Vigilantes: Cleaning Out The Wound Essay

The Associations of Chiefs of Police created this website as a police informational site. It is an educational site that explains the hiring process, basic requirements, training and academy life, and skills candidates should process. The site also offer a virtual ride along. I can use this site to explain the training and academy life of a cadet.

     Organized in the 1960s at the height of the American Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther Party emerged as a revolutionist group pioneering a strategy of militancy. The Party’s aims were to eliminate the discrimination challenging African-Americans in America since the time of slavery, and to protect their communities from police brutality. Inspired by contemporary radical leaders such as Malcolm X, the party recognized that in order to restructure American society so that civil equality was obtainable by all people, a much stronger opposition was necessary. Party members felt the passive resistance adopted by their predecessors fighting for equality proved

but you may also see strange writing below it. They say to other gangs that

In the 1800s, America became extremely industrialized. Due to all of the new upbringings there was a need for organized policing. Policing in America went through many different stages beginning with organized American law enforcement, to formal policing. Michael Moore and George Kelling inferred that there were three eras of policing; political era, professional era, and community era. The political era came first along, as that era began to go downhill, the professional era arose. As the professional era began to take drawbacks, the community era started up and is still going on in present day. There are many positives and some negatives in today’s society living in the community era.

Domestic terrorist groups are violent extremists that want to attack the U.S. from the inside. Their intent is to frighten, pressure, and/or influence national principles. Today’s terrorist organizations are using cyberspace to spread their message. Training and online recruitment are also being made available by the Internet and social media websites. Some of the acts are lone-wolf attacks and others are collective attacks. Some examples of domestic terrorist groups that use cyberspace are Army of God, Sovereign Citizens, and Phineas Priesthood. The Southern Poverty Law Center released a report on terrorism, stating that more people have been killed in America by non-Islamic domestic terrorists than jihadists (Henderson, 2015). Terrorist

Police brutality and police militarization have become a hot topic in the United States of America. There are many cases where police officers motives are being questioned, leading the public into an uproar. Just to name a few of these cases, we have Micheal Brown from Fegurson, Missouri, that started it all, which took place on Augest 19th, 2014. We also have Eric Garner from New York, taking place July of 2014. July of 2016, Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge and Walter Scott from South Carolina in April of 2015.

As a whole, society has mixed sentiments regarding vigilantism. However, society, for the most part, has a preconceived notion that vigilante based justice consists of some superhero taking action into their own hands to stop the “bad guys”. Vigilantism should not be confused with a personal duty to investigate crimes happening within one self’s personal community. According to The Free Dictionary, vigilante refers to “a person who is not a member of law enforcement but who pursues and punishes persons suspected of lawbreaking.” Within this definition alone lies the three biggest problems with vigilantism. First, the individual is not a trained professional within law enforcement, therefore; they generally do not know how to properly conduct

Most people think of America as “the land of the free”. From the outside it may seem like America has many freedoms. However, if those who do not live in American could see America from a different view, they may not like some of the injustices this country brings upon some of its citizens. When I think of injustices I look at it as the unfair treatment brought on to someone, who has no reason to be treated unequally. Unfair treatment in this country, mainly stems comes from the police officers that are put into power; those who are supposed to be here to help, serve and protect are those who most of us are afraid of today. Most citizens want to view law enforcement as courageous, fearless, respectable, and honest individuals. Unfortunately, for a countless number of officers this does not hold true; because there are many officers that tend to destroy this concept with their reckless behavior. Lately, police brutality has become a major issue in America; due to improper training, the use of excessive force against minorities, and America’s broken system for justice, as police officers are not being held accountable for their actions.

Racism and police brutality goes hand in hand, and causes a major concern in today's society, in the United States. On March 3, 1991 in California, Rodney King an African American, was pulled over after a high-speed chase, and after stopping was beaten by four white police officers (Worsnop 635). Tracy Brock also an African American was arrested in Manhattan in November of 1986. An officer smashed his head through a plate glass window, when Brock refused to go into the officer’s lunchroom (Police Brutality and Excessive Force in the New York City Police Department 14). Ki Tae Kim a Korean grocer was assaulted when he was accused of passing a counterfeit bill. He was punched in the face, his head was slammed into the counter, and the

Why is it that America, a country of freedom and opportunity, is the country that is stripping its people of their freedom the most often? It is unfortunate that everyday, police officers break their vows to “remain composed and respectful” and avoid behaving in an “abusive, oppressive, harassing, bullying, victimising or offensive” way (Swinford). This nation that boasts to the world about its benevolent treatment to its citizens has a sinister way of treating people differently depending on their various traits. It becomes more and more obvious with each succeeding case that America’s law enforcement teams are not as colorblind as they should be and claim to be; people, especially those of color, are being incarcerated at an alarming rate. The United State’s incarcerated population increased by over 500% over the last 40 years, rising to about 2.3 million people (SentencingProject). While it is not practical to expect our police officers to be able to apprehend every single criminal, it should not be too much to ask that they do it in a fair and unbiased manner. Protests such as Black Lives Matter still happen today because there is still inequality happening on a large scale everyday, especially in our law enforcement system. Minorities are the primary victims of the whole issue. It is ironic that America, a nation built on freedom, has a critical problem of mass incarceration. Although the United States pledges to be a nation of equality and opportunity, the surplus

Police Departments are continuing to evolve to try to stay ahead if the criminal. Police technology is most influential changes relative to modern policing. Police agencies are using modern technology such as internet to convey information to the public, smart phones with the capacity to communicate with others from the field, and mobile computers to retrieve information, (Grant & Terry, 2012). Because police officers have mobile computers while in the field,

The purpose of this paper is to review and verify a recent study by Scott H. Decker of the University of Missouri – St. Louis, entitled Collective and Normative Features in Gang Violence (Decker & VanWinkle, 1996). The study will attempt to address why our local increase in gang violence has reached monumental heights causing an increase in gang members appearing your court.

Law enforcement goes as far back as to cave dwellers, if it was not for England, the United States would be at a lost for policing. The United States uses the consensus and conflict theories to help the American people have a better understanding of human behavior and its limits. There are many types of policing that were identified and it is the law enforcement officers’ job to protect and sever and to deliver criminals into the hands of the law. If it was not for law enforcement officers, the community would be a disaster.

Martin Luther King Jr., an American Baptist minister, African-American civil rights activist, and non-violent protest leader, once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (Ali-Dinar 1963 p.1). Such an iconic and fearless leader recognized the unjust behavior within society as a result of racially motivated police brutality and societal discrimination. Though his efforts were not in vain, today’s media representation of law enforcement impacts the societal cultivation of police officers in a negative way. Media outlets, in the forms of television, radio, or social websites, create a cynical view of police officers, which influences societal beliefs and creates negative connotations.

The police play a vital role in today’s justice system; they are the heroes that catch armed banked robbers, stop kidnappings, and catch murderers that terrorize communities: or at least that is how they are portrayed. While police activities are much more mundane than the public may think, police are given total authority over the public to keep the streets safe. In Steven Lukes’ article, power, he gives a general definition of power as “the capacity to bring about outcomes” (Lukes 59), but that in actuality, a single definition for “power” is very controversial. Lukes gives synonyms such as “authority, influence, coercion, force, violence, manipulation, and strength” (Lukes 59), but chooses his words carefully to reveal the many