been altered radically in comparison with earlier generations, the aspects of discrimination unfortunately remain. This is particularly true in regards to police brutality. Though the correlation between the infamously brute force law enforcement officials and race continually remains, the fact of the manner is that all races succumb to this type of violence. Throughout the following analysis, the infamous police injustice

A controversial topic for decades, one issue that has made a noticeable impact in modern day society, especially in the year of 2015, is that of police brutality. Stemming from deep-rooted and institutionalized racism within law enforcement and other surrounding fields, it has sparked a firestorm of opposition, with many American citizens up in arms over the target that’s been seemingly casted on the backs of the black community. Despite the various protocols that have been implemented as a means of placing a more critical eye on law enforcement, we are still seeing more and more cases of excessive police force being committed daily without any sort of justice for these victims. The idea that an officer on duty has more legal protection than that of a normal civilian must have some merit, as a study done by Cato Institute found that “When police officers are charged, they are convicted at a lower rate than people in the general populace.” (Elinson and Palazzolo). By granting these officers more rights and not holding them to same authoritative ruling regular citizens are ordered to follow, it allows for corruption and discrimination in the forces that are expected to help us. Without reprimanding the police for violation of conduct, we will continue to see the same issues arise for many years to come.

Police misconduct is the process of committing a crime and/or not following police department policy guidelines and regulations in the course of one’s officer duties. Many believe that police misconduct is in cases few and far apart, and because of the Civil Rights Movement of 1964, there is no reason to question officer’s racial bias. Some argue that excessive police force is justified, or that the murder of unarmed black men is okay because of their “questionable characters.” Other individuals may also argue that police brutality is just a “fact of life” and an “occasional slip-up” without a solution, or even a need for one. Police brutality is a real, persistent problem in the United States. Each year thousands of innocent people, specifically

Recently in the media there has been an uproar about the treatments that citizens receive from the police in addition to how the citizens interact with police. Video footage has shown police brutality that is sometimes questionable, which often dictates on the how the community views them by causing tension. Accusations of Police brutality is nothing new but it isn’t until recently that it is being recorded and it is difficult to correct the actions of someone if there is not enough evidence provided. Recent advancements in technology police

When we were younger, we all wanted to be someone special, someone heroic and usually at the age of five through nine a heroic person to you would be a ballerina, firefighter, chef, superman, or a police officer; but in today’s world, most of us have grown up. We’ve been through the phase as teenagers, young adults, then finally an adult. We’ve realized that those goals that we once wanted take time and are much harder to reach and those goals don’t always come with good and moral values. Cops today are under the impression that stereotyping and discriminating towards a certain ethnic group (mainly black men) is justifiable in the Baltimore police department. A narcotic detective from Baltimore wrote an article about how being a part of the police department seems like you’re a Hero, but truly makes you oblivious to the pain you cause while you’re so called doing your job.

Police brutality is being pushed too far, and it is over sensationalized by the media through people over exaggerating the force police officers use. The national average for police brutality claims, according to one study, is 9.5 per 100 full-time officers (Auerbach, P2). In a recent study, Chicago saw about 1,774 complaints per year against members of the 13,500 member police force, with less than five percent of those officers receiving nearly half of those complaints(Saulny). In that same study, only one percent of the over 10,000 complaints filed against Chicago police officers between 2002 and 2004 were found to have enough