Public Criticism of Police Shootings Essay

Each year law enforcement officers throughout the county are involved in shootings, some of them fatal. Frequently the shootings are reported by the media, which exploits the feelings of the victim while ignoring the effect of the shooting on the police officer. It is “estimated that approximately 87 percent of all emergency service personnel will experience a critical incident at least once in their career, which include officer-involved shootings” (Kureczka, 2002, p. 18). Officer-involved shootings have a profound effect on not only the officer involved but also their spouses, families, and the departments they serve. Law enforcement officers that are involved in officer-involved shootings need support and assistance such as critical incident stress debriefing and sometimes long-term trauma recover therapy in order to cope and live successful lives beyond the critical incident of the shooting.

This essay is not attempting to push the ideology that the main issue isn’t because of them. However, the fear and hatred that is driven behind everyone on both positions is being perpetuated by the amount of negative coverage that this issue is receiving. In psychology, there is a term called confirmation bias, which is used to describe a mindset where people will only seek out information that conforms to their preconceived notions about something they believe to be true. (Fontinelle) Because of this, those who are in that mindset will be unlikely to be convinced otherwise that they are wrong. The fact that police are generally only talked about negatively in the news will almost force an individual who keeps up with mainstream media to see only negative things about police officers, and start to believe that police officers are not as trustworthy as they should be. This creates an immediate confirmation bias in people’s mind, which is a problem when the issue is already heated. Statistically speaking, the majority of officers are not the same as those being covered in the news. Good officers, alongside bad officers, have been seen as problematic because of the excess police brutality coverage, which in return negatively affects the entire police

The shooting occurred at the Fruitvale train station on January 1st, 2009. At the station, a fight broke out in one of the trains and when the train stopped the fight started again outside of the train at one of the stops. While they were fighting on the train the BART officers were called. The officers came and arrested everyone that was in the fight. A guy named Oscar Grant was in the fight and was also arrested (Meyer). While Grant was being arrested by Officer Mehserle, he resisted the officer’s attempts. Since Grant was resisting he was pushed onto the ground on his stomach to be handcuffed. Johannes Mehserle was having trouble handcuffing Grant so the other BART officers helped him. When Grant was on the ground Mehserle was going to tase him since he would not stop resisting. When Mehserle thought he pulled out his TASER, he instead pulled out his gun. Mehserle accidentally shot Grant with his gun since he thought he pulled out his TASER (Bulwa).

The New York Times reports that officer were reporting to a domestic disturbance call the morning after Christmas around the 4700 block of West Erie Street. According to police reports, the officers were confronted by an individual who was combative, and that resulted in one of the officers firing his weapon.

Two police officers shot Alva Braziel, and it was allegedly 10 times. These officers were driving down Cullen Boulevard in Houston when they saw the man waving a revolver in the air while standing in the street. Officers stopped and explained to Alva that he needed to drop the gun, but he didn't do it. Houston police shared that a civilian also told him to put down the gun, but Braziel wouldn't drop it. There was no way to convince him to drop it, which then turned into the police handling the situation.

Race and Rage: The Beating of Rodney King was a documentary about just that, the beating of Rodney King and the Chicago Riots that were a result. In 1991 Rodney King was chased by cops for several miles before finally pulling over in a parking lot. He was then beaten almost to death by police and the entire incident was recorded by a resident in a nearby apartment. Chicago riots begin in 1992 due to the police brutality incident. The damage to the city was immeasurable and finally King came on and said he just wanted it to all be over. I feel this was a very brave and mature thing for him to do. The amount of force taken by the police on him that night is ridiculous and unnecessary. I do believe indicting the two police most involved in the beating was fair and the right thing to do. The riots however were too out of hand and ridiculous.

These two controversial cases were added to the national debate that was already going on over police brutality due to the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York. Every year in the United States many African-Americans are killed by police due to the lack of information that the officers receive prior to arriving to the scene, the amount of time the suspects are given to cooperate, along with race discrimination that still occurs today.

Riots break out over in south-central Los Angeles California on April 29, 1992 in protest of the unjust actions of police brutality against Rodney King by Laurence Powell, Theodore Briseno, and Timothy Wind on March 3, 1991, unbenounced to the perpetrators, a civilian was filming the act unfold using a personal with a personal video camera. The video was released to the press, causing outrage and sparking debates around the issues of police brutality. King was released without charges, and on March 15, the three officers who brutally beat King, and Stacey Koon, their commanding officer were brought to court and charged with assault with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force, as well as Powell and Koon for filing false reports. However

It was a very tragic situation, an officer should always know who/what they are shooting at every time they pull the trigger. It is a hard story to read and the radio talk amongst the police is even worse. After the officers had fired their weapons, in the graphic footage from one of the officers body cams, you could hear the two officers talking. An officer can be heard in the footage

When police brutality with an emphasis of racism is mentioned, most people automatically think of Rodney King. In fact, movies and television sitcoms reference Rodney King as an act. Rodney King was portrayed by the media as a black male that was being beaten unfairly by four white police officers. The media only chose certain parts of the video to present to Americans, that incited riots. Not until much later was it revealed that Rodney had in fact lunged at the officers, not just “cowered down and crawled away.” (CNN 2012). ("Rodney King was a symbol of civil rights and he represented the anti-police brutality and anti-racial profiling movement of our time," the Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement. "It was his beating that made America focus on the presence of profiling and police

Police shootings of young Black males that ultimately result in their death have become an all-too-common occurrence in this country. The deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Gardner have highlighted police relations with this population. Before viable solutions can be established, a number of areas need to be addressed that relate to the historical context in which police relations with this group exist that impact current relations between the police and young Black males, why their lives are seemingly given less value by society than those of their White counterparts, the role that spirituality and religiosity play that may help to make connections between them and the police, and the benefit of the Black church in fostering amicable police relations with young Black males.

The beginnings of the riots came on March 3, 1991, when Rodney King was stopped and brutally assaulted by police. King was stopped after a high speed chase police after police caught him intoxicated and was subsequently forced out of the car (History.com). From there, police began to unlawfully assault Rodney King, leaving him with a fractured skull, along with a broken cheekbone (History.com). A witness, George Holliday, filmed the officers beating Rodney King; a day after the tape was airing on CNN for the rest of the country to witness (Los Angeles Daily News). Four officers were later arrested and put to trial a year later, however all of them were not pleaded guilty. The verdict angered a massive amount of African

These days, police are often stereotyped as aggressive, corrupt beings. The growing hatred for police officers widens the divide between citizens and law enforcement, causing tension and intensely aggressive feelings on both ends. The recent shootings of young African-American men have also added to the societal hatred of law enforcement. Through media exposure, these shootings have been portrayed as cruel, often times revealing the victim to be an unarmed man.

On March 3, 1991, Rodney King was pulled over by the Los Angeles Police, which four police officers beat him for refusing to follow the officer’s instructions (Martin, 2005). These four individuals are Sgt. Stacey C. Koon and Officers Laurence M. Powell, Theodore J. Briseno, and Timothy E. Wind (Martin, 2005). A videographer was able to capture the event that was aired on the KTLA news channel. It became a controversial issue that caused the LA Riot of 1992. Furthermore, Rodney King’s case demonstrated the challenges and consequences that held the media, the law enforcement, and the public responsible for the LA Riot of 1992. These challenges were examined by focusing how the media chronologically reported Rodney King’s trial and the portrayal of the South-Central Los Angeles citizens. In addition, it also analyzed the four officers’ final verdict and how the public responded.

On March 3, 1991 four police officers were put in the publics attention for the lewd and vicious attack on Rodney King. The filming of the attack astonished not only the Los ngels area but all of America who were glued to the television watching the entire attack unfold. Rodney King was brutally attacked and his attack was one of the first of many to follow illustrationing inhuman attacks on African Americans and the