Why Do Police Brutality?

In the article, “How Police Training Contributes to Avoidable Deaths” author Seth Stoughton shares his experience as a previous police officer as well of the experiences of others and states how the training of police officers “is part of the problem” (Stoughton 2014, pg.2) with police violence of present day. Police are trained to respond to every situation with the mentality of encountering a dangerous situation, and that hesitation can end up deadly for the officer (Stoughton 2014, pg.3). Police are also trained to be afraid (Stoughton 2014, pg.3). They are shown videos where officers are killed but aren’t given the chances of an civilian to officer violent interaction happening, which have gone down in the past years (Stoughton 2014, pg.5).

Police brutality remains a common yet controversial topic around the world. Police brutality is “the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians” (thelawdictionary.org). It’s a topic that segregates communities and makes each other their enemy. Specifically, a white officer has been the enemy of the black community. Unfortunately, the tension between police and blacks grew over the past few decades. As a result, there is a drastic increase of violent outburst between both sides. For the last years, it was reported that 51.5 percent of black were killed by police officers (ibtimes.com). On the other hand, there have been 51,548 assaults against law enforcement and it resulted in 14,453 injuries in 2015 alone (nleomf.org). In the United States, recently, police brutality has been a popular subject all over the news and social media.

In today's society, it is not uncommon for police officer misconduct, including brutality, to gain everyone's attention. When one officer shoots and kills a suspect, that officer is investigated in order to ensure there was no intentions to harm anyone but to try and keep the peace. Intentional harm to citizens is considered police brutality and can escalate into something more serious such as riots and protests. The kind of misconduct that some police take when arresting a suspect cannot be taken lightly to prevent any sort of riots or protests such as those after Rodney King as 50 people were killed and hundreds more were injured (Katel). Cases, as well as investigations after accusations, need to be dealt in a serious as

Minorities in the community have been subjected to violence by law enforcement in the United States for some time. This violence is called police brutality and it is unacceptable. The job of a police officer is to maintain public order, prevent, and detect crime. They are a part of a dangerous and stressful career that can involve risky situations that must be controlled. Sometimes police are put in situations that excessive force is needed. Some officers use these extreme measures in situations when it is not needed, police brutality should be addressed by testing police for for racial bias, require more training, and use body cameras.

Police brutality is a strong and still ongoing activity that occurs till this day. It is a worldwide situation that needs to be confronted and handled immediately. There have been thousands of lives lost from unfair police officers; even little children’s lives have been taken away from them. Police officers are supposed to be our heroes and people that make us feel safe, not the enemy and whom majority of the people fear.

It’s a proven fact that police officers in the USA spend a great deal more time in firearm training when becoming a police officer than many other countries. Another fact that goes hand-in-hand with the previous one is that those same countries find themselves with substantially fewer police shootings and lower crime rates than the USA. One of the main causes behind police brutality is arrogance and whether they’ll admit it or not, it’s painfully obvious that there are many police officers in action today that see themselves as individuals that stand above the rules and moral standards of society simply because they have a badge and a

Police brutality will be an issue until a solution is created. Many individuals are victims of this form of assault on daily basis. The liberties held by law enforcement are challenged each time they perform their duties. Police officers should abide by the same laws that each citizen is expected to abide by. Although police officers are granted with the right to determine laws as constitutional, civilians are sometimes treated in ways that are beyond unlawful.

Police officers have vowed their life to protect and serve. They risk their lives every day for their communities. As the last few years have sped past us, police officers have been very aggressive with the force they use when arresting a suspect, or even people in general. According to a Texas article on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights, “police officers typically use force offensively rather than defensively and do so with at least some degree of premeditation.” (Gross,2013, page 167). Many police officers get off easily because they call it as self-defense, but it’s not. People being brutally beaten or killed, riots breaking out, mourning of neighborhoods, lawsuits against police departments all can be at stake of police officers using excessive force. This is part of the reason our country has been in an uproar. In the last few years’ police brutality has been at an all-time high. Because of it, movements have been started and protests have broken out. As most should know there has been a split in the diversity of the nation because of it.

Assurance in equal justice remains as an overwhelming political principle of American culture. Yet withstanding unbelief exists among numerous racial and ethnic minorities. Their doubt comes as no surprise, given a past filled with differential treatment in the arrangement of criminal equity, an issue particularly clear in police misconduct. Researchers have investigated police responses to racial and ethnic minorities for quite some time, offering sufficient confirmation of minority burden on account of police. These examinations raise doubt about different police techniques of coercive control, maybe none more so than police brutality. Its use exemplifies the pressures between police and minorities that exist in America today.

Officers have to respond to extremely dangerous situations with very little assistance. In the smaller police departments where there is only two to 3 officers , it can be very difficult to maintain 24/7 coverage and the reality might be that from time to time the area in question might not have any police coverage. Medium sized departments with between 10 to 50 officers tend to fair much better than those with 2 to 3 officers. The departments with 50 plus officers of course tend to provide better coverage but might suffer from poor organizational skills. In reality, no matter the size of the department most officers have to take on multiple roles within the department

In a viewpoint by Nicole Flatow titled “History Indicates Varied Results in Improving Police Brutality in America,” She believes that there has been little reforms regarding police brutality. Nicole argues for years, America has barely made any effort on improving the use of force by police officers. For example, victims such as Rodney King and Amadou Diallo, led to some reforms, but did not solve the violence of police brutality. With the beating of Rodney King that was captured on camera, it sparked massive outrage that led to a riot when the police officers received no charges. Because of the riots, it created a momentum for a reform of the police. “One of the most significant reforms that did come out of the commission was ending the policy of lifetime terms for police chiefs.” (Rodney King, 1991, Los Angeles) This led to a police chief named Daryl Gates to resign and made serving for a lifetime over. In another case of police misconduct, Amadou Diallo was shot by police because they thought that his wallet was a gun. Just like the Rodney King case, the officers that were involved were also not charged. After a lot of protest, the only changes that were instituted were “adding more minority officers to the special Street Crimes unit whose officer had shot Diallo and requiring all officers in the unit to wear uniforms.” (Amadou Diallo, 1999, New York City) However, these reforms didn’t solve the problem at all. According to data statistics, this tragedy happened because of the law called Stop-and-frisk. The police were overusing this tactic to aggressively made police stops. Data shows that stop-and-frisk was getting extremely worse and the number of police stops that was being conducted is due to racial profiling. After a successful campaign, new legislations were introduce that will have an inspector to oversee NYPD and would allow citizens to sue the

Is there really justice in America? Where is the justice for all the victims of police brutality? Why are the police officers always getting off easy for doing unjust actions towards blacks? Where is the justice for Rodney King, Alton Sterling, Michael Brown Jr., Eric Garner, Sean Bell, Tamir Rice? Those are just some of the victims who have died in the hands of officers from being beaten or shot to death for minor crimes or just being a person of color. The reasoning to my questions is that we always find excuses for police officers for their unjust actions.

The police have always been people you can call when in an emergency. They have always been seen as the good guys who are there to ensure your safety, which is why it is very important to trust police men as well as firefighters because if you don’t it may be hard to follow their instructions when in a dangerous situation. They are the few brave citizens who risk their lives on a daily basis to ensure their communities safety, so why do people have such a hard time trusting them? Perhaps it may be because of the recent police brutality assaults, which have become more and more recent, for example; the very popular and over publicized Eric Garner and Michael Brown brutality cases, which have become a major topic of controversy. Some other major police brutality cases are; the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, which ignited many protests within the community, as there had

Depending on who you ask, what one considers police abuse of power, another may not. Today, regardless of many views to its legal contrast to police organizations, abuse of police power can be realized in forms of action such as verbal, harassment, false arrest, assault, excessive use of force, and illegal killings. However, regardless of what one considers, when those consistent actions of abuse by the police become the norm, it not only creates abuse, but also a stigma towards the police.

Police brutality and the system being corrupt has always been an issue in America, but lately it’s been brought up more and more in the media. The system hasn 't always revealed the full truth about stories, but now with technology it has become a concern that the police are covering up things that we should know. Recently there have been more protests and riots about officers not doing their jobs and they are going out of there way to hurt victims. On the other hand, there is that amount of people who believe if the victims really did do something so terribly wrong, they deserve the punishment they receive. This can be a very touchy subject to talk about since there are so many viewpoints on police brutality and corruption, but there are some officers who are getting away with abusing their power.