Police Brutality : The Rights Of Every Man Essay

-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.

A great deal of society views law enforcement officers as heroic and honorable individuals, whose main purpose is to protect and serve the community. For many officers, this description is accurate, however for others; violence and brutality against innocent citizens is the key to getting the job done. For years, minorities have fallen victim to police brutality based on racial profiling, stereotypes and other unjustifiable reasons that has cost several innocent lives. The involvement of officers in police brutality against minority social groups causes tainted and negative views on policing and their overall duty to protect, when they are ultimately the aggressors in this case. Police brutality is a violent incident involving an officer and a victim, usually including excessive force, unnecessary violence and sometimes resulting in a senseless fatality. Minority groups such as African Americans and Hispanics have often been the victims of this form of abuse by officers, however little justice has been done in order to protect these individuals from this form of cruelty by the hands of those with the most power.

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

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.

Thesis: But, because some officers use these extreme measures when it is not needed, police brutality should be addressed.

Police brutality is a controversial issue that has recently been in the news, but seems to have always been an issue in America. Police brutality refers to the intentional use of verbal or physical attacks directed towards individuals by the police force that result in false arrests, sexual abuse, or death. (Dudley, William 13.) Most of these actions are linked to racial profiling: the targeting of individuals for suspicion of crime based solely on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. (Dudley, William 13.) Statistics about how often racial profiling and police brutality occurs, movements such as Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter, and police reform efforts are just a few points as to why this topic is so controversial today.

When one thinks of police misconduct many not too distant stories might go through our heads. Most adults will remember how they felt when they saw the brutal beating of Rodney King on their local news station; or the outrage they experienced when they heard that the evidence in the OJ Simpson trial had been tampered with. But thanks to new guidelines, procedures and even civilian groups who now “police” the police, instances of police misconduct may soon start seeing a decline.

Source: Amnesty International Report. United States of America Police Brutaility and Excessive Force in the New York City Police Department. [online] Availablehttp://www.amnesty.it/Ailibtop/1996/AMR/25103696.htm 42-43. June 1996.

Over the years United States has witnessed a substantial increase in police brutality, it is one of the most common and serious violation of the human rights and it happens more often than we care to know in our communities, ranging from verbal to physical abuse in which usually an innocent person results injured as police officers lay their called justice upon the alleged criminals.

Police brutality is not a new subject. It has been around for numerous years, and like most issues, has resurfaced to the public’s eyes. The recent events brought up the question: Does there need to be a reform in the system in the police system? In this year alone, there have been countless cases of individuals being harmed or even killed by police officers for reasons that continuously are not explained. What has people more attentive to this injustice are statistics showing that most victims in these police attacks happen to be African Americans and other minorities.

What is police brutality? This is a fundamental query that we all must answer before further dissecting this issue. It is the abuse of authority or the unjustifiable infliction of excess force by the police in the performance of their official duties. (Marilynn) The use of brutal force by the police is an activity that dates back many years. However, sustained campaigns by reformists and human right groups have led to the decline of the vice over the years. It is appalling to see the police regressing back into this old practice given the hard work that went into its eradication. More especially, the allegations of racial-motivated brutality are too derogatory to the significant leaps that have been made to achieve zero discrimination and racial prejudice. The partial application of the law by the police and brutality has reopened the wounds of slavery and the struggle for equality in the country. (Merle) Their lack of humanity and use of excessive force pokes holes on their nature of training.

Police brutality is an ongoing problem in the United States. Law enforcement agents are there to protect the public for they have the legal right to use physical, and even deadly, force. However, many of these officers abuse of that power. In the past year, there have been more than 900 cases of police abuse. Most of the victims have been innocent, unarmed, and/or of color. Police brutality is becoming more and more of an issue as society keeps growing. This nationwide problem could be solved in many ways, but having peaceful protests and by educating our police officers about racial differences are two good possible solutions.

To conclude, there has been a great deal of advancement in contemporary methods of reducing the rates of police brutality. Police brutality has been at the forefront of public debate for too long. The police are paid to protect and serve the public and should not be terrorizing them. The United States has come a long way from when the police was closed from outside influence and brutalized the public arbitrarily with no explanation. Currently, if an officer is found to have used unjust physical force, the officer is held accountable accordingly by his or her respective police force with the help an independent civilian review board or the pressure of social media. The problem arises when officers fabricate reports and evidence after misbehaving

No matter ones view on the police it is safe to say they are not only extremely hated and stereotyped but they also have one of the most dangerous professions. It is my goal to be the defense for the police and to bring to light the dangers that they deal with on a daily basis while promising to protect and serve our communities, how threats police face influence the split second decisions they make in day to day situations, and how critiquing criminal justice management on police departments requirements may help set an even standard of what is expected of police officers across all county, city, and state police. I believe that this will help weed out a big majority of the corrupt officers that make the majority of them seem untrustworthy to the society

After seeing the general analysis on police brutality this literature review will go into deeper topics discussing, police brutality mostly against the colored community from the academic articles of Williams Juleyka L, and Mitchell Jacquelyn, but also brutality against minorities like the disabled, and immigrants from an article by Hutto Jonathan. Furthermore, to human rights to amendments and simple rights for civilians in America for protection against brutal police, and activists defending rights and reporting truth being discussed by, Lawson Tamara F, Conde Victor H, Shabazz Saeed, and Wyche Steve, covering all of these topics and going much deeper.