Rhetorical Analysis

On a Wednesday evening at 9:05pm in Minnesota, an African American couple was driving in their car with a four-year-old daughter in the back seat. After being pulled aside by Joronimo Yanez, a police officer, for a broken tail light, Philando Castile, the driver, stopped his car. Officer Yanez asked Castile for his license and registration. Castile handed the officer his car license and registration, but also told him he has a weapon in his car, for which he was licensed to carry. Officer Yanez immediate words were “Don’t move!” As Castile put his hands up where the officer could clearly see them, officer Yanez shot him repeatedly four times in the arm to the horror of Castile, his girlfriend, and their four-year-old daughter. Completely stupefied by the event, Castile’s girlfriend, Reynolds, took out her phone and began streaming an online video directly to Facebook showing the immediate aftermath of the incident. In the video, Reynolds narrates the accident’s story and exclaimed, “You shot four bullets into him, sir. He was just getting his license and registration, sir. Please don’t tell me he’s dead.” While recording, her four-years-old asked “Mammy, I’m scarred!” Reynolds answered, “It’s okay, I’m right here with you.” Officer Yanez returned and ordered Reynolds on her knees out of the car. Still being recorded, the other officers on the scene asked officer Yanez of his mindset, checking if he’s ok, completing ignoring the true victim, Castile. Castile was left bleeding

A viral video of Garner’s death, which was recorded by an onlooker, has spurred demonstrations about the manner in which the police treat African-American men.

On July 13, 2015, Sandra Bland committed suicide in Waller County Jail in Hempstead, Texas. Bland was an African-American, and was subject to police brutality. A few days before her death, the police placed Bland in jail as a result of traffic confrontation that did escalate to violence. Her incident with the police is a prime example of the racism that goes on today. Though policies were passed to combat acts of prejudice against blacks, there is always an underlying hatred towards African-Americans that continues to manifest itself. This is because racism in its social has not been as combated, which causes people to continue to live in a continuing era of white supremacy. The better-treatment of white people, causes black people to live

“Black lives matter!” We have been hearing this, on the news, on social media, and in protests for years now. However, it has become more frequently heard in the past few months following the highly publicized Sandra Bland stop and arrest. Sandra Bland was stopped by Officer Brian Encinia on July 10, 2015, allegedly for not signaling a turn. This stop went wrong almost instantly. She was found deceased in a jail cell on July 13, 2015, an alleged suicide. While there are several ethical issues regarding this case, both parties involved were responsible. While the officers’ actions seem to be the actions that are focused on most, some of Bland’s actions should also be considered when viewing the issues raised. The actions of both parties involved

On July 13, 2015, Sandra Bland was found dead hanging in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas (Nathan, 2016). When this incident occurred, it caused a huge uproar across the world, mainly within the African American communities. Sandra Bland was pulled over three days before her death for a traffic violation by a state trooper. The encounter of Sandra Bland and the state trooper was recorded by both the state trooper Dashcam and a bystander. In the video, it showed how the state trooper approached Sandra Bland vehicle and he asked her to put out her cigarette but she refused. This leads to the state trooper telling Sandra Bland that she is under arrest and she needs to get out of the vehicle (Cevallos, 2015). At this point, the state trooper

Many African-Americans are killed every year by police officers and their deaths impact not only their families but their community. However this past year the death of John Crawford and Tamir Rice impacted not only their family or community, but the entire nation. The case of Rice and Crawford isn’t nothing new, we always hear about a black person being shot by the police quite often. The only thing that makes these cases unique from rest is that they were both caught on tape. On November 22nd, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was playing in the park with a toy airsoft gun when officer Timothy Loehmann shot him two seconds after arriving to the scene. He died the next day due to a "gunshot wound of the torso with injuries of major vessel, intestines and pelvis” according to the autopsy results that were realized shortly after. 22-year-old African-American John

Police misconduct is currently on the rise in many cities. Police misconduct can be define as false confession, false arrest, falsified of evidence and lying under the oath. For many years police crimes have went unreported and punishments are never given. We now have to put an end to these wrongful duties taken by police officers around the world.

On July 17, 2014, a plainclothes officer for the New York Police Department stopped Eric Garner on the street and attempted to take him into custody. After Garner resisted arrest, the police officer placed him in an apparent chokehold—a move that is banned by the NYPD. In an amateur video of the dispute, Garner can be heard claiming that he could not breathe. The struggle continued, and complications led to his death. The medical examiner’s report noted that Garner’s asthma, obesity, and cardiovascular disease were contributing factors to his death. However, the cause of his death was the compression of his neck and chest from the chokehold—his death was ruled a homicide (NBC New York, 2014). A nationwide outrage followed Garner’s death as the video spread on social media websites.

Last year there were four unarmed black men killed by white police men. One of the men was Eric Garner, who was a

To begin the police has caused many unnecessary deaths throughout the United States. More than 920 people have been killed by the police in 2015 (“5 Facts about Police Brutality in the United States That Will Shock You”). In Ferguson, Missouri 18 year old Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson. Mr. Johnson a witness at the scene, says that his friend was shot once from behind and then turned to face the police officer while raising his arms in the air. According to Mr Johnson, the officer fired several more shots at Mr. Brown before he fell to the ground (“Ferguson protests:What we know about Michael Brown 's last minutes”). Although Mr. Brown was fleeing from the officer, there was no need for the officer to shoot Brown.

They are sworn to maintain high ethical standard and protect, serve and make society safer as a condition of their employment. Each office is then issued a badge which is used to identify whether a person is a law enforcement or not. The badge is a symbol of integrity, having integrity means being totally honest and truthful in every part of life, personally and professionally (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2000). But do all officers uphold these requirement? Absolutely not! Oakland, CA. 2009. Oscar Grant was shot dead by Bay Area Rapid Transit law enforcement officer Johannes Mehserle, age 27. Officer Mehserle and other police officers had been responding to reports of a fight, and arrested and handcuffed Oscar Grant, age 22, and several others in a subway station. Mr. Grant was handcuffed, unarmed and lying on the ground when Officer Mehserle pulled out his gun and shot him in the back. In court Mehserle claimed he thought his gun was his Taser. He was sentenced to two years in jail and let out on parole in June 2011. This is another example of police misconduct/brutality. Not only should the offices be criminally charged but also force to pay any settlement out of their pockets for their wrongdoing. Taxpayers like myself are paying millions of dollars in lawsuits resulting from police brutality, misconduct, wrong convictions,

On August 9, 2014, Unarmed 18 year-old Michael Brown’s life was taken by police officers. He was shot 7 times, the last shot to the back of his head is what took this young man’s life. He was a young unarmed black male. Just in 2014 over 1,000 people were killed at the hands of police officers. However, even though police say they are just doing their job, police should not be able to abuse their power, because more cases of police brutality are being captured on cell phones and innocent people are being killed.

“Officer Jeronimo Yanez, charged with second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Philando Castile, a 32-year-old black Minneapolis man” (Capecchi). “Brian Encinia, former Texas trooper charged with misdemeanor perjury stemming from his arrest of Sandra Bland, a black woman who was later found dead in a county jail” (Almasy). “Sgt. Kizzy Adonis, charged with failure to supervise in connection with the 2014 death of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black Staten Island man who died after police to administered a controversial choke hold” (Eversley). These are a few examples of the mistreatment suffered by young black citizens at the hands of police officers that resulted in the death of a suspect. Throughout the nation, the mishandling of the authority given to police officers has increased and is not merely coincidentally occurring.

Although police officers take an oath to protect and serve citizens in our society. we have some officers that our corrupt and willing do anything just to protect themselves from being exposed from their unethical behavior. In 1994 three officers from New Orleans police department committed an unspeakable crime murder for hire and a violent drug gang. The killing of Kim grove was thirty-two years old and was gunned down by police officer that were there to protect her instead they killed her.

As a police officer you put your life on the line every day, you need to be willing to take risks sometimes be put at a disadvantage to protect the lives, defend civil rights and liberties, and they undergo risks and tolerate such inconveniences on behalf of strangers on a daily basis. As a result, police work has become one of the most prideful and selfless occupations in society. Making a difference in the quality of life of others is an opportunity that policing provides, and few other lines of work can offer. The Law Enforcement Oath of Honor as stated by the International Association of Chiefs of Police goes: “On my honor, 
I will never betray my badge, 
my integrity, my character, 
or the public trust. 
I will always have
the courage to hold myself
and others accountable for our actions. 
I will always uphold the constitution, my community, and the agency I serve.” (IACP) Before any officer takes the Law Enforcement Oath of Honor, one of the most important aspects is that they have a clear understanding of what the oath truly means. The oath is a somber pledge an officer makes when they sincerely intend to do what is said. There are nine parts to this oath, but there are three that stand out to me personally, the first being honor. Honor means that one 's word is given as a guarantee to serve and protect to the best of their ability. The second, integrity, acting the same that you would act behind closed doors or in public life. The third, is public trust, which you