Some cops who commit the offense do not get caught and feel untouchable which leads them to brag to other officers and friends. The criminal act is never told or publicized because no one will speak out, not even other officers who have witness the acts. They refuse to speak out or they just cannot speak out because they are afraid. According to recent statistics 99% of cop brutality cases that go uninvestigated. You would think that the 1% that does get investigated would receive good news, but that is not true. On the other hand, when they do get caught it resolves them to say something similar to this, “I felt threatened, I felt afraid, the victim struggled with me, and he reached for my gun.” This is the same old story from officers who …show more content…
For instance I found a statement that was said in this article, “Amnesty: U.S. Doesn't Meet International Standards for Deadly Police Force.” It talks about an issue that the Amnesty International USA has presented about the United States and the District of Columbia, based on how the United States has not yet met the international standards for the use of lethal force by law enforcement officers. According to Steven Hawkins, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA he states, "Police have a fundamental obligation to protect human life”…"Deadly force must be reserved as a method of absolute last resort. The fact that absolutely no state laws conform to this standard is deeply disturbing and raises serious human rights concerns."(Alcindor)In this statement it address how police officers are not respecting the right of citizens and/or human rights. In life, there are no two situations alike and neither are there two officers. In a potentially threatening situation, an officer will quickly tailor a response and apply force, if necessary. Situational awareness is essential and officers are trained to judge when a crisis requires the use of force to regain control of a situation. In most cases, time becomes the key variable in determining when an officer chooses to use force and what amount of force. As seen recently, officers tend to gradually use more unnecessary force and then try to justify it later. When you look at the situation, there is no justification and that is what Steven Hawkins is saying. Throughout the article, Hawkins argues that states across the country must change and create laws dealing with lethal force. His group believes state laws are too broad and that state legislatures and Congress should introduce or amend statutes that authorize the use of lethal force. He later states, “The use of lethal force by law enforcement officers raises serious
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.
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.
Police misconduct is as rampant as ever in America, and it has become a fixture of the news cycle. Police brutality is the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose. The media is inevitably drawn toward tales of conflict, hence why there are so many crime and police stories on the news. Despite the increasing frequency of misbehaving cops, many Americans still maintain a high respect for the man in uniform. Still, police misconduct is a systemic problem, not just an anecdotal one. Here are some reasons why it is a problem. First, many departments don’t provide adequate training in nonviolent solutions. With this, police are unfamiliar with what to do in a non-violent situation, often resorting
There are at least 6 to 8 complaints made by every 100 officers each year. At least 30 percent of the complaints are for excessive use of force and that doesn’t include all the undocumented complaints civilians make that are failing to be reported. In the past year, police officers have killed more than 776 people. This information has only recently been brought to light. For once the media is not exaggerating on the crimes police are committing; this is happening right here, right now in our own country.
“But they didn't have to beat me this bad. I don't know what I did to be beat up." Rodney King, March 3, 1991. Police Brutality has been a long lasting problem in the United States since at least 1903 when police Captain Williams of the New York Police Department said the phrase, "There is more law at the end of a policeman's nightstick than in a decision of the Supreme Court." In the 1920's the Wichersham Commission had a number of instances of police brutality. Many of these included the use of the "third degree" (beating to obtain a confession). This is a very effective way to get a confession out of somebody. However, beating the accused could easily elicit a confession from a scared and innocent person. Also, this puts the accused person's life in danger. Police officers must make snap life and death decisions daily. Officers' work in an environment where death (theirs, their partners, and an innocent or guilty person) is one decision away. How does that constant fear effect an officer's perception? Unfortunately, many that are attracted to law enforcement are aggressive and prone towards violence as a solution. Police officers have a lot of power. With this power comes responsibility. Police brutality can be defined as the excessive or unreasonable use of force in dealing with citizens, suspects and offenders.
For example, according to Dara lind “Officer’s aren’t supposed to shoot to kill. They’re supposed to do whatever is necessary to disable the threat”(Lind). Whenever an officer gets caught up in a difficult situation where deadly force is needed for the most part officers do shoot to kill because they feel like there life is in danger themselves. Yes like they said they are supposed to do whatever is necessary so therefore if shooting to kill someone is necessary to them then for police officers it is the right thing to do. But in reality in some occasions deadly force by a cop resulting in someone’s death is not needed and there should be other alternatives to handle difficult problems like that. In addition, “Usually, the point from where the officer believes he has to use deadly force to the point where he uses deadly force -- where he pulls
When a police officer uses force it is put out into the media and people argue back and forth about if the police officer was in the right or wrong with how much force was used. Some people seem to think that the police would rather use force than to resolve the problem peacefully. More people believe that the police are targeting minorities and are using excessive force on minorities. The police do not like using force to apprehend a suspect; the police are not racial profiling the suspects. The police are taught to use force when the suspect is a threat to the officer or others around the area. The officer has to be one level above the suspect in order to keep as many people as possible safe. Police officers do not get a chance to say why
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 misconduct is as rampant as ever in America, and it has become a fixture of the news cycle. Police brutality is the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose. The media is inevitably drawn toward tales of conflict, hence why there are so many crime and police stories on the news. Despite the increasing frequency of misbehaving cops, many Americans still maintain a high respect for the man in uniform. Still, police misconduct is a systemic problem, not just an anecdotal one. Here are some reasons why it is a problem. First, many departments do not provide adequate training in nonviolent solutions. With this, police are unfamiliar with what to
Officers are now starting to constantly record all interactions that may take place while they are on duty, so that the reordered conversations may be looked at in the case of an investigation. Sociologically, cops commit brutal crimes because of the social status of the victim. It’s less common for an officer to assault someone of high status. Also, it is more likely that an officer will take action against a person with a lower status if they are accused by a person with a higher status. The officer in most cases will turn the cheek on the victim whose accuser is of lower status as well.
In the article about a skateboarder in NY it says "Over abuse of power as always!" Mu wrote on his Facebook page. "I'm so over the injustices so many people face in this country. Social, economic, race, class, everything!" It’s shown that a skateboarder is mistreated because he didn’t know the rules of the park, then refuses to give officer his board. The NYPD officer pulls his head back by his hair before putting him in a headlock. After tackling Mu, the officer pulls out his pepper spray and shoots it in the skateboarder's face. The officer did not face any consequences after this incident. This example shows that police officers do not get punished for their actions. This connects to the man that was shot with his hands up in the in sign of surrendering. The power of officers were abused because there wasn’t any need be any violent when no threat is being presented. Another example is a man is texas who suffered from injustice when he was shot with his hands in the air. In the articles it states “A second video has emerged showing two Texas police officers shoot and kill a man who appears to have had his hands up.” This quotation shows that a man commits a crime, is caught and then surrenders to the police with his hands up in the air. The texas police officers shot the man which clearly wasn’t a threat considering he was giving up with his hands in the air. The texas officers show injustice because they abused their power when taking unspeakable actions to kill this
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.
Police brutality is hypocrisy; as the police are meant to protect society from harm, not cause further damage and stress. Police should be trained properly so they do not resort to violence and abuse of power. Many cases of police brutality and not sanctioned and are undertaken by a group of police as a form of "mob mentality". Police are placed on a pedestal of authority and respect by the rest of society. To maintain this image, rules and codes of ethics within the police force should be maintained at all possible times. If police are using brutality to resolve issues, it doesn't set much of an example of dispute resolution between individuals. Over the past decade police abuse remains one of the most serious human rights violation in the United States. Police officers are trusted and expected to respect society as a whole and enforce the law. There is a time a place for aggressive force if needed, apprehending a suspect, however the environment and situation might influence the moment thus resulting in the brutal and barbaric behavior from the cop. The important thing to do is to understand the circumstances when excessive force can be used and times where the use of force has to be abstained. Police officers follow a strict guideline in how to handle encounters from escalating into something much more serious. The use of excessive force, in this case police brutality brings liabilities that cannot be taken lightly with the department and the community. Usually the high crime rates tend to revolve around low-income minority areas and officers tend to assume that minorities living in the areas are guilty. Police brutality that does exist is most likely result of emotional exhaustion.
Recently in the United States there has been in increase in deaths that have come from police officers using deadly force. The use of force is inevitable as a police officer, many times their own lives or the life’s civilians are at risk when it comes to determine what type of force a officer should use. There are many incidents where police officer have to react in a matter of seconds and has to choose between his own life or that of the individual causing the disturbance. When a Police Officer uses deadly force has caused outraged with the public, stirring up protests and creating a scandal for the police officer and the Police Department. Many do not know when it is right for an officer to use deadly force and what constitutes it, or what happens when the officer does not use the appropriate amount of force that is required to control the situation. There has been many changes in Police Departments around the country to try to reduce the use of deadly force in response to the issues that have occurred because of it.
Police brutality is an act that often goes unnoticed by the vast majority of white Americans. This is the intentional use of “excessive force by an authority figure, which oftentimes ends with bruises, broken bones, bloodshed, and sometimes even death” (Harmon). While law-abiding citizens worry about protecting themselves from criminals, it has now been revealed that they must also keep an eye on those who are supposed to protect and serve. 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.