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.
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
Police officers are individuals who enforce the law upon their community to ensure that their citizens remain safe. In the past couple of years, officers of the law have been involved in acts of brutality that seem to go beyond the proper measurements of protection for their citizens. Policemen are supposed to protect their citizens from danger and from harm, not impose a threat on them. The fact that officers have a history of abusing their power indicates that their trust amongst the community has been corrupted. Those who have been affected of police brutality feel as though they have been deceived. They no longer feel that police officers will protect them, but rather abuse them, and that is a problem. We have began to live in a community in which an individual feels frightened when seeing a cop, rather than feeling protected. Some individuals may argue that police brutality is not a problem due to the fact that it is not consistent enough to catch the attention of needing a solution. However, that idea means little when the level of brutality has led to the death of several innocent victims in some cases. We must not wait for there to be a pattern of death at the hands of police officials to consider this a problem. One death indicates that preventive measures must be taken to ensure that these officers are no longer put in the position to abuse their power to begin with.
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.
Police brutality is seen as a real problem in America today. What people do not seem to realize is that the police carry a massive burden each day. The work that officers do has the potential to be very demanding and sometimes involves dangerous situations. In these situations the officers are in the position where they may be required to use force to gain control. The continuum of force dictates the level that is most appropriate for the situation. Most people do not realize that is not the officers job the meet the force. However, it is their job to overcome the force. Police departments have very strict standard operating procedures about officer use force and how force is applied. With this paper, I will attempt to explain the continuum of force, police discretion, and why the police can do some of the things they do.
We hear about police misconduct case and wonder, Why don’t they do anything to stop this? Many say that we should keep the police officers’ perspective in mind. Others say that these actions are due to racism or post 9/11 paranoia. Whatever the excuse may be for these cases, there should be no need for violence anywhere. Police brutality videos go viral and reveal to the world that it actually happens and that it may happen to you too. This pervades people with fear and anger because their civil right are being violated. Riots are the outcome making the streets unsafe and chaotic. Statistics show percentage of the movements taken upon these criminal acts performed by police officers. We can put a stop to this and we will put a
It feels as if nothing has changed about police brutality over the years. The usual cycle is that juries acquit the police, cops get their jobs back, and brutality happens again. One of the most broadcasted cases of police brutality, was the beating of Rodney King. On the night of March 2, 1991, a bystander named George Holiday, videotaped the moment when five officers used excess force on an African American man named Rodney King, beating him with batons as he struggled on the ground. Also, it was recorded that an officer stomped on King’s shoulder causing his head to hit hard against the asphalt. Holiday sent the videotape to a local TV station and soon sent shock waves around the world, catapulting police brutality and race relations in the United States to center stage. Most viewers who watched the tape revealed the brutal and senseless beating of a hopeless drunk. After debating for seven days over the fate of the officers, on April 29, 1992, the clerk announced the final verdict, the five officers were not guilty.
A topic that is very prominent at this time in social media and mainstream media is the presence of police brutality in the United States. Two instances in the news recently are the disputes that resulted in the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. On July 17, 2014, a
Over the past few years, the citizens of the Unites States have been witnesses of many cases of police brutality. Police officers are faced with a lot of threatening situations every day. And sadly, the police have to rely on their instincts and hope for the best. They have the power to take anyone’s civil rights away and possibly even their own life. You must have responsibility in order to retain that kind of power. Much less, that much power. The use of excessive force may or may not be a big problem, but I think it should be viewed from everyone’s perspectives. Police brutality falls in the category of the double-standard, whereas police officers are supposed to protect this world from harm and stress, not cause more of it. They should
Over the years there have been a large number of police brutality incidences reported in the United States. Unfortunately, there have been a large number of cases where the law enforcement officers have been at fault, but in turn, there have also been cases where the law enforcement officers have been falsely accused. In order to increase the public’s faith and trust in law enforcement, footage needs to be made available to, not only the press, but also the public eye with body cameras. Not only will these body cameras help prevent violence, but it will also show positive footage of good working law enforcement officers, and also hold law enforcement officers liable for their unjustified actions by being recorded.
We must acknowledge that people of color are still thought of as a different. There are still people in the world that believe being racist is right, but there are also some who believe that everyone is equal. But often what we hear about is the racial profiling within the American walls that we all live in. “Nationwide, driving while black has been criminalized, racial profiling used for traffic stops and searches for suspected drugs or other reasons, the practice especially common in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Texas” (Rodriguez, 2012). “Los Angeles has settled many lawsuits arising out of more than 50 deaths related to lethal police choke holds, and many other cities are paying out large sums to settle instances of police misconduct” (Angola, 2013). Due to the demands for services, the police presence is generally situated in poorer communities as the crime rates and calls for service are statistically higher in these areas. As a result of greater police presence, those who reside in poorer neighborhoods have developed a perception that police use excessive force frequently (Weitzer, 1999). This information is understandable that police are called to poorer communities but this does not make an excuse for what has been headlined on the news for the past couple of weeks.
Most people think that the police are not biased and that their use of excessive force is closely monitored. That is not true. Today many of the police, within the minority, are subjected to killing or fighting innocent people. The new definition of the police department has turned into a department that only resorts to violence as a first priority. The Police Department’s use of excessive force has brought to the attention of the people after multiple cases has happened where the Police are out of control. Police Brutality basically means it is an excessive, unnecessary force when dealing with civilians. But Many police officers argued that they are not using an excessive amount of excessive force. And that the news are painting the
Many people, to include various bureaucrats and citizens, have voiced great concerns about the contemporary issue of police brutality. Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Associations of Police Organizations (NAPO), and Police Officer Legal Defense, the Attorney General Eric Holder, as well as various District Attorneys and judges, and all have advocated similar but different approaches to police reforms. Some of the proposals in the effort to decrease police brutality and excessive force have been to utilize body cameras for accountability and to improve oversight, transparency with citizen review boards, and ways for police officers to interact
The brutality of police force come from their empowerment to intimidate. This behavioral pattern is the authentic legacy of many decades ago. If by the technique of a movie in fast, we place three hundred years of American history, the brutality of the Puritan mentality of capitalism and racial and social divisions characterizes the most salient episodes of this story. The settlers and the Americans have engaged in violence to exterminate the original inhabitants, witches and punish adulterous women, lynched Blacks, rein in immigrants, incarcerate Japanese accused of treason against the United States fiercely defend the compliance of their territorial space to the smallest level and according to the narrower definition. Transplantation into
The thesis of this paper is that many police forces have been abusing their power for far too long and there has been no consequences for their misconduct. Three ways this supports the thesis are the background information on how CPD has been abusing their power and examples on the incidents that were unjustifiably done by officers. This also supports the thesis because it talks about how the Justice Department is investigating about all these cases involving their police officers. This article is useful because it talks about how the Chicago Police Department is being heavily examined for their involvement in many fatal shootings.