There is a thin line is between police protection and brutality! Police brutality was brought to the forefront in 1991 by the Rodney King episode. Today, almost 860 people have died from police use of force this year so far. Last year, a devastating amount of 1,106 people died from police use of force and in the year of 2013, 768 people died. Police officers are given a significant amount of discretion simply due to the nature of the job. According to National Institute of Justice, “Law enforcement officers should use only the amount of force necessary to mitigate an incident, make an arrest, or protect themselves or others from harm. The levels, or continuum, of force police use include basic verbal and physical restraint, less-lethal force, …show more content…
and lethal force”. In many cases, police officers believe that they are supposed to be above the law. This preposterous thought coincide what the impression that the law do not apply to law enforcement officers. Both of these concepts play a role in the fact that many officers assume that they do not have to follow their agencies policies nor the law. Which is why excessive force is one of the leading causes of death by police; Police stations nationwide should induce very severe use of force knowledge and training. Deadly police shootings are a big controversy today because it is well-known that police officers are trained to "shoot to kill”, thorough investigations are required, but often details are ignored or over-looked, and innocent bystanders have been injured in cross-fire. Police officers are trained to shoot to kill the suspect, not incapacitate them; they are more likely to hit the target and stop an imminent threat. For example, Eric Garner, a Staten Island father of six, was catastrophically killed on July 17, 2015 by New York Police Department Officer Daniel Pantaleo. Pantaleo the asthmatic father Garner into an illegal chokehold. On July 17, the day of his death, significant eyewitnesses say Garner was breaking up a fight when the New York Police Department spotted him. The New York Police Department states officers had formerly targeted Garner for selling untaxed, individual cigarettes. Garner wanted to know why he was being harassed, and he paid for that question with his life. In the United States of America, people are not supposed to be killed for questioning a law enforcement officers, or for speaking up for themselves! How does selling untaxed cigarettes causes someone life to be taken away? Garner should have been fined or imprisoned. Imprisonment is for someone to think about their actions and to help them become a better citizen in society. Esaw Garner, Garners wife, should not have to mourn the death of her husband over an insignificant misdemeanor! The Garner case has drawn comparisons to other Fatal Police shootings. Garners cases have ignited protests and calls for federal prosecutors to bring civil rights charges against law enforcement officers. Majority of deaths by police occur from excessive force because Police officers have the same emotions as regular people, many police officers abuse their position of authority and majority abuse and threaten alleged suspects.
Police officers get upset, angry and an adrenaline rush just like everyone else. Maybe an individual cannot recall the dreadful killing of Eric Garner but surely they can remember the shooting that occurred on August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael Brown, an 18 year old African-American male was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer. Allegedly Browns last words were “I don't have a gun, stop shooting!'. Did Wilson stop shooting after Brown acknowledged that he did not have a gun; that he was not imminent threat? No he did not! He continued to fire, even though Brown did not put Wilson or any bystanders in any danger. Although Brown was targeted because supposedly stolen numerous packages of cigarillos from a nearby convenience store and shoved the store clerk; should his life have been taken away? On November 24, 2014, the St. Louis County grand jury had decided not to indict Wilson. On March 4, 2015, the United States Department of Justice reported the conclusion of its own investigation and cleared Wilson of civil rights violations in the shooting. According to the evidence, Wilson shot Brown in self-defense; even though Brown did not have any weapons to harm Wilson. The shooting sparked unrest in Ferguson. The "hands up" account was widely dispersed immediately after the shooting and it contributed to the strong protests and outrage about the killing of the unarmed man. A couple days later, Kajieme Powell was shot over 10 times, then handcuffed after he was already deceased. Why handcuff a deceased
person? Many police officers also over exaggerate to use force. Contrary to their actually duties, majority of officers defend their ego instead of defending the law. Egoistic officers would rather be known for having the most arrest or having the best aim, by shooting real people, rather than helping citizens and being a role model in society. For instance, often high speed chase start over something as insignificant as a traffic ticket. Unlawful search and seizures and unlawful arrests. If a citizen question the officer about the search and seizure or the arrest it could cost their life. They could become the next Treyvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Michael Thomas Pierce, Jr., or Jason Hale. In conclusion, Deadly police shootings are a big controversy today because majority of deaths by police are overlooked, innocent people are injured and many police officers abuse their position of authority. Law enforcement officers should use only the amount of force needed to control an incident, make an arrest, or defend themselves or others from harm. Excessive force is one of the leading causes of death by police; Police stations nationwide should induce very severe use of force knowledge and training. Children used to want to be Law enforcement officers, now they are afraid of them. Police officers are supposed to protect citizens. Their supposed to defend the law, not their ego. How can you protect someone that you are killing?
In today’s society, police officers are very cautious on how much force they can use on a suspect due to the police brutality going on right now. Police brutality is defined as the use of force exceeding what is necessary, many people argue that there should be new policies to determine how much force a police officer can use and also have laws that will convict officers who have killed people by using too much force, so that there is less incidents in the future.
With the articles and past research that I have collected, studies tell us that less than 3 percent of police-citizen contacts involve the threat of physical force by the police. The percentages are higher when the level of force is below lethal force, for instance 20 percent of arrests may involve some type of special or needed force to obtain and control the suspect in able to put him in custody. In the academy, police officers are taught to use equal or greater force to subdue the suspect and do what is necessary to protect the public and also look out for officer safety. Most incidents of force are low level applications such as using the arms, hands, legs, or their bodies to gain control of the suspect. Every police officer is supposed to be trained to a certain standard, and should be able to use the correct amount of force for the situation at hand. Police officers have situational training in the academy on what level of force to use if necessary. All police officers are equipped to handle most if not all situations or levels of force that is need to
Firstly, even after government advancement, the integration of a democratic society, and a greatly improved justice system, individuals still feel threatened by police officers. When police training was created, and guidelines/ penalties were and laid out, they were expected to have a large impact on minimizing incidences of excessive police force. Yet, this is not the case. It is often said that prevention is better than cure, this statement can be applied to police brutality by preventing it befor...
Over the years, our nation has witnessed countless cases of police brutality. It has developed into a controversial topic between communities. For instance, deindustrialization is the removal or reduction of manufacturing capability or activity can lead to more crimes when people are laid off. Police officers are faced with many threatening situations day-to-day gripping them to make split second decisions; either to expect the worst or hope for the best. The police are given the authority to take any citizen away for their action that can ruin their lives. With that kind of power comes great responsibility, which is one main concern with the amount of discretion officers have is when to use lethal force. The use of excessive force might or
Police brutality is becoming more and more apparent in the news today because it seems to be occurring more than before. In 2012, the NYPD killed 21 people that year which was an increase by 7 from the previous year (W.A.T.E.R, 1). The numbers are rising in the big cities where more crimes are likely to happen. Toronto isn’t as big as New York City, but it comes to show that police officers are killing more individuals each year. In 2009, in the little city of Cabbagetown near Toronto, two Toronto officers severely beat a man who was allegedly drunk in public. The two police officers were later found guilty of assault causing bodily harm, which shocked much of the public because rarely do police officers get charged after incidents like this. This case ended up bringing up the ethical issue of whether police officers use excessive force on people because they are law enforcements. Police officers seem to usually get away with the actions they do, which sometimes result in death, because they are law enforcements and they’re just looking out for their own safety and of others. I believe that police officers do sometimes use excessive force on people and that they get away with the consequences because they have a free pass because of their job title. To defend this judgment, the arguments that I will use are the statements of both police officers, the test results that proved that the police officers attacked a man who didn’t deserve it, and the decision of the SIU.
America as a people gloat when it comes to our freedoms we think we have it better than every other country out there but the protectors of our freedom are becoming fear and hated because of the injustices committed by certain officers. Some say life of an officer is hard because they do not know if they will ever see their family again after they drive out of their house in the morning, others might say every officer knows what they were signing up for so they should not be pitied. Police officers face dangers everyday but profiling and racially motivated brutality is not justifiable and officers should be severely punished for committing these crimes.
On August 9th, 2014, 18 year old Michael Brown was shot by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, sparking protests, riots, and widespread debate on police use of force. Numerous questions arose as to whether Michael Brown was armed or unarmed, if he had his hands in the air or was attacking Officer Wilson, and whether Officer Wilson was justified in firing his weapon that resulted in the death of Michael Brown (Itkowitz). Twenty-two years have passed since the riots in Los Angeles after the officers involved in the beating of Rodney King were acquitted on charges of excessive force, and it left many to wonder, including myself, as to why this happened again. Why were there so many questions surrounding the incident and how this could
Police brutality and racial profiling dates back to the 1700’s in the United States(Rushing). Unfortunately, such treatment by police continues today when police are expected to hold the civic duty to protect and serve. Mistreatment by police is just the start in most cases, when citizens fight back it becomes “brutal”. Police brutality by definition means “The use of any force exceeding that reasonably to accomplish a lawful police purpose.” Police brutality can occur in many different ways with the most common being physical harm. Although that is a big problem, there are other cases of Police brutality that involve acts of false arrest, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, intimidation, etc. An act that can be seen as police brutality could be a criminal running from the cops and an officer shoots a victim with a taser. Many cases of physical harm are police using excessive force to contain and arrest any individual. Since many accounts of police brutality have been directed towards minorities, these cases turn into acts of racial profiling. Racial profiling is the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. Let 's say for example Trayvon Martin, a simple 17 year old black male walking home from a gas station was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch member. This being one of the many
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday forcing them to make split second decisions and to expect the worst and hope for the best. Police officers are given the power to take any citizens rights away and even their lives. With that kind of power comes responsibility, that’s one major concern with the amount of discretion officers have is when to use force or when to use lethal force. The use of excessive force may or not be a large predicament but should be viewed by both the police and the community.
In most if not all the cases the victim of the excessive force is charged with resisting arrest and or assaulting a police officer, When in fact they are the ones who have been assaulted and victimized themselves. They are now fighting two uphill battles that are very difficult to win in any situation. A lot of the time the victim is from a poor or low income area and may have already been perceived to be a criminal by the police. The police have a great deal of power and they sometimes manipulate situation to make it look like or to hide what may have happen in an arrest situation. My father would tell me stories about the police and the things some officer would do to get away with abusing their power. The police need to be monitored and public needs to be more educated about what Law enforcements job is and how to best help them do it.
For many years in the past, police action particularly police abuse, has come to be unclear. Citizens are worried about protecting them from criminals. In fact they need to me aware of the corrupt police officers that are in the streets today as well as the criminals. There are many examples that make police brutality the worst as it is today. This one is one of them. Police Officer Daniel is in the choke hold death of Eric Garner, come in the wake if November 15th by the channel 24 news in Ferguson Missouri, police officer would walk free after killing 10 year old Michael Brown. (www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32740523) In the present police brutality does exist in the mist of us in the time and age we live in everyday. We just haven’t seen it yet. There are people that think if a police
Police Brutality Police work is dangerous. Sometimes police put in situations that excessive force is needed. But, because some officers use these extreme measures in situations when it is not, police brutality should be addressed. The use of excessive force may or may not be large problem, but it should be looked into by both the police and the public. For those people who feel racism is not a factor in causing the use of excessive force, here is a startling fact. In Tampa Bay, Florida, five men died while in the custody of the
Police brutality is big example of an injustice that has been going on for the longest time. In the U.S. police brutality has been going on forever, lots of people have died because of police forces throughout the country. There are more than one reason for this injustice. Race, Age, Religion, and sex are main parts of why this happens, not in other places in the world but in the U.S. 776 people were killed by police so far in 2015, 161 of them were unarmed. Police brutality is an example of injustice for young citizens of the United States because they’re being targeted because of their age and race, police abuse their power over the youth, and the police don’t get in trouble for their actions.
When hearing the phrase “police brutality,” many people imagine batons cracking skulls, tasers electrocuting bodies and bullets penetrating innocent teens. While police officers have been known to use violence, police brutality does not occur as often as many believe. In many situations, officers have to act on impulse and curiosity, despite the backlash the media may create.
According to the National Police Academy, in the past year, there have been over 7,000 reports of police misconduct; fatalities have been linked to more than 400 of these cases (Gul). Police brutality is often triggered by disrespect towards the police officer. The most noticeable form of brutality is physical, where Chemical gas, batons, tasers, and guns, can be used for physical intimidation or to actually hurt people. Police brutality can also take the form of verbal abuse or psychological intimidation. It seems reasonable to understand that sometimes the police are put into situations where excessive force may be needed. But, because some officers use these extreme actions in situations when it is not, police brutality should be addressed and looked into by both the police and the public. For instance, a police officer who beats a nonviolent protester with a baton would probably be accused of excessive use of force, under the argument that the police officer probably could have dealt with the situation less violently.