Police Brutality Research Paper

There is only a handful of careers that have as high of an ethical demand like law enforcement. Even though there are many careers that require a level of commitment to doing the the right thing, it’s known that police officers are put under pressure and have lots of responsibility. Even so, minorities have been put through violence by those who work in Law Enforcement for decades. This issue is know as police brutality, which most times leads to death. Therefore, even though police brutality has been a problem for many years, it remains a crucial concern for minorities today.

“Police brutality is the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians. “Excessive use of force” means a force well beyond what would be necessary in order to handle a situation.” (Danilina,

1) When a police officer uses more force than necessary, that is considered illegal.

While police brutality is a very serious issue, not all of these issues are handled properly or even investigated. “While it is becoming a bigger issue in the last few years, police brutality has taken place since the police forces were formed. “Police brutality has existed during the United States Industrial Revolution, the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and after the September 11 attacks.” (Danilina, 1) Police officers, who were once seen as peace keepers, are now considered law enforcement officers. Police agencies seem to be more fixed on quotas and creating profit and revenue for their city or county. According to “Standards in the Privatization of Probation Services” by Christine S. Schloss and Leanne F. Alarid, “In the late 1980s, Missouri became one of the first states to let private companies purchase the probation systems of local governments. In these arrangements, municipalities impose debt on individuals through criminal proceedings

and then sell this debt to private businesses, which pad the debt with fees and interest. This debt can stem from fines for offenses as minor as rolling through a stop sign or failing to enroll in the right trash collection service.” This leading officers being pushed to make many unnecessary arrests, and because of this it causes lots of tension between officers and citizens as well as police officers being seen as less trustworthy. Over time, police officers methods are slowly becoming more aggressive bringing a rise to unnecessary police brutality, especially in the last few years.
According to mappingpoliceviolence.org, “Police killed 346 black people in 2015 and at least 263 so far in 2016.” Out of those 346 people, 30% of the victims were unarmed, and fewer than 1 in 3 black people killed by police in America were suspected of a violent crime and allegedly armed. It’s clear that there is a problem amongst police. I believe not only does it have to do with the racial factor, but with the superiority and power police abuse.