We Must Put an End to Police Brutality

Some people argue that police officers in our communities abuse their authority and power over citizens. Nowadays police officers seem to be more aggressive and end up being looked at as criminals. Some cops are even using their power to do bad things, and this has had a major effect on society that is making everyone afraid of cops. But, some people, too, argue the point if a cop did misuse his power was it justified. People in our communities are even beginning to feel as if cops aren't here to protect us anymore. Our laws have allowed criminals that good police officers arrest to slip through the system untouched, and this makes officers feel as if they have to bring matters of justice into their own hands. Police brutality has turned into somewhat of a myth because of our court system not punishing them as according.

Each year citizens die in encounters with law enforcement officers. It is reported that “Americans are eight times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist” (Rucke, 2013). Although there is no official data base tracking these occurrences it is estimated that between 500 and a 1,000 people are killed by police officers each year. To put this in greater perspective this number equals approximately 5,000 since the 9/11 terror attack which is roughly the same number as U.S. soldiers who have been killed in the line of duty in Iraq (Rucke, 2013). This statistic is justifiably concerning. The cause of police related killings are multifold and cannot be attributed to only one factor. Many deaths may be unavoidable and perhaps, dependent on the situation, necessary. I contend, however, that many of these deaths may very well be preventable.

Millions of free citizens around the world have reported misconduct by law enforcement officers. In the United States alone, 8,800 officers have been reported as using excessive force when performing their job (Packman). One of the major causes of excessive use of force by the police is anxiety and rage brought on by low compensation. The police is a force that is meant to protect the people against threats, not to be a threat. Police are not compensated enough for the dangerous job they dedicate themselves to perform each day. The Federal Government should provide a safe environment to properly maintain a lawful country. When police do not perform their job correctly, the environment is not safe. Therefore, the Federal Government needs to

When it comes to problem solutions and how the media thinks police brutality should be solved there really isn’t a concrete answer. One of the biggest counterclaims to police brutality is the held within the justice system. There was a video entitled Are the Police Racist done by Heather MacDonald, author of War on Cops, and she explained how police aren’t racist. Within her speaking she stated how there was “zero evidence of racial bias in police shootings” (H. MacDonald, Are the Police Racist). She also justified her statement by referring to an analysis of the Washington Post police shooting data base which stated that “twelve percent of whites and Hispanics were killed by cops and only four percent of blacks were killed by cops” (H. MacDonald,

To stop police officers from using excessive force they should all use body cameras and be put in jail without bail if they did something very serious. Body cameras is going to stop police brutality because their is going to be evidence when officers use excessive force. Using body cameras can end police brutality. A police officer’s body camera captured when he shot and killed a innocent man. The police officer was fired and put in jail because the body camera helped prove if he was guilty or not. According to civil rights website it says “ without body camera footage, he would have “nothing” and that “it would have been a very, very different case”(Civil Liberties). As we can see body cameras is going to stop police brutality because officers

I personally support United States law enforcement agencies and believe that they make our country a better place. Currently a lot of controversy surrounds America's police force with cases of excessive force coming to light through social media. In these cases, I think both sides are to blame for the violence that ensues. In defense of police officers, they were attempting to apprehend a suspect that was in the process of breaking the law. However, this does not exempt them of their use excessive force or the cases where the suspect is killed. A change that can be made to help calm the situation is harsher punishment for officers caught using excessive force. While these changes are an important step in preventing police brutality, it

The civil rights of United States citizens are said to be the most protected freedom we have in this country. Although, there is an epidemic sweeping the nation that is violating these citizens rights. It is called police brutality. According to Webster's Dictionary, “Police brutality is the wanton use of excessive force, usually physical, but also common in forms of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer.” Cops have a bigger number of forces than the normal citizen; they have the ability to capture, seize property, and utilize dangerous force. Numerous officers have mishandled these forces, and when they do, you would think they would be let go and indicted. In the greater part of these cases, officers have just been suspended or given probation. This seems like a minor discipline for such an outlandish wrongdoing. Cops have become exempt from the rules that everyone else follows and are currently ready to mishandle their forces as they wish. I, for one, observe

In looking for answers as to why police brutality is such a big issue today, we see that the problem lies in past actions that were not dealt properly. First, Prohibition reduced respect for authority and law enforcement, as the police committed various unconstitutional acts. Next, the War on Drugs and the War on Terror changed the image of law enforcement from that of a peacekeeper to that of a domestic soldier. As a result of this inaction, American society finds itself in a crisis situation, where people cannot trust the police and where police are struggling to regain credibility with the American population.

Police use of highly armed Swat teams has risen by 1500 percent in the last two decades, and many police departments have cultivated an “us vs. them” mentality toward the public they ostensibly serve” (Kristian, 2014). Although possession of these weapons do not cause misconduct, as the old saying goes, when you have a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail.” In this article shows how police use weapons as powerful as the military and because of this matter many police officers use their weapons to overpower civilians. Police officers go over the limit of what they can and can’t do.

“The nation’s 17,000 law enforcement agencies set their own rules—and when citizens cry foul, the courts spit out wildly inconsistent results."Pick up the paper any day and there’s an excessive force case here and an excessive force case there, and yet there’s no national data at all," says William Terrill, a professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University. Charlotte police killed five people last year, the most in a decade—but less, City Manager Ron Carlee told the Charlotte Observer, than were killed by police in Washington (49), Memphis (42), Fort Worth (32), or Austin (17), all of which have seen their own numbers creep upward.”(Dokoupil)

Throughout its’ history, the United States of America has had a military branch in order to protect the country from foreign enemies, dating back all the way to the Revolutionary War when the brave young Colonies declared independence from Great Britain. However, the first official domestic defense did not come until almost one hundred years later when the city of Boston established the first official American police force in 1838, followed by New York City in 1845 (Potter 1). Soon major cities all over the country followed in the footsteps of Boston and New York City. Police forces were seen as a positive presence in the United States when they were established; enforcing justice against the unjust. Law enforcement in the United States has been scrutinized from the beginning of its’ creation due to bad apples within police forces across the nation. The bad apples unfortunately were corrupting an organization that was supposed to be serving and protecting the people of the United States for approximately a couple hundred years. Fortunately, the evil and undue police within departments across the country were heavily outnumbered by the good cops in this country. The same is true today, but in recent history police brutality has been a widespread issue in the United States. Although police corruption and brutality is present in America today, the need for police is more apparent now than ever because police forces across the country as a whole are keeping the peace and are

Police brutality is the use of excess force way beyond what is necessary in certain situations, whether it be non-threatening or non-violent.

Police Brutality is a worldwide problem that is getting worse each year. Men and women around the world are being abused by Police Officers. I mean just because they wear a badge, why should they be able to bully us? Many wrong convictions have been made by some type of police brutality.Police misconduct is illegal and a violation to people’s individual rights.Officers could be arrested for the misconduct and abuse they are bringing upon people.Many organizations around the world have been made to help get rid of Police Brutality and help people that have been abused by it.People sometimes refer to Police Brutality as an excessive use of force.Organizations around the world have been working hard to minimize police brutality and stop

In order to decrease police brutality and stop abuse of power there is a solution that can be set for both the Law Enforcement and the community. Wearing body cameras is ideal, for example, in Rialto, California, the police department has set an experiment to wear these body cameras and the results were rather shocking. The abuse of “force” or power by police went down by 59% and police complaints down to 88%. ("If Ferguson Officer Wore a Camera: Our View.")

Police officers are constantly being faced with the unknown. Police face the danger of getting shot in any situation. Policemen could get shot during a building search, even at a traffic stop. For example in El Paso, Texas, a dash cam video was released showing that an officer was being shot in a drive by while conducting an unrelated traffic stop. Reports state that Officer Mike Garcia stopped Horacio Castaneda on October 20th because he didn’t have his headlights turned on. As Officer Garcia conducted the stop, Frank Aparicio fired four shots from his vehicle as he passed by. Ron Martin, the President of the El Paso Municipal Officers Association said, “Yeah we get shot at, we get attacked, people try to kill us on a daily basis but this is the first time somebody came up and just open fired.” This incident proves that the chances of a cop being shot are very high.