The Louisiana Riots

In cities and towns across the country, tragic deaths of citizens in confrontations with police have have spiked a wave of distrust for law enforcement. The bad perception for law enforcement is unfair to the officer’s who are dedicated, and mean well in their duties, yet unfortunately, it has created tension between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. Due to the recent deaths and confrontations, reform proposals and new policies have been a national conversation to implement new initiatives to strengthen the bonds between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve. Although, confrontations between law enforcement and citizens in the community have spiked, the concept of community policing is not new. Throughout the years the philosophy of community policing has been to

The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 was the culmination of racial tensions both endemic in American society as a whole in the period, and certain tensions peculiar to Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1921, Greenwood and its African American population became the outlet for these often violent tensions seething among Tulsa’s white population. The following paper seeks to shed some further understanding on what motivated and pushed the whites of Tulsa, Oklahoma to such a violent, extreme reaction during the riot.

The Tulsa race riot was a large-scale, racially motivated pogrom on May 31 and June 1, 1921, in which a group of whites attacked the black community of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Greenwood District, the wealthiest black community in the United States, was burned to the ground. Over the course of 16 hours, more than 800 people were admitted to local white hospitals with injuries, the two black hospitals were burned down, and police arrested and detained more than 6,000 black Greenwood residents at three local facilities. An estimated 10,000 blacks were left homeless, and 35 city blocks composed of 1,256 residences were destroyed by fire, resulting in over $26 million in damages. The official count of the dead by the Oklahoma Bureau of Vital Statistics was 36, but other estimates of black fatalities vary from 55 to about 300.

The riots in Baltimore, Maryland hold major sociological implications, not only currently, but also for years to come. While the peaceful assembly of people to voice concerns to the United States (U.S.) Government, is part of the guaranteed rights that comprise the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (U.S. Const. amend. I.), which includes freedom of speech as one of its tenants, rioting is not. Rioting is a mores, whereas in sociological terms, is not a tolerated action of citizens (Henslin, 2014a). This mores is quite the opposite of a peaceful gathering. Because of the destructive nature of the rioting, millions of dollars in damage to public and private property were reported to various news outlets. While Baltimore can afford mend the public sector portions of the damage, the private businesses appear to be on their own to rebuild. The city of Baltimore, while able to afford the public repairs, is requesting federal funds to offset these expenses as to not drain the city’s budget (Baltimore riots will cost, 2015). Although rioting is the overall sociological mores in regards to Baltimore, there are others.

Race and oppression are some of the contributing factors, and seem to be common threads in many violent encounters between rioters and police. There are several similarities between the Los Angeles and Baltimore riots. Communities and law enforcement organizations must analyze the root cause and improve relationships before, during, and after these encounters. Law enforcement leaders must take initiative to successfully handle the crisis and anticipate the community’s expectations to the desired response.

There have been several arguments regarding protesting police violence. For decades, the constant battle of whether or not protesting is effective has been tarnishing our communities. Demanding change and different outcomes, citizens within the communities ban together in hopes of finding common ground. In doing so, it has unified minorities in the communities as well as brought partnership amongst them, forcing changes to be made.

In 1961, after noticing the unruliness of Monroe’s teenagers, Robert Williams decided to gather the youth and take a stand against the segregation of the neighborhood pools. This time, however, he came prepared. One day on the way to the pool to protest, Williams’s car was struck and ended up in a ditch. Very quickly a mob formed and called for the murder and burning of the Black occupants of Williams’s car. The man that had struck the vehicle came towards Williams’ car with a baseball bat. “He came up close to our car, within arm’s length with the baseball bat, but I still hadn’t said anything and we didn’t move in the car. What they didn’t know was that we were armed…When this fellow started to draw back his baseball bat, I an Army .45 up

Protests riots in the United States has proven to an issue for both the country’s financial strength and the unity of the nation. With the presence of social injustices, combined with the increased impact of social media propaganda, protests riots are beginning to reach an all time high. Protest riots destroy individual communities and businesses, jeopardizes the safety of others and taints the protest’s cause by resorting to civil disobedience. Action must be done in order to prevent these random acts of violence from continuing after every social hot topic. The goal is not to prevent citizens from protesting; in fact, this should be encouraged. The goal is to change the way the protests are handled from both the citizens and authority perspectives, in order to prevent these protests from escalating into something dangerous.

In 1965, people has sunk back into complacency with the relatively few gains they had achieved in the civil rights movement. A new development also appeared in the form of President Lyndon Johnson's voting-rights act but before this would happen the greatest race riot of that time exploded in Watts, Los Angeles. The riot was a culmination of racial tension and anger that came with the lower class black experience. The riot paved the way for more separatism in American society; notions of racial unity had been drowned out. Another similar explosion of black outrage happened in West Chicago and also then followed in other major cities like Boston, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Newark, Detroit etc. Massive property damage and numerous black lives were

The current landscape of Law Enforcement is as volatile as it has ever been. Police brutality and racism is being highlighted in media coverage daily. In the past year, numerous cases of police brutality have been the central focus of news agencies. The death of Freddy Grey, and the shooting of Michael Brown have put Law Enforcement Officials under a microscope. This has caused officers to second guess their first instincts and resulted in officers being injured, also it has forced officers to be more aware, and in some cases work with a partner when their patrol normally would not be a partnered patrol. This is due to the fact that in some areas, police officers are now the target of violent crimes. There is a disconnect between community and Law Enforcement, the local population does not trust their police force to protect them and be fair and uncorrupt, while the police force is currently trying to figure out the best course of action to rebuild the relationships with the communities they serve. Community policing is an effective tool in accomplishing that goal. Community Policing aims at solving local crime problems at the lowest level, and with the help and input from the community. Community policing is proactive and strives to eliminate the

There is a perception of distrust between law enforcement and the community. This distrust stems directly from the dangerous words police use when communicating with the community. (Willis, 2015, p.) Simply choosing better words can help build relationships between law enforcement and the community. It is necessary for law enforcement to have trust with their community. There are many things that hinge on the police-community relationships, the ability of law enforcement to perform their duties, are the most important. Law enforcement must be willing to rely on the public to observe the law. They must always demonstrate absolute impartiality to the law.

With the recent shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO and the resulting riots, the aggressive actions taken by police units has been pulled back into the spotlight, and law enforcement’s right to use force has been drawn into deep debate. People are angry and cannot seem to understand why the police use force when and where they do. The have come to equate the use of force with police brutality when in reality it is a system of steps that are designed to protect innocent bystanders from potentially dangerous situations. The public’s misunderstanding of use of force and how it is designed to be used has damaged community relations between the people and the police, making it harder for law enforcement officers to work alongside those they are sworn to protect.

What do you imagine when you hear the words “law enforcement?” Most people imagine a man or woman with a badge, guns, patrol cars, and many other accessories that go along with police officers. They picture him or her fighting crime like it is nothing. The officer looks as if he or she is one of the bravest people on earth. He seems afraid of nothing. It shows the people that they can trust in him to keep them safe from danger and come to them in their time of need. For the most part, the people would have the right image, yet an officer’s job is still a little more complex than what they imagine. Officers have a job like no other.

The world is full of crime and hate. When you think of criminal, an image pops in your head of someone wearing bland clothing with a mask or a thug with gang tattoos. Some criminals are harder to spot, like those who commit white collar crime. What happens when the police officers who are supposed to enforce the law, are the actual criminals? During the 1990’s in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) was full of police who were criminals. The Rampart incident is a textbook example of how criminal activity can be found even in the law enforcement branch of our society.

Imagine a world without the police, it might seem nice at first, however the police are the ones who defends the public every day. If there were no police, people would be at constant war with others. Laws are made to protect everyone, and if no one was there to enforce the laws, theft, murder, assault, and more would happen on a daily basis. Without laws, the looting, assault, and vandalism we see in riots would be a daily occurrence. Controversy after controversy, the public is quickly losing trust in their police forces. The distrust in the police as result of instances where the media, government, and public leaders have spoken too fast, and/or accuses the police of wrongdoing before facts were presented. Both side pointing fingers at to blame the other is only making the divide bigger. The long battle of whose right began in the late 20th century; People need to trust the American police forces. The extreme criticism by social media, the lack of knowledge on law enforcement, the lack of common interaction between police and civilian, lack of support, and increasing violence against police is all destroying the bond between police and the public.