Police Brutality

By
Adriana Martinez
Senior Paper
2016
Yampah Mountain High School
Sallys Advisory

Over the years society has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a
controversial topic among the people who live in the communities that have seen police brutality
take place in front of their homes. Unfortunately officers are faced with many threatening
situations everyday, forcing them to make a split second decision. Being a police officer comes

with power and with that power comes responsibility. The major concern for them is when to use
force and when to use lethal force. There are regulations and codes of ethics within the police
force that should be maintained at all times. In the past decade police abuse has remained one of
the most serious human rights violations in the United States. Police officers are trusted and
expected to respect society as a whole but also enforce the law when it is necessary.
http://killedbypolice.net/

Social media has played a big role in the way that people view police brutality as an
issue. The media conjures feelings of racism, prejudices against young black males that are based
solely stereotypes. It seems as if we are experiencing an unprecedented wave of police violence.
Many experts do not agree with that statement, and say there is just more mainstream coverage
on the cases where the police are involved in the shootings and that we rely on the media to
cover these stories. In reality those stories are isolated circumstance and are not representative of
the numbers of young African men actually being killed in our cities across the country. AfricanAmerican publishers have been covering these types of cases for years, one of these reporters is,
Robert Bogle, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Tribune. He says, What is being exposed
nationally is something that has been troubling us African-Americans for over one hundred
years. Our young men have been targeted and murdered by white police officers across this
country for centuries. Bogle has written about these cases, but some African-Americans do not
believe him. Thanks to the power of the media civilians are beginning to believe it. AfricanAmerican executives believe that through media there is finally credibility being given to the
victims of specific situations that have occurred in historical events. Most reporters believe a
victim's race is affecting the story, that is why they look specifically for cases of white officers
abuse toward young black men and women. It is interesting that it seems like you can find
statistics for everything, from incarcerations, fatal plane crashes, and even to the score of every

football game since 1990. However, when it comes to knowing how many people were killed by
police officers, there's no way of knowing.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/20/us/police-brutality-video-social-media-attitudes/

From the year 2004 - 2015 the city of Chicago was said to have paid $642 million for
cases of police misconduct. The public is scrutinizing the Chicago Police Department (CPD)
because they have a contract that mandates them to destroy disciplinary records. Recently, the
fraternal order of police (FOP) actually filed a lawsuit in 2014 to prevent the release of records
four to seven years or older, which is decades worth of helpful records. In defense they claim it
causes the CPD to experience public humiliation and loss of prestige in their employment.
However, the US Department of Justice began an investigation into the CPD following the case
of officer Jason Van Dyke, who was charged of first degree murder, for shooting a seventeen
year old male. The FOP stalled to destroy his records. Van Dyke was accused of misconduct
twenty times, according the the Citizens of police data Project or (CPDP). Lastly, it is nearly
impossible to fire the police officers with bad misconduct due to the CPDs contract that protects
the bad cops at the expense of the public. This contract mandates the destruction of
disciplinary records and makes it difficult to identify the patterns of misconduct. Also, it gets in
the way of protecting the public, and allowing officials to remove misbehaved officers. The
contract also allows for some delays in the investigations. Officers only get up to forty eight hour
delays when a disciplinary interview is requested. Secondly, they are given a notice regarding
future interviews of the procedure and investigations before going to trial. Another problem is
false statements and video evidence that makes it nearly impossible for officers to be found
guilty, because the fact that an officer is allowed to review the video and fix his statement.
Lastly, officers are allowed to refuse polygraph tests and have access to review the interviews

questions prior to the polygraph exam. All these examples get in between the way of effective
investigations and police accountability. In the year 2017, the CPD contract will expire, which is
an amazing opportunity to create a better contract. A contract that restores the faith in its police
force. Without a reform, CPD can't regain the public's trust.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hilary-gowins/springfield-stop-the-dest_b_9874576.html

Most importantly President Barack Obama had a meeting back in December of 2014, this
meeting consisted of law enforcement officials, politicians, and community leaders to discuss a
plan to build trust between civilians and police. Obama planned on establishing four main ideas
that he thought would make a huge difference. First, he stated that he would establish a task force
on police accountability, that means he chose two people to law enforcement and community
activists and other stakeholders to listen to their ideas. Obama hopes it will create police
accountability, transparency and build trust. In addition, Obama wanted to know how the federal
government could work with the states and local communities to solve the issue. Secondly,
Obama wants to demilitarize the police, which means he will sign an executive order and a
review that shows the pentagon's weapons, and to figure out how the program will help the
civilians. But in the end this plan backfired since one hundred and eighty four local police
departments were dropped because they either violated rules or had missing equipment, which
they got to keep after all
http://www.colorlines.com/articles/what-obama-says-hell-do-about-police-brutality

President Obama's third idea was to fund body cams for police officers. Which would
include fifty thousand body worn cameras. He needed congress to pass a two hundred sixty three
million dollars in spending, and seventy five million will be spent on only body cameras. At the
end of the day the only thing that congress approved is the body cams. Most people do not

believe the idea would work because there were little to no consequences for the officers of
previous cases. It leaves activists with a great doubt. However, Obamas last approach is to
convene community meetings, which means he plans on having honest conversations with law
enforcement, community activists, academics, elected officials, and the faith of the
community. These meetings will be held to speak about the collection of data about police
killings.

http://www.colorlines.com/articles/what-obama-says-hell-do-about-police-brutality

So far the most important way to help prevent less police brutality is The Camera
Authorization and Maintenance Act which obligates officers of local and state law enforcements
to wear body cameras. This idea is useful to provide reliable evidence to define whether any
situation is justified or not. However, most of these cases that involve police brutality have
nothing but unsupported allegations of both witnesses and officers. The problem will not be
completely eliminated but it is a huge step in the right direction. Overall, besides The Camera
Authorization Act there are other initiatives. These are bills aimed to try to control the increasing
militarization of the force used by police officers.

https://www.thepensters.com/blog/prevent-

police-brutality-actions/

One helpful solution was created by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to address and file
for a complaint if someone believes their rights have been violated. Federal laws include both
criminal and civil statutes. These laws cover state, county and local officers, including these who
work in jails and prisons. These laws protect both citizens and noncitizens of the United States.
Additionally, the DOJ offers an investigation to determine if the law broken was criminal or
civil. Criminal and Civil laws are different. Criminal cases are cases against the accused person.
On the other hand in a civil case, the DOJ seeks to correct the law enforcements agencies
policies and practices that lead to misconduct and it may require relief for the victim. Lastly, the

DOJ has four laws available. To begin with it is the Color of Law which covers the types of
misconduct including excessive force, sexual assault, intentional false arrests, or intentional
fabrication of evidence, resulting in a loss of liberty. If this law is violated the consequences
include a fine and or imprisonment. Secondly, the law of Police misconduct provision this law
makes it unlawful for law enforcement officers to engage in a practice of conduct that deprives a
person's rights by the constitution or the United States laws. However, it does not have to show
discrimination or a pattern of misconduct. The third law prohibits discrimination of race, color,
national origin, sex and religion, by any law enforcement agency. Lasty, the fourth law prohibits
discrimination against individuals with any mental or physical disabilities in the Unites States.
These laws are put in place to help all people. https://www.justice.gov/crt/addressing-policemisconduct-laws-enforced-department-justice

In a remarkable speech, FBI Director James B. Comey stated that, we must

improve the way data is collected and to analyze the data to see what is happening in our
communities. The FBI tries to track and then publish the number of justifiable homicides
reported. But the downfall is that reporting them has to be voluntary and not all departments
participate. With this small data they can not fully keep track of the incidents in which force is
used. Recently training for police has become more standardized, it is found that officers do not
receive regular or consistent training on the department's deadly force policy . The research
continues to refine procedures in order to make accurate estimates based on police reports and
other data http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/police-reasonable-forcebrutality-race-research-review-statistics

Characteristics of suspects is a leading outlet in investigating that colored males are

twenty one times more likely to be shot. From 2010-2012 approximately 1,217 deaths show that

31.17 per million were colored individuals, and only 1.27 per million were white males that died
in hands of the police. Unfortunately, officers patrol cities where a huge percentage of street
crime is committed by young men of color. Officers feels as if often they can't help but to be
influenced by the cynicism they experience. The fact is that the behavior complicates
relationships between police and the communities they serve to protect. Police are more likely
to employ force in higher-crime neighborhoods. Lastly, in a 2011 report from the National
Institute of justice examines the effectiveness and health outcomes of incidents involving tasers.
Reports find that injury rates vary from 17% to 64% for citizens and 10% to 20% for police
officers. However, twelve agencies analyzed that cases showed 60% was decreased when using a
taser. The results also show that taser use has increased significantly about 70%, while batons are
down 25%. Also only 20% of data is collected so it complicates further searching.
http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/police-reasonable-force-brutalityrace-research-review-statistics

Some people argue that the problem with our era is the increasement of disrespect for
authority. It is believed that young people in America, especially teenagers are against authority
and that this has been a phenomenon that has been occurring since the Vietnam War era.
According to the web site Filming Cops, when a police officer a symbol of authority addresses
a problem, he does it from a position of ownership which is what authority means.
Furthermore, according to Filming Cops, parents have the authority in their homes to care and
educate their children. Even Though the children are not property of the parents. A parent's job is
to care for, protect and guide their children as they learn to take ownership for their actions and
lives. Successful parenting consists of children understanding about respect for property and
peoples rights. http://filmingcops.com/cops-brutality-isnt-the-problem-its-kids-who-disrespect-ourauthority/

Rather than detaining an individual and filing charges, or even worse shooting and killing
our black children, police should act as peace officers. It is up to the parents to encourage their
children and others to live the right way and make good choices in their lives and this would
make all the difference. Civilians also understand order exists and property rights and peoples
rights are protected under our laws. Unless we the people truly believe in the authority of police,
they cannot protect us. As it has been noted, Police brutality is a cruel downfall for our country,
which affects communities, losing all faith in what police departments should stand for and
represent. Only time will tell if there will be some changes. Changes that will not be seen
immediately but in a few years, we are hopeful to see changes that will make civilians trust our
law enforcement once again.

Work Cited Page

McLaughlin, Eliott C. "We're Not Seeing More Police Shootings, Just More News
Coverage." CNN. CNN, 21 Apr. 2015. Web. 13 May 2016.
Gowins, Hillary. "Springfield: Stop the Destruction of Police Misconduct Records."
Huffington Post. Huffpost Politics, 5 Sept. 2016. Web. 13 May 2016

Bogado, Aura. "What Obama Says He'll Do About Police Brutality." Colorlines. 03
Dec. 2014. Web. 13 May 2016.
"Police Brutality Essay: How to Prevent Violence." ThePensterscom. 25 Aug.
2015. Web. 13 May 2016.
"Addressing Police Misconduct Laws Enforced By The Department Of
Justice."U.S. Department of Justice. 6 Aug. 2016. Web. 13 May 2016.
Kille, Leighton Walter, and John Wihbey. "Excessive or Reasonable Force by
Police? Research On law Enforcement and Racial Conflict - Journalist's Resource."
Journalists Resource. Harvard Kennedy School, 28 Oct. 2015. Web. 13 May 2016.
Grigg, William. "Filming Cops." Cops: Brutality Isnt the Problem, Its People Who
Disrespect Our Authority. Pro Libertate. Web. 13 May 2016.