Police Brutality : Use Of Excessive And Unnecessary Force By Police

On August 9th 2014 in Ferguson Missouri a suburb north of Saint Louis, 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by police officer Darren Wilson after allegedly robbing a convenience store. The initial dispute over the circumstances surrounding Brown’s death resulted in tensions and civil unrest in a predominately African American city, where a police officer had just fatally shot an unarmed African American teenager. A grand jury chose not to indict Wilson leading to his exoneration of any criminal wrongdoing by the United States Justice Department. These events received large-scale media attention and drew protesters from across the country, resulting in intense debate about the relationship between law enforcement and civilians, with special attention being given to what consists as an appropriate use of force.

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.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. >> When a white Ferguson policeman fatally shot a black 18-year-old nearly a year ago, the St. Louis suburb erupted in violent protests and the nation took notice. Since then, legislators in almost every state have proposed changes to the way police interact with the public.

Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict defines police brutality as the use of excessive or unnecessary force by police against the public. Excessive force is explained to be any behavior or force beyond what is reasonably necessary in order to control a situation. It is a common misnomer that people believe some police use excessive force more often than not. What’s more concerning is most of the time people believe that this excessive force is usually focused upon the African American men, women, and children. This misnomer is typically found to be found in city settings where the population consists of mostly African Americans. The population make up causes the common belief to seem more true than it may otherwise appear.

Police brutality is the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose ( Police Brutality). There has been some serious human rights violated by officers in the world today. Mainly focusing on African Americans and their perspective, there has been severe beatings, fatal chokings, and shootings and none have been justified. Most cases do not get reported or are left to be forgotten. Families all throughout the united states suffer each and every day because of the unexplainable amount of excessive police force.

August 9th 2014, Ferguson Missouri, an unarmed black teen Michael Brown was shot, and fatally wounded by a white police officer by the name of Darren Wilson.

What is police brutality? Police brutality is an act of misconduct done by a member law enforcement through the use of an extreme amount of force to physically, mentally, or emotionally attack a member of society. Many law enforcement officers, those sworn to protect and serve, have abused their rights and authority to ferociously assault and manipulate citizens, even if they were innocent. Citizens who have been attacked have been left with physical and emotional scars that can never go away; in some cases, it has even caused death. In a report by David Packman, prepared for the Cato Institute in 2011, states that 247 deaths were linked to police misconduct cases.(Packman 2011)

Have you ever thought about what happens if a person breaks a law? What if this individual breaks a minor law and creates a larger problem? A strong topic is upon our society when it comes to law enforcement and the tough physical and verbal oppression that they have the potential to put on people when it comes to breaking the law. Police officers are supposed to be society 's saviors, guardians, and our friends. However, when things do not go quite right, and when someone breaks the law, there will always be that chance that things could escalate. These officers are supposed to deescalate situations and solve problems. That is what society relies on them at any given moment. Sometimes it takes an escalation of force to deescalate a criminal situation. This is why society sees the men and women in uniform with weapons capable of hindering life to the fullest. However, when this force is used and abused, it creates problems. The public eye becomes weary of the police in many different ways for using excessive force to deescalate a situation. Excessive force and police brutality are often caused by depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, as well as other mental disorders; due to the way they are portrayed by the media, excessive force and police brutality have a direct effect on the American society as well as fellow officers in all branches of law enforcement.

While racing down the freeway on March 3, 1991, driver Rodney King and friends were leading the Los Angeles Police Department on a high speed chase making it up to 115 miles per hour. When King was eventually caught, officers pulled him from his car and began to beat King with their batons hitting and kicking him more than 50 times and shocking him with stun guns in a period of two minutes as he struggled helplessly on the ground outside of his car. King suffered 11 skull fractures, kidney damage, and brain damage. This was one of America’s first viral video of what excessive force is, and it changed the way police interacted with communities forever. The use of police force is an obligation, but unfortunately some officers may misuse, or abuse

Police brutality is abuse of power in the form of excessive force committed by the police. Examples of this range from physical assault to psychological intimidation. Contrary to popular belief, many forms of police brutality include emotional and psychological aspects on top of physical. It can also take the form of false arrests, verbal abuse, and racial profiling. In countless accumulating cases across the country, police brutality has proved lethal (Danalina 1).

The term is not a lawful term and the definition is in this manner somewhat delicate; it might be best portrayed by method for instance.

Of course we all know about what happened in Ferguson, Missouri this past August. Michael Brown, who was

Over the last 16 years police brutality has gotten bigger. Police brutality is the use of excessive or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilian. Which in this case is used everywhere in the U.S. with every race. But people think that they only use assistive force on black people. But, in some cases that’s not true the use assistive force on every race.

The use of excessive force by police officers is a topic that continues to make headlines and a study that needs to be done. Although much research has gone into this topic there still is no consensus on why the use of excessive force occurs. Some studies suggest lack of training and/or problems with organization policy/procedures. Law enforcement officers are authorized to use force when necessary, but when the level of force is excessive, however, the actions of the police come under scrutiny. The resulting effects can include; public outrage, scandal, negative reputation for not only the officer but the law enforcement community, and criminal considerations. Although there’s is no concrete definition of excessive force, police

Another tragic killing that caught the attention of the movement was Michael Brown’s death in 2014, who was also killed by police in Missouri. Brown, like Martin was also unarmed when he was killed. Brown and a friend of his named Dorian Johnson, where stopped and were asked to stand on the sidewalk and soon after Brown was encountered by the officer he began to enforce physical