Understanding Police Brutality: A Growing Social Concern

Having police officers in the neighborhood should give citizens a sense of protection. Officers

are put through countless hours of mental and physical training to endure any possible situation that

may occur. Once a officer receives their badge, it gives them a sense of not only authority but a

sense of power. Many officers around the country have been caught abusing their authority by

performing reckless actions against citizens. This leads to the phrase “Police Brutality”, which

Police brutality has been and continues to be a major concern in society. “Police brutality is the

use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians. Excessive use

of force means a force beyond necessary procedures in

Strict

laws need to not only be enforced for criminals but need to be enforced for officers as well.

As stated earlier, many officers continue to abuse their authority by showing a behavior that is

unconstitutional. As of lately, many of these police brutality situations have turned into fatal

shootings. “During the first week of September, police killed more civilians than the total number

of police officers killed so far this year. By the end of the month, 99 people were killed,

according to the Killed By Police database. At least 77 of them were shot and killed, The

Guardian reports that 873 people have been killed by police in 2015, and the number is growing”

(Think Progress). The worse part of these fatal police shootings is the fact that many of these

officers are let off the hook. Many officers have stated that the actions they performed was due to

self defense, but the majority of them are caught on video doing quite the opposite. “While

responding to a call about McDole shooting himself, several Delaware police officers wound up

fatally shooting the wheelchair-bound man. Wilmington Police said that he was “armed with