Use Of Excessive Force During The Civil Of Los Angeles Essay

Though sparked by the Rodney King verdict, there were many other causes of the riots that erupted on the streets of Los Angeles on April 29, 1992. The Los Angeles riots in 1992 were devastating. The obvious issue portrayed through the media was black versus white. If you did not live in Los Angeles or California chances are you did not hear full coverage of the story, you heard a simple cut and dry portrayal of the events in South Central. If you heard one thing about the riots, it was that there was a man named Rodney King and he was a black male beaten with excessive force by four white Los Angeles police officers on Los Angeles concrete. The media portrayed the riots as black rage on the streets due to the

Gaines, L. K., & Kappeler, V. E. (2014). Policing in america (8th ed.). (S. Decker-Lucke, Ed.) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America: Anderson Publishing. Retrieved January 2017

Throughout police history in the United States and around the world there have been numerous incidents of reported police brutality and other forms of corruption including taking bribes, theft, sexual deviance, and many more. In our present time corruption has decreased significantly from what it once was decades ago but still exists. One of the most publicized cases of police brutality, if not the most, was the beating of Rodney King. Most people have heard about the case and seen the video of the brutal beating that took place in Los Angeles on the night of March 2, 1991. The video shown to the public contained officers appearing to beat Mr. King while he is on the ground while

Policing is a very difficult, complex and dynamic field of endeavor that is always evolves as hard lessons teach us what we need to know about what works and what don’t work. There are three different Era’s in America’s policing: The Political Era, The Reform Era, and The Community Problem Solving Era. A lot has changed in the way that policing works over the years in the United States.

In certain situations, the police may have to act quickly on their instincts. Sometimes, a situation is unpredictable and a decision needs to be made in a split second. The quick decision may to be to take a person down physically with the officer’s own hands, or to use deadly force, unfortunately. Anything can happen and the officer needs to be ready for every scenario. The different levels of force can be anywhere from just a police officer being present, to having to kill someone to prevent him or her from hurting anyone else. It’s a harsh reality, but sometimes the officer needs to make the decision to die or to protect him and do what he needs to do.

The use of deadly force by police officers is a very important subject in today’s society. Many consider the use of deadly force excessive in most cases. However, there are many aspects to look at when considering this topic, such as: Why was deadly force required? When did the officer feel it necessary to apply deadly force? What will be the implications for the officer after the fact? How does the use of deadly force affect society as a whole?

Many of the changes had been needed for years, but were never addressed. “The king beating and trial set in motion overdue reforms in the LAPD and that had a ripple effect of law enforcement throughout the country” (Deutsch). Since this had such a major effect on the lapd in almost destroyed their reputation. The Rodney King beating almost destroyed the reputation of the Los Angeles Police Department.

This paper will cover the events that took place within the first five days in south central Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict .

What is police brutality? Police brutality is an act of misconduct done by a member law enforcement through the use of an extreme amount of force to physically, mentally, or emotionally attack a member of society. Many law enforcement officers, those sworn to protect and serve, have abused their rights and authority to ferociously assault and manipulate citizens, even if they were innocent. Citizens who have been attacked have been left with physical and emotional scars that can never go away; in some cases, it has even caused death. In a report by David Packman, prepared for the Cato Institute in 2011, states that 247 deaths were linked to police misconduct cases.(Packman 2011)

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

Police Agencies in modern society are a part of the American fabric to serve and protect the American public. The United States currently have more than 15,000 police agencies, (Walker & Katz, 2011). Police Departments across the United States face similar critical issues policing. All police officers face dangers in the job of policing the dangers can emanate from internal and external origins. Police officers have continued to evolve to serve communities by finding better less than lethal alternatives to weapons used. In addition, police departments have continued to keep up with

Policing in the United States has taken on many different forms and facets in the past 50 years. Although, various modes & models of policing styles continue to be introduced, two main aspects of law enforcement have remained constant, (traditional policing & community oriented- policing). There are so many different facets, trends, and new emerging technologies in the wide world of law enforcement. First, we will outline a brief history of the origins and evolvement of policing. Special attention will be lent to illustrate the effectiveness of the paramilitary style of dress, loyalty, and discipline in relation to the traditional style of policing in America; casting particular illumination on the organizational structure of the

The police roles in today’s society are to try to maintain the order as well as to control to keep the public safe. I will describe the issues that police departments are experiences in today society. The police departments are facing from today’s society are corruption, as well as danger on the job, and most of all the use of deadly force. For the police when things start to happen and the police needs to use force you overthink that someone will try to accuse you for racial profiling and exposure to civil liability. Understanding that the hardest things the police have to do are serving a large society. The society

and the one that seem obscure and seem not to be notice is the “means

In the pursuit of such goals as discovering what differences there were in the ways officers perform their function based on “explicit community decisions” (Wilson, 1970, p. 4), Wilson identified the primary functions of the local police as law enforcement, order maintenance, and service delivery (Wilson, 1970). These were, according to Wilson, three distinct operational styles of policing based on the frequency and formality of police-citizen interactions. Although these operational styles were, in a sense, by products of Wilson’s search for answers to questions about organizations and local governments, they, nonetheless, became staples in criminal justice. Liederbach and Travis (2008) describe these organizational styles part of the “common