Rise Of The Warrior Cop

Throughout history, efforts to police society have been flawed by brutality in one way or another. Police Brutality exists in many countries and is only one of several forms of police misconduct. Abuse by law enforcement officers in the United States is one of the most serious human rights violations in the country. Police officers have engaged in unjustified shootings, severe beatings, fatal chokings, and unnecessarily rough treatment. The history of police brutality is cyclical, going through phases of violence, corruption, and reform.

The ‘War on cops’ some say that there is a war waging on America's police officers , and others believe otherwise. Thomas Sowell's article “The War On Cops” is on his perspective that there is a war on cops “occurring across the country” and that there are those who generate an acrid atmosphere of “blind hatred”. Clayton Jenkins article “ My Police Academy Teaches the ‘War on Cops’ Myth” , is on Jenkins considers the ‘War on Cops’ to be an inaccurate response to recent police killings , that there is not enough evidence to even support the idea. Upon my assessment of both essays I believe that there isn't a ‘War on cops’- but there is a distrust between people of color and the police, because of the aftermath of the ‘war on drugs’.

The militarization of the police is becoming more and more prevalent issue in our society. There are positives and negatives to this issue, but in my opinion it is a negative occurrence. Excessive use of force further divides police and community, which eventually may lead to severe consequences that may be irreparable.

“Today in the wake of 9/11 and the impact of threat of terrorism, every major police department in the United States has a SWAT team, and many smaller jurisdictions have jointed together to make multi-jurisdictional unit. Every state police department also has a SWAT team, along with several federal agencies including the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, which employs a SWAT unit into each of its 56 field offices. The National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) estimates that there are nearly 1,500 SWAT teams in police agencies across the United States, conducting between 50,000 and 75,000 call-outs per year, as compared to 3,000 times a year in the 1980s” (Swanson & Territo, 2012).

If you grew up in an average middle-class town in the United States you were probably raised on the premise that the police were there to protect and fight crime, however, in many of today’s urban centers throughout the country, the tension between the police and the citizens has a very different relationship. The term ‘police’ brings many images to mind, while the objective of the police is to prevent and detect crime, this is far from the way so many Americans feel. Far from the original purpose of the police, the use of brutal and sometimes lethal force has evoked questions regarding the skewed system and the relationship between both in the communities. Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the issue in the article, The Paranoid Style of American Policing, often bringing up complex issues, and effectively brings the issues to life through anecdotes. Coates presents a logical, thought out and well-executed argument surrounding the cracked police system in America. Due to the well-supported thesis, the structure of the argument, and lack of fallacies, Coates position is adequately supported through the use

Since the dawn of human kind, there has been some form of policing; whether that policing is based on taking revenge or the maintenance of public order and upholding the laws of the land. Although 200 years have passed, policing policies fundamentally has not changed. In this essay, I will be writing on early policing before the 19th century, policing in the 19th century, how policing evolved in America, policing now, and then compare the similarities and differences between today’s policing policies and those of the 19th century.

Police officers are individuals who enforce the law upon their community to ensure that their citizens remain safe. In the past couple of years, officers of the law have been involved in acts of brutality that seem to go beyond the proper measurements of protection for their citizens. Policemen are supposed to protect their citizens from danger and from harm, not impose a threat on them. The fact that officers have a history of abusing their power indicates that their trust amongst the community has been corrupted. Those who have been affected of police brutality feel as though they have been deceived. They no longer feel that police officers will protect them, but rather abuse them, and that is a problem. We have began to live in a community in which an individual feels frightened when seeing a cop, rather than feeling protected. Some individuals may argue that police brutality is not a problem due to the fact that it is not consistent enough to catch the attention of needing a solution. However, that idea means little when the level of brutality has led to the death of several innocent victims in some cases. We must not wait for there to be a pattern of death at the hands of police officials to consider this a problem. One death indicates that preventive measures must be taken to ensure that these officers are no longer put in the position to abuse their power to begin with.

Police brutality is in the spotlight these days. With new technology such as cell phones and the internet, we can barely go online without seeing something new in the headlines about the violence being perpetrated about the forces protecting our cities. In a radio interview for NPR on April 30, 2015 titled “’Baltimore Sun’ Probe Exposes ‘Disturbing Pattern’ of Police Brutality”, Renee Montagne interviews Mark Puente, who was assigned to research police brutality through the years. This interview speaks the facts about relevant issue of police brutality with visceral accounts that are credible and eye-opening into the actions of America’s ‘men in uniform’ through the years.

Recently we have seen the events of Ferguson, Missouri unfold and it has brought into question the validity of the United States use of paramilitary tactics within the police force. While I will be primarily focusing on Furgeson to grant an easy visual aid to the situation, the true nature of paramilitary tactics is way beyond one incident. First we must look at what paramilitary police action is and what has given them the ability to use such tactics. Then we must look at how the decisions revolving around the allowance of police to use such force, and the instances where they were used have affected society.

Police brutality is a very real problem that many Americans face today. The police carry an enormous burden each day. Police work is very stressful and involves many violent and dangerous situations. In many confrontations the police are put in a position in which they may have to use force to control the situation. There are different levels of force and the situation dictates the level use most of the time. The police have very strict rules about police use force and the manner in which they use it. In this paper I will try to explain the many different reason the police cross the line, and the many different people that this type of behavior effects. There are thousands of reports each year of assaults and ill treatment against

75). However, it should be noted that these new eras of policing did not immediately emerge due to specific actions or events (Henry, 2003); these policing eras came about with time “as law enforcement philosophies and practices of one period became anachronistic, as shortcomings became more and more apparent, as new ideas emerged, or as public dissatisfaction with police performance increased to critical proportions” (Henry, 2003, p. 75). The Reform/Professional Era had its most impact in American policing from the 1920s through the 1960s due to the formation of new policies, theories, leadership, and the overall professionalization of (Roberg et al., 2015). Professionalization, in this case, is defined as the “attempt to improve police behavior and performance by adopting a code of ethics and improving selection, training, and management of police departments” (Roberg et al., 2015, p. 41); in other words, it is the emphasis on implementing a single approach to an issue instead of handling an issue in a plethora of ways ” (Roberg et al.,

Everyone can say there has been a rise in police brutality but why? I’m asking myself if it has been influenced by surrounding cultures and I am going to say yes. Here is why in 1994 congress passed a law stating they should enforce more for crime control in the area. 1990 to 2000 there was a change in population mostly in Hispanic, white, and African American. Also police training has changed and they have improved their supervision on the many people around. These are some of the topics I will be addressing in this essay.

There is an issue of police brutality that is sweeping the nation. When a person looks a little bit deeper into this issue a person can realize that it was more than just raciest or financial status that was separating officer and common citizens. Throughout this paper it talks about how so many conflicts that are coming out today about law enforcers are due to the lack of training, not able to deal with high stress situations, and the political advantage that police have that are increasing police brutality in America. Through the beginning of my article it explains the stress and the situations that police officers endure. The government have been protecting officers through serious situations that have happened. For example, in the Travon

“Overall, reported homicides were up 16% in 2015, but a majority of cities (44 of 60) have not seen a statistically significant increase in homicides” (Congressional Research Service). Some believe the rate of violent crimes in the United States is increasing due to the Ferguson incident. The Ferguson incident is the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager who was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer. The shooting aroused protests around the United States pertaining to reforming on how police use force. Experts have been pegging the general increase in violent crimes in the United States due to the Ferguson incident the “Ferguson effect.” The Ferguson effect tells that in wake of the incident, police have become more reluctant to engage in proactive policing.

Police brutality is an old problem that has been around in this country for many years. Unfortunately, civilians have experienced it in their thousands, suffering varying degrees of damages, ranging from injuries or even loss of their lives at the hands of the brutal police. Even more disheartening is the fact that numerous officers in the American police force believe that their brutal and hostile tactics are contributing and giving justice to society, which is their basic role in the world (Vila and Morris 29). However, the