Brianna Marquez
English III - 5th period
May 22, 2018 Being bad & getting exposed
Police brutality and the system being corrupt has always been an issue in America, but lately it’s been brought up more and more in the media. The system hasn 't always revealed the full truth about stories, but now with technology it has become a concern that the police are covering up things that we should know. Recently there have been more protests and riots about officers not doing their jobs and they are going out of there way to hurt victims. On the other hand, there is that amount of people who believe if the victims really did do something so terribly wrong, they deserve the punishment they receive. This can be a very touchy subject to talk about since there are so many viewpoints on police brutality and corruption, but there are some officers who are getting away with abusing their power. Police corruption can be used in many different ways, but the most common ways are where the police either abuse their contracts as officers to gain power for themselves in the department or for personal gain, like bribery or officers using the evidence taken for themselves. Extortion is also a problem in the system where officers use their power to threaten someone in order to get ownership of property or money. In one case, Enfield officer Matthew Worden was accused of using excessive force, meaning that while the suspects
“Frequent exposure to media reports of police abuse or corruption is a strong predictor of perceptions of misconduct and supports the belief that is common.” (France-Respers 1). But unfortunately, it also brings me disheartened feelings. Recently, I was on twitter and I stumbled across a video of a young white male who was roughly about twenty to twenty-five years of age who was being handled so aggressively by about six officers while he was NOT resisting.
One primary legislative cause of the difficulties in prosecuting police is the 1986 the United States supreme courts case, Tennessee v. Garner, which did not allows usages of deadly force by an officer unless "the officer has a good-faith belief that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others" but the rhetorically vague term "good-faith belief" allowed an objective reason to kill and created a barrier in proving an officer is guilty in court system. While this old legislative piece accounts the difficulties in prosecuting police, the traditional unspoken rule of police officers not to report against colleagues cause corruption in the process of prosecution which is another source of
Nowadays some police officers continue to abuse their authority which makes the community disappointed and confuse whether or not to trust a police officer. Everyone as a community expects for a law enforcement career employee to keep us safe and away from harm. Police officers should not be wasting their time with innocent citizens, if they have to use force on the criminal they must do it in a proper way, and lastly there must be a fair case. On August 9, 2014, and incident was reported in Ferguson, Missouri.
Tamir Rice was a twelve-year-old boy playing in the snow at his local park, making the mistake of waving an air pellet gun at strangers- a mistake that would cost him his life. A bystander made a call to 911, and when the police arrived on the scene, within seconds of exiting the vehicle, Rice was shot. According to an article by the Pittsburgh Tribune, although police have been caught in the act, captured on camera committing a crime, they are not prosecuted 96 percent of the time. November 22, 2014, twelve-year-old, Tamir Rice, was playing and posing with his air pellet gun when a man sitting in the park called 911 to report, “there’s a guy here with a pistol, pointing it at everybody… [The gun] is probably a fake, but you know what,
a. What issue are you going to pursue? I am going to pursue the ongoing issue of police brutality. b. How is your issue evident in the public agenda right now? Police brutality has always been a continuing issue but has attracted more attention in recent years.
Many officers have been tried due to the excessive force. Some of these officers have have ended up being convicted of the crime, where others just lost their job. There have been many been many well publicized high profile cases in the last 30 years, where some of the officers have been arrested due to their part
Police brutality is a strong and still ongoing activity that occurs till this day. It is a worldwide situation that needs to be confronted and handled immediately. There have been thousands of lives lost from unfair police officers; even little children’s lives have been taken away from them. Police officers are supposed to be our heroes and people that make us feel safe, not the enemy and whom majority of the people fear.
Stop and Frisk Stop and Frisk, the tactic that has been going on for only for short time, yet there seems to be racial tension already. But is this new information actually true or is it just good policing? According to Heather Mac Donald from the Manhattan Institute, says “what looks like racial profiling might just be good policing”. However according to Ranjana Natarajan from the Washington post “it’s clear that two issues need to be addressed: racial profiling and police use of excessive force.” Unfortunately we cannot have both ways.
The media makes the severity of the situation much worse. In some instances, a situation is represented in way that conveys a case as deceptive. Police misconduct, in this situation, is preposterously distorted. For example, the scene one sees on television may be completely inaccurate. In the article Unpacking Public Attitudes to the Police: Contrasting Perceptions of Misconduct with Traditional Measures of Satisfaction, Miller states, “…research found that people's fear of crime was related to crime content in the newspapers they read…”( 6).
For decades now, the controversy over deadly force has continued to show up in the news when police officers have acted in a manner that some citizens find just while others deem completely unfair. Many lawsuits stemming from shootings and crimes have found their way to local courts or the Supreme Court to deal with this issue. A portion of the U.S. population finds deadly force unnecessary when non-lethal weapons such as pepper spray or batons just as easily subdue the criminal. In addition, these citizens argue that officers might be liable for cases filed against them if they use excess force on people that seem suspicious but have not actually committed a crime. On the other hand, the opposing argument in favor of deadly force states that
People should have the right to express any religion they choose but only in the privacy of their home or a church or other places to worship. People should not be able to harm people physically or mentally because of their religion. You may not break any laws or rights just because that is what their religion states. People should be allowed to say what they feel or belief in a public space. People however may not say hateful things to someone at any time even if it is a rally.
There are many pros and cons when it comes to the use of police force. The use of force is strictly a part of the job requirement of protecting and serving our community. It is the everyday battles that force police to make decisions that may seem a bit harsh at times. The use of force is only acceptable under certain circumstances and should only be used when absolutely needed. There are cases when civilians are saved by the use of police force, and there are cases when innocent people are hurt or even killed by the use of police force.
Cops should have guns In the state of California the police are armed with hand guns. From 1900 to 2000, more than 14,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement were killed in the line of duty. Around 50% of those deaths were because of firearms. If police officers were not armed, a lot more than 14,000 law enforcement officers could of been killed.
Police Brutality is an ongoing problem and existent concern in the United States and should be resolved immediately. Law enforcement must function as an element that consists of organized and civilized officers. The presence of police brutality is becoming more of an issue as society grows. The problem posed by the illegal exercise of police power is an ongoing reality for individuals of a disfavored race, class, or sexual orientation. Police brutality must be stopped so that police do not forget who they are serving – not themselves, but the public.
With the wide availability of video taping equipment these days—from cellphone cameras to mounted motorcycle helmet cameras—police officers are finding that their every move is subject to the scrutiny of thousands of people once the footage hits the Internet. More often than not, this footage is posted in order to expose police behavior than some deem “brutal.” Commenters throw out phrases like “excessive force” and “unconstitutional,” while police departments hit back stating that officers acted appropriately and according to police guideline.