Police Brutality: Pervasive Problem or Rare Anomaly?

-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 is defined as “excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians,” and this has become more prominent within the United States throughout the years (Danilina). There has many cases where police brutality has been seen via news channels, and it has dismantled the unity of trust between the civilians of the United States and the law enforcement who are supposed to protect the everyday people from harm. The issue is if the law enforcement is actually right within their means of protection, or have they gone too far with using excessive force in any situation that may or may not be harmful to them. There is, also, the question of whether racial profiling is the biggest contributor to police brutality.

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

Officers are trained to use certain measures to prevent an incident from escalating to brutal or deadly force and due to the environment of most minority communities, officers frequently have to resort to use-of-force. In a study by the Center for Policing Equity, which took three years to conduct, reviewed 19,000 cases of use-of-force by officers representing 11 cities between 2010 and 2015. They found that officers only employ use-of-force in 2 percent of all the police-citizen interactions, however African Americans were subjected to use-of-force 3 times the number of Caucasians, showing a disproportionality high difference (Williams, 2016). When interviewing police officer James, I asked, “When you have to pull your gun on a subject, what race is the individual, most

Police are abusing their power, of their badge, instead of serve and protect; their ignoring and abusing. There's been many killings (almost about 5,000 people),abusing, and people being ignored from police, Why?

The study on excessive force found that, even as use of force escalates from grabbing a civilian to striking them with a baton, the "overall probability of such an incident occurring decreases dramatically, but the racial difference remains roughly constant. Even when black civilians are reported compliant and no arrest made, they are 21.3 percent more likely to endure some kind of force” (Correl, 2001). In places where there is a commitment of democratic government, civilian oversight appears to arise in response to a specific crisis confidence in the police. Until such a crisis occurs, society has looked into these issues of police killing civilians and chooses to handle their cases on their own. The beginnings of police brutality that occurred

Despite all of the advancements in modern policing, there are still flaws in the system. Many of these problems are found in civil rights, corruption, police-community relations, and police brutality. Even though all of these items are closely related, police brutality is currently the biggest issue throughout the United States. By describing police brutality and giving examples, one will be able to understand why it is such a problem in law enforcement today. We will also discuss ways in which police brutality is being corrected and prevented in police departments through internal and external control mechanisms, legislative control, and court control.

The increased knowledge and awareness of police brutality have raised many concerns for people and advocates from various areas. On one side, law enforcement supporters have advocated the legality of officer’s actions while the opposition identifies police racial profiling, corruption, and excessive force. Additionally, police brutality has raised serious concerns for human rights violations; however, guiltiness has only been proven against a few individual officers rather than agencies as a whole.

Those of the minority community have been subjected, for many decades, to violence by those in law enforcement in the United States. This type of violence is a direct depiction of police brutality, which often leads to death. Police brutality has been an issue for many years, and it remains a major concern for those of the minority community.

Police brutality is an act that often goes unnoticed by the vast majority of white Americans. This is the intentional use of “excessive force by an authority figure, which oftentimes ends with bruises, broken bones, bloodshed, and sometimes even death” (Harmon). While law-abiding citizens worry about protecting themselves from criminals, it has now been revealed that they must also keep an eye on those who are supposed to protect and serve.

Although excessive force rarely occurs, there are few instances where it does (Pollock, 2017). It has been found that “some studies do find an association between force and race or socioeconomic status, but other factors, such as demeanor, seem to be even more influential” (Pollock, 2017, p. 160). Situational characteristics that are likely to involve the use of excessive force include, “the number of citizens present (positive association), the number of police officers present (positive association), and whether the encounter involved a car or foot pursuit” (Pollock, 2017, p. 160). The likelihood of officers using excessive force would “include sex (male), age (younger), and ethnicity (being Hispanic)” (Pollock, 2017, p. 160). In addition,

Police Brutality, an ongoing abuse of power that exists in the United States should be resolved immediately. The functioning element within law enforcement should consist of organized, just, and civilized officers. The presence of police brutality is becoming more of an issue as society grows. The problem posed by the illegal exercise of police power is an ongoing reality for individuals of a disfavored race, class, or sexual orientation. Police brutality must be stopped so that police do not forget who they are serving – not themselves, but the taxpayers. This means that even the criminals, who are a part of the public, have certain rights, civil rights. Although racism has been eradicated within the United States, systematic discrimination within the Police force causes a major concern in today’s society.

For the past years in the United State police brutality against citizens has been a serious issue. Over the past months it has been the top subject to discuss between citizens and the media. Police brutality is “use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians. Excessive use of force means a force well beyond what would be necessary to handle a situation” (). Police brutality can take place in any form such as verbal abuse, sexual abuse, racial profiling, false arrests, but the most obvious we’ve seen on the news is physical abuse. For example, pepper spray, choking, beaten, or shoved around. Although the public seem to think many incidents is about race, anyone, regardless of age, race, or gender can become a victim of police brutality.

Ever since the first slave was brought to the American colonies in 1619, African Americans have always been mistreated and abused. According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of police is to supervise the operation, execution, or administration of to prevent or detect and prosecute violations of rules and regulations. Thus, the first real form of police during slavery was slave catchers. Slaves were constantly beaten, lynched, whipped etc. , but you would think after slavery was abolished in 1863 and 100 plus years later things would change. The mindset that blacks are inhumane and are savages are still ingrained in society today. A study done by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement found that in the first three months of 2012, 30 black people were killed by police at traffic stops. Of the 30 people killed 12 were innocent,  8 were emotionally disturbed, and the remaining 10 did not have much information regarding their death (Savali).  The racial discrimination, violence, and history are the topics we need to focus on in order to make a change. It is not fair that police can use brute force to protect and serve the people of our country. Police are suppose to be here to protect and serve the people of our country, however, in some cases police abuse their power and force become police brutality. In today’s society, police brutality has stemmed from the history of policing and as a result racial discrimination and violence is a constant issue that needs to be addressed by

There have been only 10 days in 2017 where no one was killed by police. (mappingpoliceviolence.org) Police Brutality is an unending problem and existent concern in the United States and should be resolved immediately. The problems presented by the illegal actions of police power is a continuous reality for people of unfavorable race, class, and sexual orientation. Law enforcement must serve as an element that comprises of structured and cultivated officers. It is important that police brutality is stopped so that police can remember that they serve the public and not for themselves. Police using excessive force in the United States is a crucial dilemma and must be ended. The problems resulting from Police Brutality can be answered through changes within police departments, improved relations between enforcement and communities as well as personal adjustments amongst all individuals.