Police Brutality : Minorities Under Attack

-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.

The most controversial topic of the ending year of 2014, and the beginning year of 2015, the Ferguson, Missouri police brutality case. Not only has the topic of police brutality been strongly talked about in the recent years, it has also been acknowledged in the late 1900’s and early 2000’s. I understand that in some cases police brutality may be very true, but I don’t believe it should be something blown out of proportion just because a white cop wounded or shot an African American individual. Police brutality is very much over exaggerated in our generation, I believe a police officer should use whatever force they have to for their protection.

Living in the information age, the prevalence and awareness towards social problems are able to receive more access than ever before. We always hear the term Social Problems being thrown around habitually in the 21st century, but the term Social problem is defined as “A general cause that motivates activists and social movement organizations to address a particular troubling condition”. (CITE). The current world has too many social problems to name off in under 5 pages so for this paper I would like to focus on perhaps the most prevalent one that we are seeing way too often these days. Police Brutality and racial profiling. As a white male, someone who is a criminal justice major in hopes of eventually becoming some type of law enforcement for my career later in life, you may ask why I even care about this issue since it isn’t necessarily affecting my life directly. My response is simple, I am tired of seeing the hashtags behind these deaths and one death from police brutality is already too many.

Since the first state-sponsored police forces in the U.S. racial discrimination in police forces has been a characteristic of the American landscape. Racial profiling and police brutality have their roots in enforcement of slave codes, black codes, and Jim Crow Segregation laws. We Charge Genocide, a petition submitted to the UN by the Civil Rights Congress in 1951, documented thousands of incidents of police violence against African Americans alone. Police brutality against Native Americans has also been a regular of colonial culture in the U.S. as well. Official studies have consistently found that people and communities of color are disproportionately subjected to human

Police Officers use of force has been an big issue for many decades, But has now made its way to mainstream. From news to social media there 's always a recent relevant story/ case on police officers use of force. In 2016 Baton Rouge man, Alton Sterling was killed do to Police officers use of excessive force. This sparked an outrage in the nation after Mr. Sterlings murder went viral through social media. The shooting led to protests in Baton Rouge and a request for a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Racial profiling isn’t something new to today’s society. Most recently there were incidents in which the officers were accused of mistreating blacks such as Michael Brown and Freddie Gray. “Racism versus professionalism: claims and counter-claims about racial profiling” written by Vic Satzewich and William Shaffir discusses racism versus professionalism with officers. Their argument is more biased towards the police force and they argue that it’s part of their job. “

The events of the Detroit Riots are much like the 2015 Baltimore Riots of today. Freddie Gray, who was apparently in good health at the time of his arrest, sustained neck and spine injuries while in transport in a police vehicle. Gray was in a coma and died the following day. What initially started out as peaceful protests began due to the inability of the police to adequately or consistently explain the events following the arrest and the injuries sustained by Gray in police car, turned violent after Gray’s funeral. Stores were looted, rocks were being thrown at the police and buildings and cars were set on fire. The end result was at least 400 people arrested with hundreds injured including police and civilians along with hundreds of businesses

There have been many incidents of police brutality in the past few years. It appears that these confrontations usually take place between unarmed black men who are killed by the police, just as with the Jim Crow-era lynchings, the images of black death at the hands of the police since a terrifying message to all communities most especially black community. The difference today are captured and distributed immediately by the media. There have been many events in the past years that have led to a lot of conflicts today. The main incident of police brutality that has captured the most recent public controversy^was the Ferguson shooting, which led to much other shooting and the expense of black lives.

"Relations between the police and minority groups are a continuing problem in many multiracial societies. Surveys consistently document racial differences in perceptions of the police, with minorities more likely than whites to harbor negative views." (Weitzer and Tuch, Race and Perceptions of Police Misconduct, 2004)

In the past year, the issue of police brutality has become one of the most controversial issues in the United

“Racial inequality is a disparity in opportunity and treatment that occurs as a result of someone's race” (Racial Inequality, 1996-2017, line 1). Racial profiling and police brutality falls under racial inequality. According to Nazgol Ghandnoosh (2017), " Officers' racially biased use of discretion – either intentional or unintentional – is one cause of racial disparities in police contact that are not explained by differences in crime rates" (p. 6). When one group is targeted more than another it will cause the group that is targeted the most to have more involvement. The crime rates for black people is higher than those of white people because more black people are arrested than white people. Nazgol Ghandnoosh (2017), states that, "Almost

Since around the civil rights movement police brutality has been going on in the united stated of America but in 2015 because of social media its seems that’s it has gotten worse but really it just has been getting more exposure because of people recording the acts of police brutality on their phones. Over the last few years there has been a numbers of police brutality that has led to the murder of UN armed black men. The first incident that was filmed and brought to the world nationally was Rodney king who was African American was nearly beating to death by four police men in 1991 and all the officers were acquitted of all charges when it showed on camera that the Rodney king was UN armed. They accused King of speeding doing a 150 mph in a Honda

Police brutality refers to the intentional utilization of vituperations or extortionate force directed towards a country 's citizens by the police force. This extortionate force may be physical or in form of psychological dauntingness. Police brutality is highly evident in many countries all over the world especially in the news where such cases are reported. It is optically discerned as a form of police malfeasance which involves sexual abuse, police corruption, erroneous apprehends, racial profiling, and political repression. These forms of police brutality are mainly directed towards the vulnerably susceptible groups such as the poor, the impuissant and the elderly. Most of these police brutality actions are always linked to racism. Many countries have sanctioned their police force to utilize force in apprehending the suspects and withal in forfending themselves. They are however supposed to utilize plausible amounts of force in controlling any situation and in accomplishing their goals. Police brutality always contravenes the suspect 's constitutional rights and it should be ceased. This paper is going to discuss the police brutality; tolerance of police brutality in the society and ending police brutality (Socyberty.com, 2010).

Police brutality thrives in the inner city regions where minority communities live and work. Police brutality is a crime punishable by law and is often instigated by law enforcement officers who are either racially biased or prone to authority abuse and violent (re)actions. Allegations abound concerning police brutality with police officers using unnecessary or excessive force, committing battery, conducting illegal body searches and bullying. Minority communities suffer most from the effects of police brutality because they have the least power and face detrimental consequences from law enforcement authorities.

Police brutality is becoming more and more apparent in the news today because it seems to be occurring more than before. In 2012, the NYPD killed 21 people that year which was an increase by 7 from the previous year (W.A.T.E.R, 1). The numbers are rising in the big cities where more crimes are likely to happen. Toronto isn’t as big as New York City, but it comes to show that police officers are killing more individuals each year. In 2009, in the little city of Cabbagetown near Toronto, two Toronto officers severely beat a man who was allegedly drunk in public. The two police officers were later found guilty of assault causing bodily harm, which shocked much of the public because rarely do police officers get charged after