Police Brutality in the US Police brutality is an ongoing problem in the United States. Law enforcement agents are there to protect the public for they have the legal right to use physical, and even deadly, force. However, many of these officers abuse of that power. In the past year, there have been more than 900 cases of police abuse. Most of the victims have been innocent, unarmed, and/or of color. Police brutality is becoming more and more of an issue as society keeps growing. This nationwide problem could be solved in many ways, but having peaceful protests and by educating our police officers about racial differences are two good possible solutions. Police brutality is a problem in our society mainly because there are police officers that are getting away with not only physically hurting innocent people, but murder as well. In the past year, there have been between 865-939 cases of people being shot and/or killed by cops (Calacal 1). Racial profiling is one of the main factors in this problem. African Americans and Latinos are the people we see being abused by police on the daily. So far this year, 215 African-Americans and 94 Latinos have been killed by police. Data shows that a black person is 3 times more likely to be killed by a police than a white person. Several officers …show more content…
The Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013 after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of the murder of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin. About a year after Martin’s death, an 18 year-old unarmed male, Michael Brown, was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. That sparked weeks of protests. Years later, Asians, Latinos, and some whites joined in and realized how big of a problem this was becoming. As the years go by, the BLM Movement will keep growing and will not go
A police force is defined as an organized body of people, given power by the state to enforce the law, protect property, and limit civil disorder. However, amid controversial relations between police and civilians in today’s society, many often question whether or not the police force’s purpose is actually fulfilled in reality. Since 2015, police have killed 964 people in the U.S. And although composing only 13% of the population, Black people constituted 25% of those killed by police (242, mappingpoliceviolenc.com). These killings are often identified as police brutality: unreasonable and excessive use of force used to accomplish a lawful police purpose. By its definition, police brutality contradicts the purpose and abuses the power that police officers have. Police brutality is a rising, yet unsolved issue that remains relevant in today’s society. Increased tensions between the African American community and police officers continue to affect the interaction with one another. When police officers are not representative or have a relationship with the people they are supposed to protect, cultural differences and racial tensions create a bias that targets and automatically views these communities as dangerous. These circumstances are the foundation to why to police brutality is still a trending manifestation in black communities.
Police brutality is the use of excessive or unnecessary force by police officers toward a specific group of people. Police brutality is a nationwide problem that has caused death, racism, and a bad reputation for police officers. Police officers use force to intimidate or intentionally hurt civilians but this excessive force has resulted in death of civilians. Police officers have killed “over 1,096 people in 2016 alone” (Rodgers). Police have abused their power and used excessive force to the point where it has resulted in a massive death toll. Police officials have also began to use racial profiling as a form of police brutality. A study showed that “32 percent of black people killed by police this year were unarmed, compared to 15 percent
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
What is police brutality and why is it important right now? Police brutality is the use of excessive force carried out by a law enforcement official. Lately, various incidents of police brutality have surfaced in the news, but this is nothing new. Past incidents including the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri brought serious social issues to the frontlines. Michael Brown was an unarmed black teenager who was shot and killed by a white male. Other incidents include the death of Eric Garner. A man who was accused of selling individual cigarettes and later on died due to a chokehold, the officer who killed him was also white. These events have even led to vigilantism. One of the most recent incidents of retaliation took place in Dallas, Texas. Micah Johnson, a former soldier, opened fire at a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest and killed five Dallas police officers. He was quoted saying that he "wanted to kill white people, especially white officers". There is racial reconciliation between law enforcement and the black community. Although these are only a few incidents there a plenty more and there will be even more if something isn’t done about it. Cases such as these shed light on serious social issues we need to combat. This proposal review will discuss the rift between the police and community, how to improve community relations, how to improve departmental practices and procedures as well as how these can’t turn into effective solutions.
Over the past decade, police have acted out in ways that have made people wonder “are our officers of the law really doing their job?” Unjustified shootings, severe beatings, fatal choking’s, and rough treatment have all contributed to the ever-present problem of police brutality in America. The fact of the matter is that most of these incidents go un-reported or un-noticed. Through research, we seek to identify the causes of police brutality, and what we can possibly do to end it. Over the last couple of years there have been many unjust examples of police brutality.
Police brutality stems from the biased injustice the American police force provides their communities with. According to Gregory Fritz Umbach, “Police brutality is the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose (Umbach 386).” This unreasonable force can be related to the biased views of many police officers in the form of racial profiling and can lead to the harm, and in some case, the unnecessary murder of citizens. Although there are many cases in which racial prejudice has no impact on the police encounter, there are some cases that racial prejudice and police interactions are very closely interrelated.
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 not a new subject. It has been around for numerous years, and like most issues, has resurfaced to the public’s eyes. The recent events brought up the question: Does there need to be a reform in the system in the police system? In this year alone, there have been countless cases of individuals being harmed or even killed by police officers for reasons that continuously are not explained. What has people more attentive to this injustice are statistics showing that most victims in these police attacks happen to be African Americans and other minorities.
Police Brutality has and will continue to be an ongoing problem that is a concern in the United States and should be resolved immediately. Law enforcement must function as an element that consists of organized and civilized officers. The presence of police brutality is becoming more of an issue as not only society grows, but as new and media are covering it. The problem posed by the illegal exercise of police power is an ongoing reality for all individuals not just of a disfavored race, class, or sexual orientation. Police brutality must be stopped so that police do not forget who they are serving, not themselves but the public. The public backs the police checkbooks by paying taxes. This means that even the criminals, who are a part of the public, have certain rights. Police brutality causes a major concern in today’s society in America and a resolution needs to present itself soon. Police misconduct can be described as any inappropriate behavior on the part of any law enforcement officer that is either illegal or immoral. Law enforcement agents should behave to a standard that is greater than the average civilian. Police brutality comes from an abuse of power granted to the police. Police brutality is often drawn on by overreaction in certain situations drawn on by panic. Police using excessive force in the United States is a crucial dilemma and must be stopped.
Police brutality is an excess and unnecessary use of violence police officers use toward civilians. Police abuse has been going on since the time of slavery when police officers captured slaves who tried to escape. Since this issue has been going on for a long time, I believe that people are getting accustomed to this issue. Police brutality seems to be a big issue in America. However, other countries do not seem to have police brutality as an issue. This makes us wonder why America has higher police brutality than other countries. America is the most diverse country which means there are the most number of people in U.S who are of different race than Caucasians. This idea link race and police brutality together. I chose this topic to argue because recently, the violence against people of color has been brought up more often by the media; however there has been no punishments against the officers or change in leadership to resolve the issue. People do not seem to understand that police brutality can be traumatic for African Americans. Violence is not just physical, it could be
Race and, in turn, racism, plays a large role in police brutality. The database created under “mappingpoliceviolence.org,” a database created
Police brutality in the United States has escalated in recent times. To develop a peaceful environment amongst human beings, one of the main topics to look at is human rights. While more often than not, police brutality violates the concept of human rights it is still a very important task to discuss the topic and create possible solutions to such a concerning and threatening issues in the United States. In this case, statistics is a very important factor that is required to display how serious of an issue police brutality is, along with examples on how to fix or lower the amount of yearly police brutality cases. Also, since many of these cases occur in African - American or Latino based areas of the United States, it is also important to discuss whether there is an aspect of racism attached to these violent police acts within the country.
The incidents of police brutality seem to be on a rise in spite of officers trying to reach out to the society through acts of good will and their meet and great sessions held with the public. The purpose of our police department is to serve and protect, on many occasion they have served and protected the community they are a part of. The criminal elements in the country of Belize are hard at work trying to ever to destroy what we have. The work of a police officer is long hours and low pay, many take the job because they cannot find other jobs to do. With an aggressive criminal element with in our society it seems that the police department has stepped up their aggression too.
In our society, there has been several issues but one of the main concerns is what has been going on in the African American community. Police Brutality is a major problem that many African Americans fear dealing with racial divides but some believe minorities cause higher crime rates. In the dictionary of law, Police brutality, is the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians. Many Americans have gone through many situations where they were excessively force by the police. But few American’s were racial profiled, discriminated, or beat brutality for no appointed reason.
By law, the police have the right to use legitimate force if necessary to make an arrest, maintain order, or keep the peace. Just how much force is appropriate under various circumstances can be debatable. When an officer uses excessive force, he or she violates the law. This violence is referred to as police brutality, when often leads to death. Over the years, police brutality has become more and more visible in the public eye. Police brutality has been a problem face by many Americans still to this day, which raises the question as to, are police departments doing enough to eliminate or reduce such claims of police brutality. According to Fatal Encounters, on average, in the U.S., a police officer takes the life of a civilian every 7 hours. The main issue that arises is that police are taking advantage of the power they have. It was reported in 2014 that in 17% of the 100 largest cities in the United States, police officers killed African-American/Black men at higher rate than the U.S. murder rate. In history, racist violence, police brutality, has been used to suppress the racial blacks and to preserve power and privileges for the white race. Today, police officers use deadly, excessive forces that leads to inexcusable assaults, beatings, and shootings. The U.S. Department of Justice states in recent surveys prove 84% of police officers have stated that they directly witnessed a fellow officer using more force than was necessary. Police brutality involving the black