Police Related Shootings

A police force is defined as an organized body of people, given power by the state to enforce the law, protect property, and limit civil disorder. However, amid controversial relations between police and civilians in today’s society, many often question whether or not the police force’s purpose is actually fulfilled in reality. Since 2015, police have killed 964 people in the U.S. And although composing only 13% of the population, Black people constituted 25% of those killed by police (242, mappingpoliceviolenc.com). These killings are often identified as police brutality: unreasonable and excessive use of force used to accomplish a lawful police purpose. By its definition, police brutality contradicts the purpose and abuses the power that police officers have. Police brutality is a rising, yet unsolved issue that remains relevant in today’s society. Increased tensions between the African American community and police officers continue to affect the interaction with one another. When police officers are not representative or have a relationship with the people they are supposed to protect, cultural differences and racial tensions create a bias that targets and automatically views these communities as dangerous. These circumstances are the foundation to why to police brutality is still a trending manifestation in black communities.

Police Misconduct The brutality of the police force has been a long worldwide problem, but especially between the years of 2012-2016. Black people are being unjustly beaten and shot in plain sight for doing nothing while being unarmed. Journal of African American Studies “Blacks are viewed as deserving of harsh treatment in the criminal justice system” (482). “Black males with more “Afrocentric” features may receive longer sentences than blacks with less Afrocentric features like lighter skin and straighter hair”(482). Nowadays it is important to know about the police force. It’s important to know our rights as citizens and be careful around cops. Not everybody is good, but not everybody is bad also. In The New York Amsterdam News 21 people were killed by Chicago police in 2008. Entire families were being attacked. They believe it’s because of their skin color and how they are different. The year of racism started off with the world seeing the police murder of Oscar Grant. “The media have pushed people away from hearing the issue of police brutality, and it has fallen off of the radar screen.”(2) “You can’t give in. They will try to make an example out of you, try to break your spirit!”(2) African Americans say do not trust the cops with anything. “They will ruin you.”(2)

Police shootings are unfortunate events but whenever there is a shooting, the topic of race emerges. Police shootings have always been the highlights on news channels and there is always the racially biased narrative that keeps repeating itself yet no one seems to dispute this narrative. However, did you know that studies show a police officer is eighteen and a half times more likely to be killed by a African American male than an unarmed African American male is to be killed by a police officer? In fact, a recent “deadly force” study by Washington State University researcher Lois James found that police officers were actually less likely to shoot an unarmed black suspect than unarmed Caucasian or Hispanic suspect in simulated threat scenarios. Some would argue that there are still police shootings all over America and they occur when police officers

Police Brutality A young man’s brutal death at the hands of the police is found justified in a court of law due to his “suspicious” appearance: a black hoodie and his hands in his pocket. An elderly woman is fatally shot in her home for her relation to a suspected criminal. A married man with two toddlers is choked to death after a minor traffic stop by an officer who later claimed that his unarmed victim was wielding a gun. These people all have a few commonalities: the color of their skin, their presumed guilt at first sight, and their ultimate unjustified death administered by the law force. These are not uncommon occurrences. Due to the staggeringly disproportionate rate of African-Americans killed by the police, and the underlying rampant racial profiling, police brutality towards blacks in America must be called to light.

Just this April, the city’s Police Accountability Task Force found that the Chicago Police Department has “no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color.” Chicago’s population is 31.7% white, 32.9% Black, 28.9% Latino, and 5.5% Asian. However, the Task Force reported that the city’s police officers shoot Black residents at significantly disproportionate rates. Between 2008 and 2015, of all people injured or killed in police-related shootings, 74% were Black, 14% were Hispanic, 8% were white and less than 1% were Asian. The report found almost identical numbers when it came to statistics regarding the use of Tasers. The report also analyzed all people stopped by police during the summer of 2014 and found they were 72% Black,

Prejudice in the Justice System against African-Americans in the Twenty-first Century In the twenty-first century, it seems that the media produces many stories on police brutality, the majority of which surround African-Americans. This is not just coincidence as the majority of citizens in the United States of America that are faced with police brutality are African-American. Prejudice in the force has been an issue for hundreds of years, but just now, with the advancement of technology, has the issue reached citizens across the country in heaping amounts. Whether through unconscious bias or open racism, the violence shown to black citizens across America by precincts and the justice system in general is a widespread issue that needs to be

Yes I do feel that our police departments generally do a good job of screening applicants. The Knoxville Police Department employees 397 police officers to protect the city of Knoxville, which had a population of 185,638 in 2015 (UCR, n.d.). According to the statistics on officer involved shootings from the Knoxville Police Department there showed to be no shootings in 2015 but in 2014 there were five officer involved shootings, three of which were fatal for the suspect (knoxvilletn.gov, n.d.). In each of these cases the officers were exonerated from liability as their actions were found to be within departmental policy (knoxvilletn.gov, n.d.). I feel that the psychological testing of incoming officers is an important aspect to ensure we hire the most professional officers for our police forces but sometimes individuals with behavioral or mental issues can be missed and any individual who exhibits such traits or bias should be dealt with or dismissed from the force to avoid issues that could impact the entire

Within the past decade there have been several accounts of fatal police shootings. Law enforcement deems deadly force as a justifiable homicide. Not all cases are investigated in its entirety. Stricter laws on police officers should be forced to prevent riots, senseless killings and promote equality.

Undoubtedly the most controversial topic in the recent past is police involved shootings. Although not specific to a police officer, the Trayvon Martin case in 2012 gained national media attention surrounding Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law. The case of Michael Brown Jr. sparked the 2014 riots, protests and

In a matter of 630ms an officer is confronted with the decision to open fire on a suspect or proceed with caution. Police officers are trained to deal with a broad range of circumstances, including minor traffic violations to hostile shoot outs. Additionally, they are trained to deal with a wide range of people from compliant to aggressive and to act accordingly in each condition. The decision to use lethal force is supposed to be restricted to situations in which an officer feels threatened. However, in light of recent officer involved shootings, civilians have begun to think

In Malcolm Holmes article Plague of Police Shooting states that “the police subculture's strict code of secrecy helps shield officers from detection when they needlessly kill a citizen” which allows other officers to be given the benefit of the doubt with whom they have formed an allegiance with, over any witness many who come from poor backgrounds and seem less credible. Holmes argues that the way to solve the “police-minority relations” is for the investigation of police involved shooting to become more transparent and for officers that violate that law and other officers who are involved to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Many police shootings that involve African-Americans have went to trial but many of the officers involved

the last few weeks, there have been some terrible shootings. It seems like lately, there is another violent occurrence that takes place almost weekly. The most recent shootings have created a lot of commotion between African Americans and law enforcement. It had created quite an uproar in some of the public. A 32-year-old man in Minnesota named Philando Castile had been pulled over in a suburb and was shot by an officer while reaching for his wallet to show his license. His girlfriend and her young daughter were in the vehicle with him when it happened. Many individuals formed groups and began protesting within days over the matter because they believed that it had a lot to do with racism and law enforcement treats some individuals different

Aaron Steinman Phil Hurst Engl& 101 3700 20 March 2018 Police Accountability: The Unreal Prosecution of Racist Police Officers Everyone has heard of the Black Lives Matter movement, it’s an international activist movement that campaigns against violence and racism towards black people. The widespread movement has created much controversy with how people portray and see the police; many being afraid of law enforcement. The B.L.M organization brings into light stories of unrightful shootings and arrests of innocent unsuspecting African Americans, and points out as well as shames the police officer who committed the act. However, not many follow the story after the shaming has been done. What happens the the officer? and do they get prosecuted? The sad truth is that the investigation and prosecuting of a police officer is a very

A new study confirms that black men and women are treated differently in the hands of law enforcement. They are more likely to be touched, handcuffed, pushed to the ground or pepper-sprayed by a police officer, even after accounting for how, where and when they encounter the police.

I believe that this is a question that most people ask, when they hear of incidences of police brutality within the black populations. Statistics on police brutality suggests that black people, particularly men, are three times more likely to be killed by the police in the United States in comparison to the white population. Last year there were a number of cases on police brutality against blacks, however, the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, and Freddie Gray gained much attention from the media and the Black Lives Matter movement (BBC, 2015). This past week in San Francisco, racists and homophobic texts were discovered among some of the police officers in the San Francisco police department (Williams, 2016). This particular story makes me wonder whether some of these stereotypes against blacks are at times the driving force behind the acts of brutality against black men during arrests. In some cases, the black men are not innocent either, but are there other humane options that can be utilized during these arrests. In some cases, the victims are shot more than ten times, is it really necessary to shoot them this many times when other options can be used? Are the arrests made justifiable, or are they made due to these biases? Overall, this example brings into awareness some of the effects of structural and institutional racism in