Police Brutality As a Social Problem

Even though it has been around for decades, through recent years police brutality has been the topic to talk about, with the recent killings of innocent people how could it not be? This issue truly does have a negative effect on society many people relating the topic as a hate crime because it’s mostly colored minorities who are affected by this. There are things being done and there are also some things that could be done to prevent this from occurring. Police brutality is when an officer uses an excessive amount of force on a person.

For example, Dashawn Mcgrier, having already been charged with assault, disorderly conduct, obstructing and hindering, and resisting and interfering with arrest. On August 11 a video was posted showing an officer who had previously detained him continuously punching Mcgrier in the body and head. While Mcgrier did nothing to the officer but try to defend himself from the blows he fell on the ground and the officer didn’t stop. When a person sees this it gets them wondering on if they can really trust another man in a police uniform. In a person’s mind a police officer should be there to help a citizen when in need not attack them because they may feel a certain way towards them. In the “In Police We Trust” article, it states “75% of white Americans believe that the police do ‘an excellent or good job’ in treating racial and ethnic minorities equal” and “only one-third of blacks believe the same.” police brutality has become a big topic lately because of the killings or abuse of power a police officer may show.

Police officers were made so people could be safe and protected. With the current representation of what a police officer is to some people, trust is lost to those who are supposed to protect them. How are people supposed to feel safe if they see and hear that police officers are being extreme or going to the point of killing a citizen? This is a huge problem because people could make this as a reason to turn against law enforcement and cause chaos in a community. Prior to current cases of police brutality, it all really isn’t new in America. During the 1960s civil rights movements were going on for black freedom and equality. In the peaceful marches of integrationists, at some point they were beat with sticks, fired at with tear gas, punched or attacked by dogs sometimes.

Of course the most famous and memorable march where all of these occurred in was the Selma march to Montgomery in 1965. It doesn’t stop there, on March 3, 1991. Rodney King a motorist, was stopped by officers from the LAPD for speeding. As a result for not following police orders King was hit by knight sticks about fifty times. In the video, which was filmed by a nearby pedestrian, there are two officers who beat him with the night sticks and more than a dozen other officers who just stand there and watch as they beat the man. This was the video that really caught the attention of the people, and showed that there was truly another side in law enforcement, that being the cruel and abusive side. Police brutality is never not happening in america, that’s why people are growing to hate these crimes or the police themselves. A common attempt that’s been done for this issue is to have a camera on the officer while on duty. They wear these cameras for both the officers and citizens protection.

The officer having the camera on i feel causes them to think before they do because they themselves are recording every single thing they do. If they don’t think before they do then the camera catches that and the officer can’t deny what he or she did. Recently though they had to take those cameras off because the battery would explode while on the officer. Another approach to this is the creation of reforms to minimize the numbers of these devastating occurrences. An example of this would be written in the article “ How much is Police Brutality Costing America”, which states, “The city of Camden, New Jersey started over with a new police force focused on community policing; after doing so, it rates of violent crime and murder fell.”

If we could get the police officers to get to know the community and the people who are in them the possibility of police brutality would be lower then if an officer didn’t know anything or anyone. This would help build trust in citizens to law enforcement officials in their community. To have a kind of relationship with each other would make it safer for both the officer and citizen because they don’t have to worry about starting off aggressive at first but instead approach each other camly, and only use force when needing to. In my opinion officers who misuse their power are not worthy of having the badge they carry on them at all.

One thing that could be done is hiring people who want to protect and serve all people , not excluding anyone because of their color or beliefs. Something that could also be done is possibly seeing if anyone has anger issues or doing check ups on law enforcement officer to see how they are doing mentally. I feel that a cause to the police brutality is the officer may get easily hostile because of something or someone that got them mad or touched them when they want to be.

People have to go through court when they do something against the law, but for law enforcement officers, they should go to court yes, but the courts should be more strict on them. As in, if there is evidence that they were the officer to commit the crime they should get laid off, and if they witnessed another officer do this wrong and did nothing, they can still work for law enforcement but cleaning their floors. What is the whole point of having two officers “partners”, if one isn’t going to to step up and keep the other in check. To do something when they know the other is doing something wrong is best.

To be a police officer is to protect and serve not go against the citizen or standby and watch.

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