In recent years, police brutality has surfaced social media exposing those who serve us to stop people from making the wrong choices. Now, we not only have to worry about criminals running around but also those with the responsibility to protect us “police officers.” In an article published by the Washington Post, last updated Aug 3, 2017, states, “Since 2006, the nation’s largest police departments have fired at least 1,881 officers for misconduct that betrayed the public’s trust, from cheating on overtime to unjustified shootings.” Citizens who have been attacked have been left with physical and emotional scars that can never go away; in some cases, it has even caused death. In addition, they have broken the public’s trust and are now seen as a threat to the people. There are countless numbers of police officers who work in the force to seek joy from killing.
Many reports have been filed relating to police brutality because of excessive force, racial profiling and threatening comments. For example, New York City’s police officer Daniel Pantaleo, who used a combat move that is not permitted within the NYPD, ended Eric Garner’s life with a chokehold death. Many witnesses have said that Garner did not resist and that Pantaleo was using excessive physical force to bring Garner into custody. Not only was Garner’s death unjustified but has opened the public’s eyes on the threat policing can become for the public. Furthermore, a group of men consisting of black and Hispanic ethnicity, in Connecticut, were stopped by Stephen Barone, a Hartford police officer, after receiving a dispatch on a group of men suspicioned of trespassing. They were verbally attacked by Barone saying, “ If anybody wants to fight or run, I’m a little trigger-happy, guys.” The group of men were concerned about his comments and were later told that he had a gun after telling them they needed to be checked for narcotics or weapons. However, not only was he investigated for this encounter but as well as a traffic related incident. While we acknowledge that not all officers are like this we should not overlook the fact that many officers aren’t fit for the title due to their way of thinking when confronting suspicions or danger. Moreover, one can say that many of those who fall victim to police brutality consist mostly of blacks, Hispanic, Latinos and African Americans. In an article, by Huffington Post, last updated, Aug 12, 2018, implies that, “Cases in which black people were killed by the police or died in their custody have risen to national prominence in recent years, often prompting protests nationwide.” That same year, Botham Shem Jean who mistook an off-duty Dallas officer’s apartment for her own was fatally shot by, and Stephon Clark was shot dead in his grandmother’s backyard by the police in Sacramento.” Police officers had no reported difficulties with the victims. This only demonstrates the kind of people that are allowed into the police force and because of this many police officers should be relieved of their jobs.
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Unfortunately this is not the only way police brutality has affected the public. Citizens who have been attacked have been left with physical and emotional scars that can never go away; in some cases, it has even caused death. One solution for police brutality would be suiting officers with body cameras to prevent the occurence of misconduct and generate a record of any tragic or unprovoked encounters. For instance, an unarmed black teenager by the name Michael Brown was shot to death by a white police officer in Ferguson. Witnesses later reported that the actions taken by the police officer were unjustified. After the ruling that the officer not be charged, the Brown family later pressed the grand jury to ensure that every police officer in the country be suited with a body cam. This led to the White House funding state and local police with $75 million in order to purchase the body cam devices (Weise 46).
Works Cited
- Alang, Sirry1, sma206@lehigh.ed., et al. “Police Brutality and Black Health: Setting the Agenda xxxxxfor Public Health Scholars.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 107, no. 5, May 2017, pp. 662–665. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2017.303691.
- Burbank, Chris. “Opinion | Ending Police Brutality Starts With Firing Dangerous Cops.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Aug. 2018, xxxxxwww.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-michael-brown-ferguson-police-shootings_us_5b6b3859e4b0530743c67bd2.
- Gold, Michael. “White Police Officer Fired After Telling Group of Mostly Black and Hispanic Men He Was 'Trigger-Happy'.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Oct. 2018, xxxxxwww.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/nyregion/trigger-happy-police-fired.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Police Brutality and xxxxxMisconduct&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=collection.
- Lee, Jasmine C., and Haeyoun Park. “15 Black Lives Ended in Confrontations With Police. 3 Officers Convicted.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 May 2017, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/17/us/black-deaths-police.html.
- WEISE, KAREN. “Will a Camera on Every Cop Help Save Lives or Just Make a Tech Company Richer?” Bloomberg Businessweek, no. 4483, July 2016, pp. 44–51. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mth&AN=116811052&site=ehost-live.
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