Detroit Cops Unharmed After Guns

On a Wednesday evening at 9:05pm in Minnesota, an African American couple was driving in their car with a four-year-old daughter in the back seat. After being pulled aside by Joronimo Yanez, a police officer, for a broken tail light, Philando Castile, the driver, stopped his car. Officer Yanez asked Castile for his license and registration. Castile handed the officer his car license and registration, but also told him he has a weapon in his car, for which he was licensed to carry. Officer Yanez immediate words were “Don’t move!” As Castile put his hands up where the officer could clearly see them, officer Yanez shot him repeatedly four times in the arm to the horror of Castile, his girlfriend, and their four-year-old daughter. Completely stupefied by the event, Castile’s girlfriend, Reynolds, took out her phone and began streaming an online video directly to Facebook showing the immediate aftermath of the incident. In the video, Reynolds narrates the accident’s story and exclaimed, “You shot four bullets into him, sir. He was just getting his license and registration, sir. Please don’t tell me he’s dead.” While recording, her four-years-old asked “Mammy, I’m scarred!” Reynolds answered, “It’s okay, I’m right here with you.” Officer Yanez returned and ordered Reynolds on her knees out of the car. Still being recorded, the other officers on the scene asked officer Yanez of his mindset, checking if he’s ok, completing ignoring the true victim, Castile. Castile was left bleeding

In Applebee (708), it states, “The major Sheriff shot first, and he missed; and Gregorio Cortez shot next, he didn’t miss.”In The Manhunt for Christopher Dorner, chapter 5, it states, “A round from Dorner’s assault rifle entered just under his left nostril, crashed through the roof of his mouth, shattered his front teeth, split his tongue and exploded bone as it emerged from his lower right jaw. His face went numb.” Also in chapter 3, it states, “One bullet had pierced his badge, ripped through his ballistic vest, and punctured his heart. He had not drawn his gun.” Both Dorner and Cortez had shot innocent cops doing their

A major headline this week involves an individual named Antonio Montes out of Pasco, Washington. Antonio Montes was fatally shot and killed by Pasco police in February of 2015. Antonio was encountered by police that day as he was being violent and hostile towards individuals nearby. Police responded and made contact with Antonio at the scene. Antonio was throwing rocks at the police officers, as they were trying to have him stand down. Antonio refused to throw rocks, and was shot and killed by the Pasco police. Pasco police involved in the shooting, were cleared of any criminal matters. Antonio’s family has since then, filed a civil lawsuit of more than $25 million dollars in damages. My input on this headline leans towards the great work of the

For many decades, the New York Police Department (NYPD) has practiced overzealous patrolling techniques while on the job. In fact, the culture in the police force has become so aggressive, as a result adversely harms society, but more than often, victimizes people from underrepresented communities. Police brutality dates back to the 1960’s, (e.g. Harlem Riots, Tenderloin Riots, and Stonewall Riots) an era when the civil rights movement pioneered. During this period, social justice advocates came across treacherous obstacles, as many advocates were perceived as deviant for bringing awareness on social inequality. As a prospective research assistant, I would like to be able to identify the following question: Did the civil rights movement of 1964 create an aggressive and oppressive, as well as an institutional backlash in the NYPD among minority groups? The reason why I would like to analyze this potential question is because police brutality in present day society is such a rampant issue, therefore should be a topic to closely study.

Police brutality is becoming a trend in America. Tensions among the public and especially the African American community are rising due to the latest cases of police brutality. Many people believe that we have come far in this society but to be honest Racism is still a factor. The use of brutal and lethal force by some police officers leading to unnecessary deaths have African American parents on edge to send their children outside for anything. Law enforcement and people whom we trust with our lives are the very same to take it. Some people may want to argue that these cases such as the shooting of Michael brown and choking of Eric Garner are isolated incidents. Others would argue that the work of a police officer is too difficult and that sometimes an officer needs to use such force in order to enforce the law and protect him/herself while on duty. Law enforcement proclaims to feel threatened however what about the civilians who feel threatened of becoming the next target or victim of prey. The society is well aware that not all police commit these crimes and that we do still have law abiding officers. However, with the effort from everyone we can eradicate the bad apples and create a safer road for the officers and civilians.

Undoubtedly the most controversial topic in the recent past is police involved shootings. Although not specific to a police officer, the Trayvon Martin case in 2012 gained national media attention surrounding Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law. The case of Michael Brown Jr. sparked the 2014 riots, protests and civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri when shot and killed by Officer Wilson. Areas of the country witnessed the same response by large populations supporting inaccurate facts and circumstances involved with these cases. An instant gratification society coupled the court of public opinion and widespread media coverage yielded disastrous results in many of these cases. Community relations are hugely impacted while investigators attempt to

Two thousand years ago, the birth of Jesus, arguably the most influential man the world has ever seen, altered history forever. Christians know him as the Messiah, the son of God who came to save all of mankind, and for others, he may just be a great teacher and person of history. It is the latter that Reza Aslan attempts to shed an unbiased light on by comparing the Jesus that modern Christians believe in to the Jesus that Aslan believes would have fit into first-century Palestine: a violet revolutionary, dedicated to the eradication of the Roman government in Israel and the deposition of the rich priestly class. Aslan paints a portrayal of Jesus using knowledge of the time period, Scripture that has been taken out of context and misinterpreted, and most of all, the author’s imagination and powerful rhetoric to cover up his faulty argumentation. In his book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Reza Aslan recreates an interesting but purely speculative image of the historical Jesus through exploring the political and social history of first-century Palestine, the life and teachings of Jesus, and the development of early Christianity.

• Refers to rapid spread of Christianity among all classes of people, as well as Roman citizens that are sent to Rome for trial. “They have high ethical standards and if they repeatedly admit they honor Christ as God they are executed”.

The movie ‘Policing the Police” is a documentary with INTERVIEWS done of citizens and the Newark Police Department. The first word I thought of when I began watching this movie was DYSFUCTION. From both the police and citizens stand point. The Newark Police Department seems to lack organization and communication. The city is a mess with gangs and gun violence. I believe this movie can have both the CONFLICT and FUNCTIONALIST theories applied. Looking at it from a conflict perspective the police and community are having somewhat of a power struggle. The community feels it’s being targeted and its members are being STEROTYPED just for being young African American men. For example, the citizens feel as though they are being profiled and unconstitutionally

Conflict theory maintains that the privileged, acting on the perception of threat, will use the crime control apparatus of the state to restrain and limit those who threaten their interests. Practically, this means that one should expect more aggressive law enforcement practices in areas with greater percentages of poor and non-White citizens. This ‘threat hypothesis’ has been tested in several areas of American policing. (M. Petrocelli/ Journal of Criminal Justice 31)

This article is about the court case following a major shooting in California in July of 1993. The article talks about the loved ones of the victims requesting a California Court Judge allowing them to sue the gun manufacturer who made the guns used to kill the victims. This article was a short article, but it was on its own page. There were no direct quotes, but the article was full of summaries of quotes. The argument of the victims was that these guns were designed to take down multiple targets and releasing it to the public was just asking for in incident like this. The defendant’s argument was that though the manufacturer made the gun for one thing, they did not intend it to be used in this way, similar to how alcohol companies are not responsible for drunk driving incidents. The article also did not have a picture in it. The article was located on the top of it’s page and was the only news article on the page sharing it with a Presidents’ Day furniture sale advertisement from the Door Store. There also seems to be a shift in what “criminal news” is during this time. I found another story from this newspaper about the growth of the illegal marijuana industry and how it threatens our lives. When looking back at the 1955 and 1975 newspaper I did not see anything of this nature for criminal

The contemporary social problem I would like to conduct sociological research on is the use of excessive force used by members of the police department in recent unconscionable shootings of unarmed civilians. With all the recent attention that the people of Ferguson Missouri and New York City have been able to rise on this issue, making it a media sensation, it seemed like a good topic to discuss. Police brutality is an egregious, ongoing problem in our society that, until just recently, has been accepted as a sad fact of life by the people it affects and is largely ignored by the rest of society, including politicians and the mass media. Police brutality affects the people that society has come to stigmatize such as minorities, the mentally ill and impoverished people, more so than the well off or middle to upper class white people.

In a National Interest article by J. Christian Adams, an unnamed officer was attacked by a citizen after the officer refused to use force when the citizen acted aggressively (Adams, 2015, para. 4). Adams states "The officer said he didn’t defend himself because of fear of what the media and the activists would do to him. 'A lot of officers are being too cautious because of what’s going on in the media,' the unnamed police officer told CNN. 'I hesitated because I didn’t want to be in the media like I am right now. It’s hard times right now for us.'"(Adams, 2015, para. 4). This case was especially alarming as the officer in question was beaten over the head with his firearm after he refused to draw it. The unnamed officer had stopped a citizen, by the name of Jared Cunningham, for driving erratically, but shortly after the stop Cunningham rushed the officer in an aggressive manner. Instead of drawing his firearm to defend himself, the officer in question refused to act and sustained severe injuries. This is perfect example of how the media can affect an officer's judgement. Biased media can lead an officer to question their abilities and may stop them from reacting appropriately. Incidentally, the inability to react in a professional manner will cause harm to the officer and can endanger citizens. To fix this issue, media sources must develop a more unbiased standing.

One community that stands out the most for the conflict between law enforcement and their community is Ferguson, Missouri. On August 9, 2014 Darren Wilson, 28, a white Ferguson police officer fatally shot Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American male (McLaughlin). This case started one of the biggest uproar the nation has ever seen between community and law enforcement. When the incident first occurred there were many pieces of information missing to paint a scenario of how and what occurred between Brown and officer Wilson. Apparently Michael Brown was walking home late at night when officer Darren Wilson and Michael Brown got into a confrontation that lead to Wilson shooting Brown, the case goes

Police and community relations has always been a work in progress, some communities are more challenging than others. There are various factors that impact the relationship police have with civilians such as geographical location, race, gender, personal experience and in personal ones as well. In the last few years police and the African American community on a national level been more disconnected due to a pattern of unforeseen circumstances of unarmed black men being shot and killed by officers, that end up serving no jail or repercussion besides paid administrative leave. Police brutality is defined by The Law Dictionary as the use of force used unnecessarily. “Force that is used beyond what is necessary to handle the