Police Brutality

Police brutality is a form of police misconduct which includes false arrest, physical and verbal abuse, and racial or gender profiling. The dangers and horror police brutality can be traumatizing and it needs to be stopped. Why does police brutality happen and why does the police think it is okay? Police brutality happens because of the lack of accountability and awareness. Police officers lack accountability, which means being held responsible and accountable for one's actions.

The two common opposing views towards police officers is a supper cop who saves the day and a violent officer who harms civilians. As a society we tend to zoom in on every blemish and mistake law enforcement makes and the media often encourages these views. In news outlets when police positively contribute to the community it usually only makes headlines for a day or two, but when a crisis occurs it receives high media coverage for weeks at a time. Recently there have been controversial cases surrounding police brutality which have fed the belief that police using excessive and deadly force is a the most common reflex. In reality it’s not as common as portrayed. In 2010 the New York Police Department received over 206,000 calls involving weapons and of those calls only 33 ended in officers firing their weapons (Anthony, 294). Home videos and pictures showing confrontation between law enforcement and offenders are causing wide spread misconception about police brutality.

Police brutality has a long history in which citizens and police have been victims and in recent years it has became a major issue. Many people claim that the citizens are the ones to blame and others claim that the police officers are the ones who should take the blame.

-By definition the term police brutality is “applied in the context of causing physical harm, it may also involve psychological harm through the use of intimidation tactics beyond the scope of officially sanctioned police procedure.” In today’s society we have police known as riot police, who are known throughout the world to use extreme force. Statistics show almost every time the riot police are involved in crowd control, there is at least one fatality and multiple injured. This is why I believe this is one of the most important issues in the World today. Police are there to protect us but from April 2009 to June 2010 in the United States there were 5986 reports of misconduct from police officers. Police brutality has today’s citizens doubting the police department, and how they go about their arrest. Police brutality is an everyday occurrence, especially in cities where there are large communities of Blacks, Latinos and Asians.

Police brutality is a phenomenon that is occurring more and more frequently. Because of the current police crisis happening in our country today, officers are becoming more violent and untrustworthy. We the people have to have some sort of enforcement for society to work and without it, chaos could ensue.

Many cases have proof of police brutality. One case is about Frank Jude. Jude and Harris were invited to a party by some friends. When they walked into the party, they felt uncomfortable because everyone there was white. Jude and Harris went outside to get away, and they were confronted by some of the off-duty officers who were at the party. The officers claimed that a badge and a gun was missing from the house. Jude and Harris were surrounded by 10-15 people that said they were off-duty officers. Antoissen which was the women they were with told Jude and Harris "to get in the truck." The officers took her keys and pulled Jude out of the truck by his legs. Harris ran off and was arrested later. The one officer held Jude’s hands behind his back and was punching him. The officer then threw Jude on the ground, and everyone started kicking him. Jude suffered a concussion, broken nose, fractured sinus cavity, cuts in both ears, cuts, and swelling of his left eye, neck, head, face, legs, and back, and a severely sprained left hand. He had to have surgery to be able to breathe again and suffers diminished vision. The state paid more than $15,000 of Jude’s medical bills. All officers who were involved got suspended without pay (BUI, QUOCTRUNG).

A police force is an organized body of people empowered by the state to enforce the law, protect property, and limit civil disorder. In today’s society, it is often questioned if policeman’s purpose in society is fulfilled. Since 2015, police have killed 964 people in the U.S. Despite being only 13% of the population, black people were 25% (242) of those killed. (MappingPoliceViolence.org) These killings are often identified as police brutality. Police brutality is the use of any force exceeding reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose. Police brutality is a rising but yet unsolved issue that remains relevant in today’s society. Differences between African Americans and police officers often affect interaction amongst each other. When police officers aren’t representative of the people they are supposed to protect, they often use cultural differences, racial tensions, and bias to target or view these communities as dangerous.

The politicization of police brutality is creating an increasingly cynical atmosphere in criminology, particularly with regards to statistics. The sensitive nature of the topic combined with media sensationalism of police brutality in recent years also perpetuates this phenomenon. The politicization of this issue causes media outlets to respond by reporting on police brutality research studies in such a way that the studies reflect their outlets’ views. As a result, police brutality statistics are being eyed with suspicion now more than ever. Furthermore, it is imperative that researchers take additional steps to ensure their research is based on concrete facts and presents data as objectively as possible. This means that researchers must

Police brutality has occurred all across the world and is still a major amongst society and police organization. This brutality arranges from assaults, death as a result, of use of force, harassment, Etc. It takes two forms which is physical brutality which includes assaults, and non-physical brutality which includes use of verbal language. Police officers have been granted the privilege of using “non-negotiable force” (Bittner 1970) to control citizens’ behavior and ensure public order. Police use of excessive force is also called police brutality. This term refer to any unnecessary use of force by police. There are many different definitions to what police brutality is considered to be. “Police brutality is the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians” (Danilina, 2014). Police brutality occurs when officers use more force than is necessary when making arrests or controlling people. Police brutality is categorized as an excessive use of force. Danilina from Law Dictionary states that, “Excessive use of force means a force well beyond what would be necessary in order to handle a situation. These claims of police brutality are made when someone is injured or killed during the course of a search or an arrest. Throughout history there has been many incidents where police officers have used unnecessary force to handle a situation. One of history’s most nationally known incidents of police brutality took place March 3, 1991, in Chicago, when

Police brutality is abuse of power in the form of excessive force committed by the police. Examples of this range from physical assault to psychological intimidation. Contrary to popular belief, many forms of police brutality include emotional and psychological aspects on top of physical. It can also take the form of false arrests, verbal abuse, and racial profiling. In countless accumulating cases across the country, police brutality has proved lethal (Danalina 1).

There is no question that police brutality, when it occurs, is one of the most egregious violations of public trust that a public servant can commit. Police officers, those individuals taxed with protecting the public from danger, should never be in a situation where they pose a threat to the public. Furthermore, there is no question that police brutality occurs. Moreover, generally when there are allegations of police brutality, there has been some type of underlying violent incident. In addition, while issues of brutality may seem clear-cut to a disinterested observer, it is critical to keep in mind that law enforcement officers are not presented with textbook examples of the appropriate or inappropriate use of force, but real-life scenarios involving quick decisions. There are many arrest and non-arrest scenarios where officers need to use force to protect self or others; and the degree of force required may be greater than what a disinterested observer would assume. Another recurrent issue in debates about police brutality is that racial bias appears to be a motive behind police brutality. When one considers that minorities are disproportionately likely to be arrested and convicted of crimes, one would expect to find a disproportionate number of minorities among those alleging police brutality. Therefore, while acknowledging that police brutality, when it occurs, is a serious problem, the reality is that most

Police brutality is defined as “excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians,” and this has become more prominent within the United States throughout the years (Danilina). There has many cases where police brutality has been seen via news channels, and it has dismantled the unity of trust between the civilians of the United States and the law enforcement who are supposed to protect the everyday people from harm. The issue is if the law enforcement is actually right within their means of protection, or have they gone too far with using excessive force in any situation that may or may not be harmful to them. There is, also, the question of whether racial profiling is the biggest contributor to police brutality.

Although I should know by now, I cannot help but think that there has been an overwhelming amount of police brutality in recent years. Police brutality can be defined as, when a police officer uses more force than necessary. This issue has spread throughout the United States of America, and is putting the lives of our citizens in great danger. Police brutality is not only physical, but it can also be verbal attacks; and, in most cases, it is caused by false arrest and racial profiling due to police corruption. Police brutality has been and continues to be a major concern in society and it is used very loosely to any and all forms of police misconduct. Whereas, in reality, excessive force of police misconduct is what defines police brutality. The jobs of a police officer are too calmly resolve public disturbance and disputes. Police officers are supposed to protect citizens; instead they are hurting and using excessive force. It is not right and it is unjust for a police officer to hurt a citizen due to an assumption without any actual proof of criminal activity.

Cato Institute’s National Police Misconduct Reporting Project conducted a research and reported their statistics on police misconduct which confirm that only around 1% of all officers commit misconduct in a given year (Police Misconduct, 2016). The statistics from this research contains all kinds of misconduct that may have have occurred in any way or form that falls under the given definition. In recognizing this it can be concluded that police brutality itself would fall even lower on that scale, below the 1% mark (Police Misconduct, 2016).

Police misconduct is a problem in America that needs to be dealt with. Many police officers are quite often involved in police brutality in America. Several examples of police brutalities of the excessive force is the use of pepper spray, nerve gas, batons, physical, verbal, psychological and intimidation of victims. Sometimes with officers, there are excessive force, shootings, raping, and theft of countless victims.