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Police Brutality Essay Introduction
Police officers are allowed to use non-negotiable coercive force to maintain public order and control the behavior of citizens. This provides a loophole for use of brutal force according to Bittner (1970; cited in Cao, 1999). The central problem or area of concern appears to be the proper application of use of this force according to Kerstetter (1985; cited in Cao, 1999).
Research on police abuse of force and brutality on the organizational level are rare or few. Most studies on abuse appear to focus on the individual level of abuse. These studies have also faced several limitations, including the fact that they involve limited number of jurisdiction and inconsistent measures across the studies.
Police brutality refers to the excessive use of force by the police, and which leads to harassment of citizens, annoyance and restriction of their freedom (as posited by Reiss, 1971; cited in Cao, 1999). Other interpretations touch the judgment of citizens that they have not been treated with respect and dignity as would be democratically expected.
The likelihood of the law enforcement agencies including and excluding the police to commit crime is high, one because of the nature of the job. Police are exposed to various situations where they are likely to act in a brutal manner and to react vigorously to situations. However, law enforcement agencies have been required to act in a responsible manner so as to reduce the rates and cases of brutality.
Cases of police brutality in the United States have been reported in history, with increase in the concern of these cases. There are reports that police in the United States have exceeded all other groups in the violation of human rights of minorities. This has led to growing of distrust between the police and the populations. This paper will look at police brutality in the United States and how it can be checked out.
The paper analyzes this situation and how it can be dealt with, including comparison of the cases with human rights concerns. In addition, the paper will try to look at other things such as the causes of police brutality and how it can be achieved.
Proposals of dealing with police brutality have been discussed by groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, ranging from punishment of the officers once they are reported with brutality (Bennett, 2008). Police reforms have been put forward as a means of ending police brutality, such as those proposed in 1970s (Lucent Overview Series, n.d.).
It has been revealed that several complaints of police abuse go unpunished. For instance, a study has indicated of the over 10, 000 complaints recorded between 2002 and 2004 in Chicago; only nineteen received reasonable punishment.
The study has proposed that police department should not be allowed to police itself, but that accountability for every officers conduct an investigation of police abuse reports should be in the hands of an independent oversight board (Ryan, 2007). However, there is evidence, according to the aforementioned author that the greatest number of riots related to the use of force among the police, relate to public perception concerning misuse of force by the police.
This report focuses on use of brutal force by the police as well as the complaints raised by the public, the conflict generated by the problem, the intense and the consequences of police brutality.
Police brutality appears to be a thing existing in the history of the United States. The New York City Police Department used to encounter many incidences of this form of crime in 1990s. Citizens were being injured by breaking their hands, arms and body parts so as to make arrests, and magistrates raised concerns on this trend on the use of force by the police officers.
There was little concern about police brutality in those years than today. The issue of police brutality has come to be widely known and surfaced because of two major incidences that occurred in the history of the United States. One is the criminal law revolution. This was through the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren and was started by the star.
Originally known as the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, the Kerner Commission findings were second. These steps allowed the nation to focus largely on police brutality and the use of force by the police. In addition to the national debate, there are studies which have been carried on the subject matter since that time which serve to give detailed illustration.
What is Police Brutality?
Police brutality has been a national debate since the time of Rodney King, and which has involved many issues. This historical event by the Los Angeles Police Department occurred in 1991 and played an important role in changing the situation. Police are engaged in a wide range of activities including keeping law and order. In their duty, they are exposed to a variety of issues that may make them react vigorously or wildly.
Cases of brutality have been linked to behaviors such as racism and battering of citizens, whether they are engaged in crime or not. Research evidence has shown that the police who commit brutality cannot be categorized by race, since there was no differentiation between those who have committed the crime. It was revealed by this study that the black officers crime rate stood at 9.8 percent whereas that for white officers was 8.7 percent.
Police practice is considered brutality when there is excessive use of force. This use of force may itself be controversial, but it is considered the use of force beyond what would be necessary to cope with a situation. The most considered form of police abuse is the physically instituted abuse. However, police misconduct may manifest as psychological intimidation, verbal use, among others.
The latter forms of abuse become difficult to deal with. Although police brutality has been touted as bad and undesirable, it has been applied in historical times to achieve some desired results. For example, police force and brutality was used during the Nazi Germany times and the Industrial Revolution times of the United States. It was common for striking workers and labor activists to be intimidated by police officers in these times.
Policing has become more aggressive following the September 11 attacks in the United States. Use of excessive force in the police is more evident in areas where there are no laws against police brutality. In addition, police brutality has been evidenced in meetings and gatherings such as those by NATO, WTO, and the World Bank/IMF and the group of 8 (G8) (Smith, 2010).
Causes of Police Brutality
The causes of police brutality vary from stress to poor or unfavorable working conditions. In addition, police have faced situations that demand them use extreme force, for example where the members of the public are resistant to peaceful efforts of keeping peace.
Shootings under situations of fear or minor circumstances have been reported, such as where one police man shot dead an unarmed African American man in 1997 arguing that the policeman mistook the key he was carrying for a gun. The said policeman had committed similar crimes eight times prior to the incident.
Several cases may as well have been unreported and therefore raising the possibility that cases of brutality are more than have been reported. Some of the incidences of brutality among police officers have been caused by lack of adherence to the regulations on the use of deadly force and insufficient understanding as well.
In addition, lack of strict following or punishment of the cases known by the Internal Affairs Investigations may have contributed to the lack of adherence to the guidelines against brutality, or the rise of cases of brutality among the police forces. This includes leniency among the police officers concerned with disciplining of the police who have cases of brutality.
The lack of guidelines and indeed the logic describing what is required and what is excessive has also contributed to lack of proper guidelines or measures to deal with brutality cases. There must be allowed some sense or emotional influence as police officers continue with their duty, especially where there requires use of force, since police officers are human beings.
In addition, we must blame the lack of channels to report, or lack of enough of these channels to report police brutality cases. Even in the event of reporting of these cases, the courts have been blamed for lack of seriousness in dealing with the culprits. Citizens dont seem to be aware of their rights and this is to blame. (Pagewise, 2002).
We must put blame on the government, or advice that the authorities must be responsible for letting the citizens to know, and indeed laying out necessary strategies necessary for the education of the public on their rights involving these matters. Concern has been raised over the results of stress and pressure on police officers.
Thus, while the blame of brutality may be placed on the police officers, administrators of the departments as well as the governmental authorities involved in the administration of police officers must be partly held accountable.
Administrators are directly linked with the scheduling and planning for officers duties, remuneration, as well as other issues such as health and sanitations. These directly influence the working of the police officers and may increase the incidences of brutality because they relate to job motivation, morale and attitude.
Police officers may find themselves being engaged with alcoholism and suicide once they have difficulties in managing their families, something that may as well result from poor pay and working conditions. The toughening process is one of the stages that bring a more relaxed attitude hence confidence. However, it has been revealed that stress can occur at any of the stages theorized.
The act of police exposure to stress may be reduced through efforts to have an incorporation of daily plus philosophies in regular activities of the police.
Police officers may therefore feel more confident applying these strategies, which in turn (the strategies) fosters the mentality of us vs. them and citizens come to disrespect the police officers. Therefore, the study of how police officers respond or behave in situations encouraging stress is very important to understand the problem.
There has been an increasing tension between the police officers and such groups as drug abusers and other organized criminals, and this has resulted in the devising of strategies by one group to fight against the police officers. Therefore, in itself, the community is charged with the life of the police officer being more prone to danger as the aforementioned groups grow.
The excessive use of force among the police officers has been also partly as a result of mistakes and errors committed by the forces themselves or their bosses. These mistakes could include decisions on operational strategies as well as planning. Police officers under certain circumstances may find it necessary to use force in order to put things in order after such errors and mistakes.
Therefore, the importance of efficient planning and strategizing among the police staff and departments must be put into debate because it influences the likelihood of the police officers to act in a brutal manner by either creating such situations and incidents or reducing the likelihood of their occurrence. Suggestions have been made that the failure to deal with police brutality has a relation to the police forces insular culture.
In addition, dealing with police officers who are accused of using excessive force is difficult because police officers are allowed to use excessive force in their work. In addition, it is even difficult to determine the situations which were at the scene while the chaos was occurring. The changing nature of the crime to organized one in the 20th Century made it necessary for changes of policing styles in order to respond to these changes.
Suspects which had information were smacked and punched at times as some of the unlawful ways of responding to rising criminal cases. Police officers and the departments also came to be accused of corruption. A report produced during 1929 known as the Wickersham report focused on the findings of Attorney General George Wickersham viewed that brutal force was being used in policing to gain involuntary confessions.
Apart from this, the report featured inefficiency law enforcement within communities (Canaday, 2008). Historical evidence exist that white law enforcement officers in the United States held scorn against people of ethnic groups which included Asians, Hispanic Blacks. In the United States, brutal force was also utilized to punish demonstrators and this included gassing the rioters with CS riot in order they would be incapacitated, arrested and charged.
Police brutality came to be advanced through the creation, at one time, of a force known as S.T.R.E.S.S. that would be used to police the black in Detroit in 1970s. The force was disbanded by the first black mayor of Detroit.
Abuse of power and privileges by police officers is linked to corruption. All these instances raise issues of distrust among the police officers (Loree, 2006).
Citizens must also be held accountable for causing police to act in a brutal manner. One, open defiance of police orders and authority was, according to Westlty (1949), a cause of the majority of assaults by the police officers. Other cases of assaults occurred when police officers encountered with drug dealers, homosexuals and drunkards.
Occurrence of brutality by police in numerous large metropolitan cities like New York, Los Angeles and San Antonio has caused a concern in the United States (Inciardi, 1990). Recent observation or trend suggests that the cases of police brutality could be occurring as a result of shared norms throughout the police departments as opposed to latter ideologies that brutality was limited to a few bad apples in the police force.
The right to use force within police departments is unrestricted and based on the judgment of the police officers themselves. Therefore, brutality is considered a circumstance of the police officers role. There is lacking definition of this responsibility, or even its limitation especially in terms of its overall application.
The importance of police training in ensuring that cases of brutality are curbed must need focus. This is because proper police force training is important in ensuring that police officers are made aware of the causes and consequences as well as dangers of brutality.
Training comes with concerns for issues such as the available resources and facilities for training. It has been expressed that police departments (many) lack the minimum standards required to train police officers for duty (). These minimum standards cut across issues of research, community relations and planning.
There is need to ensure that the training meets the standards and avails the police officers with the proper skills and competence to deal with brutality. The police authority and how it is challenged by the individuals is an important aspect of understanding police brutality. Challenging the authority of the police officer may cause him or her to react in opposition.
Failure of the citizen to adhere to directions of other sort such as verbal may activate the police officer to act in a brutal manner. Some part of usage of force by the police officers has come as a result of the officers themselves viewing some members of the society as having no value in the community. These groups include the homosexuals and other sexual offenders, gangs and drug dealer, for example.
The police officers may view these groups as needing or requiring no protection. Police are supposed to make very quick decisions at the job place. The quick decisions are a necessity considering the way in which criminal activities may be launched and advanced. Unfortunately, mane loopholes exist that relate to this decision making specifically because fragmented information forms the basis of most of the decisions.
The integrity of the police officers to make sound judgment under these circumstances need attention since one incident may be very different from others. In addition, could an officers long term learning lead to the use of unwarranted force?
Such studies could require knowledge of the learning process conducive for the development of police brutality. The aforementioned learning process begins from conception, through childhood, to adolescence, young adult and until the choosing of law enforcement professional.
There was no evidence from a research study by Earl (n.d.) on whether brutality was a lifelong learning process, but there was evidence that certain things learned could cause certain reactions in individuals including a police officer. Pressurizing officers could therefore cause some learning that influences certain forms of reactions to these individuals.
This research poised a number of recommendations that could reduce the potential of police brutality. Television producers needed to have excitement and conflict presented in peaceful form, yet interesting. This recommendation was poised in observation that there was a major concern on television violence. There was justification of the acts of aggression especially when ones cause was justified.
There a necessity to exercise control measures in children targeted television programs. This could be achieved through certain measures such as putting a limitation to the time that a child could watch television, and watching family-oriented programs together with children as opposed to leaving them to watch them alone.
Other appropriate solutions can include approaches like engagement in sports and personal hobbies instead of joining parents to watch television programs.
The research recommends that there was need to involve the community in the generation of proper and effective law enforcement that is supported by the community. This would reduce the alarming rate of public concern over brutality issues. There are ways through which police departments can help in involving the community to participate in the formulation of the regulation.
One, there can be developed civilian police academies. The public should be made to learn and experience what the officers are taught. Another strategy is the development of the public relations unit. These units establish a contact the police with the community. Establishment of the School Resource Officer Program allows the people to regard police officers as human beings.
Through community policing, the police needed to participate in the activities of the community besides engaging in constant talk. There was need to encourage programs that would increase public awareness on what is taking place within community and department.
The research recommended that there was need of participation of community members (a few) in the reviewing of complains and pass recommendations on what is required or needed to be done. This could be achieved through establishment of Civilian Complaint Review Board
Proper training of officers would play a great role in ensuring that the war and the battle concepts propagated are eliminated. A number of recommendations by Earl (n.d.) would help eliminate these feelings. The instructors of the officers must not instill to the police officers that they are going to the battle and to fight a war-the concept of we against them .
The techniques taught during training should strictly be defensive and not offensive. Through improvement of the process of recruiting, there can equally be remarkable improvement in training.
It was recommended by the covered research that there should be comprehensive investigations covering the background involving polygraph and psychological examination by centres of training regionally.
The departments and the training centers could receive interested applicants, who could pay fees for background investigations. Applicants could choose their department of interest but they must be recruited in the common pool first.
Since there was evidence that stress and fear were partly to blame for brutality. Some of the recommendations poised in the research by Earl (n.d.) include open discussions of fear and stress to have the police officers affected to know that the peers are concerned during the stage of recruitment.
There is also a need to consider fear to find out ways it can be addressed. In addition, it is possible to identify the trainees ability handle fear and stress. Trainees who are unable to deal with stress and fear should be disqualifies from training.
The study posed some recommendations about the news media as relates to law enforcement. Law enforcement was affected by News media and there was lack of well defined ways of checking its impact. The research therefore posed the following recommendations.
Police officers must be cautious while handling media in that they should not be intimidated by the reporters or forced to say what could be offline, since reporters could make news out of what they understand rather than what is true and issued. There was need to sensor the media since it was impossible to change information once it was printed.
Factors Contributing or Leading to Police Brutality
Police officers have faced constant pressure, or felt always under pressure to perform their duty. This has led or contributed to them becoming brutal. Another factor is the consideration of police officers as The Watchman while ignoring such minor problems as domestic disputes.
Curbing Police Brutality
Much amount of money has been spent on police chief and reform agenda where education of police chiefs has become an increasingly important agenda. Law enforcement education has particularly spent large sums of money, with the government seeking to raise the educational level of the recruits.
Sensitivity to citizens, better communication, and effectiveness increases when college-educated police officers are employed. The rate of citizen complaint was related negatively to the average service years. The rate of arrest and the population size were also found to be associated with the rate of citizen complaint. Citizens complaint against the police is significantly related to the average age of a police department with older average age tending to have a lower citizen complaint rate.
The rate of complain was higher with the population being served by the police. A case for the gender relationship with the rate of complaint is supported by the fact that a larger percentage of females in police departments reduce the rate of complaints.
In addition, the average rate of service in a police department has an impact on the rate of complaint, with the latter increasing with the length of service of an officer in a police department. The effect of police officers race on the rate of complaint has been found to contradict the theory prediction. This is because the larger the percentage of African-American officers in the service, the higher the rate of complain.
In addition, complaint rate increases with the increase with the number of arrests a police officer will make. The rate of complaint was negatively associated with the in-service training programs and formalized field training officer programs, which gives an insight into the whole area of police brutality.
There has been an argument that compared to terrorists; police officers pose more danger to Americans. A number of ways have been put across to deal with police brutality, including use of laws and guidelines against police brutality, and people coming together as a group.
For example, Twin-Cities based organization known as Communities United against Police Brutality has been formed to deal with police brutality. Several years of research came up with the conclusion on a number of things that could be implemented at the federal, state, local and universities law enforcement agencies.
The supervisors and line officers need intervene when officers use excessive force. Officers seen utilizing brutal force and beating a restrained person should be arrested and stopped from the incident. Prosecution of an officer who has executed unjustifiable homicide should be considered (Atlansk, 2009). These have been proposed by the Oregon State Police Independent Citizens Review Board.
Studies have pointed out to the reality of discrimination of African Americans arrested over drug dealing. Although white youths still sell drugs in the country, there is evidence that African-American youths are being arrested more than the whites. For example, of the youths transferred to adult court for drug crimes in Illinois, African Americans form 85.5% despite the fact that white youths are participating in drug business.
In fact, a study notes that white youths could be selling drugs at the same rate or more than youths of color (Muwakkil, 2001). A number of commissions have been formed for purposes of investigating police brutality. Unfortunately, these commissions have come up with disturbing or unsatisfactory conclusions. For example, they have concluded that police brutality, or perceived brutality was a trigger (Atlansk, 2009).
These commissions have posed a number of recommendations including the need to eliminate racial disparities and proposed reformation of police practices. Unfortunately, their recommendations have been ignored. There is need to refocus on these There is a need to refocus on these strategies so as to make sure that solutions are sought to end police brutality.
A number of models have been theorized in helping to control the damaging behavior of the police. The professional model put forward by Wilson (1968) focuses on the idea that the officers to be employed are the best-trained and most honest. The issuance and enforcement of rules and regulations during close supervision has been featured in the bureaucratic model brought forward by the aforementioned author.
There has been an argument that the professionalism model of controlling the police misconduct ignores the social and organizational correlates of misconduct and focuses more on the individual aspects.
The aforementioned argument has been posited by Lundman (1980), who continues to argue that what need to be controlled are not individual but organizational climates, and therefore the author is against professionalism as a model of controlling police misconduct.
Departmental characteristics differ across various police departments and this causes the difference in the rates of complaints by the citizens. The negative rule enforcement has been championed by the bureaucratic model.
A number of proposals have been passed by Goldstein (1977) to help curb police brutality, including rewarding proper behavior and providing appropriate role models. In addition, there should be proper avenues for citizen redress and specific training of the police forces so as to reduce the cases for police brutality.
It has been perceived and proposed that in an effort to stop police offensive practices against the citizens, it is appropriate to study the citizen complains at the macro rather than the micro level. In addition, there has been support for the macro level of explanation as the most powerful level and therefore the proposal that more research is needed at the organizational level.
Lack of data has hampered the study of use of excessive physical force at the organizational level. Lack of enough data has partly been caused by the citizens since they do not all report the cases of brutality. In addition, failure of police to collect information at these particular times has resulted in the lack of data.
Although police have defended their practices on the use of excessive force by noting that the subjects have been arrested for legitimate offense, or that they lacked the potential of winning a big law suit, study has shown that revenge motive do not drive the citizen to complain against police brutality.
Citizens themselves have been hampered to report cases of police abuse by a number of limitations, including personal fear of reprisal, possibility of prosecution for making a false claim, cumbersome filling procedures that are also complex, among other limitations. What happens to people and the expected gains are the driving force behind the willingness of the citizens to file a complaint to the police (Bailey and Mendelsohn, 1969; cited in Cao, 2002).
There are a variety of strategies that can reduce citizen complaint rate against the police force. The aforementioned author found that the length of probationary period, field training officer programs, as well as psychological exams taken before admission to police academy have a tendency to reduce citizen complaint rate against the police use of physical force and abuse of power.
However, a negative relation was found between citizen complaint rate and the following; reporting requirements for use of force by the police, written policy regarding use of force, and increment of the number of use of in-service training programs on the use of force.
Another problem regarding the use of excessive force by the police is that the court and many police departments have not defined what brutality is, and what it is not. Some of police departments in the United States have an outlined policy on the use of less lethal force, as well as mandatory reporting systems on the use of force.
The composition of the police force may also influence the behavior of the police force to being more or less brutal. There is evidence that female officers acted to reduce the likelihood of police-citizen encounters as fewer det
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