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Police Misconduct And The Police

Decent Essays

“Hands up, don’t shoot!” This quote went viral after unarmed Michael Brown, was killed by St. Louis police. A person is considered unarmed if he or she is not in possession of a weapon at the time of the shooting or was holding an object unlikely to inflict serious injury, such as a stick or a broom handle (Somashekhar). The killing of this young man went viral after video footage shows him with his hands in the air, surrendering, and the police piercing his body with twelve bullet wounds. This incident has lead to the question of, “What do we do now to protect our civilians from this brutal police conduct?” Many introduced the idea of Police Body Cameras, which is proven to allow police misconduct to be reduced. This technology has been verified to reveal instances of police misconduct, build trust between the police and the community, and to give video evidence to improve the ability to prosecute cases.
For every 1,000 people killed by police, only one officer is convicted of a crime(“5 facts”). According to Washington Post, “On April 11, 2015, officer Coleman “Duke” Brackney was on the way to check out a drunk driver, after finding him, the driver encountered a chase before running into a ditch. Brackney, then accused the man of trying to back his car up and run him over shot the man in the back through the back window of the car, killing 47 year old James Ahern.” He was charged with felony manslaughter but eventually enter a plea to a lesser charge and was to be left

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